Drug lord 'El Mayo' wants deal with US Justice Department to avoid death penalty

Mexican drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada will plead guilty and cooperate with U.S. prosecutors if he is guaranteed not to face the death penalty, his lawyer has announced.

Zambada, one of the founders of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested last summer shortly after his private plane landed in El Paso, Texas. He is suspected of large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons possession, among other things.

Cocaine and fentanyl
The Sinaloa Cartel is known as one of the most powerful Mexican criminal organizations. It trades in cocaine and fentanyl, among other things, which are smuggled not only to the US but also to Europe. Zambada was the founder of the cartel together with Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. The latter was extradited to the US in 2017 and is serving a life sentence.

The New York City prosecutor, who is prosecuting Zambada, has not yet responded to his proposal. Zambada has been in a U.S. prison since his arrest. Given his age (77), it is considered possible that he has health problems and has allowed himself to be arrested so that he can receive treatment in relative peace. However, there is no concrete evidence for this yet.

Power struggle
After Zambada's arrest, it was already expected that the loss of the big boss would lead to more violence in the state of Sinaloa, where the cartel is mainly active. That has happened : in the state, hundreds have already died in a bloody power struggle between the sons of the founders 'El Chapo' and 'El Mayo'. In the capital Culiacán, public life has been largely disrupted, with no end in sight.