David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, September 14, 2024, p. 12
New York and Washington., Ismael The May Zambada appeared yesterday before a magistrate judge in a federal court in New York to hear the charges against him, plead not guilty
and be informed of the decision that he will remain in prison during the course of his judicial process, which could culminate in a trial.
At his first appearance before the federal court for the Eastern District of New York, based in Brooklyn, Zambada heard Magistrate Judge James Cho inform him of the 17 charges against him, including that of leading a criminal drug trafficking organization continuously between 1989 and 2024, which carries a possible sentence of life imprisonment, the others imply sentences of 10 to 30 years each (https://www.jornada.com.mx/2024/09/13/politica/012n1pol).
Zambada, who arrived at the courtroom dressed in a prisoner’s uniform and escorted by four federal marshals, declared himself not guilty
of the charges.
The team of U.S. federal prosecutors, led by prosecutor Francisco Navarro, presented their arguments for keeping the accused incarcerated. Navarro described Zambada as One of the most dangerous criminals, if not the most dangerous in drug trafficking
and a “drug dealer “corruptor” of the Mexican government, someone who surely continues to control an army of gunmen
and that for all these reasons he represents a danger, with a high risk of flight. Judge Cho granted the prosecutors’ request to keep the defendant incarcerated.
Zambada, who was transferred from Texas to New York last Thursday, was represented by El Paso litigator Frank A. Perez. Asked after the hearing by Mexican journalists if he ruled out a negotiation with prosecutors, Perez replied that No
. He indicated that he does not contemplate that his client will become protected witness
stating that Yes there will be a trial
However, it is worth remembering that lawyers almost never reveal a negotiation of this type.
The case will proceed with a court date of October 31, now before federal judge Brian Cogan, who will be in charge of the case from now on, and will preside over Zambada’s trial if the case reaches that point.
Cogan is the same judge who presided over the trials, first of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, and then that of the former Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, in the same building where Zambada appeared.
US Department praises itself for capture
The US Department of Justice praised itself for bringing Zambada to trial Justice
with the start of proceedings against him this Friday in Brooklyn, highlighting that the indictment now includes conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, an issue that has become key in the national political debate in this country.
In Washington, Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, declared that The Mayco-founder and leader of the Sinaloa cartel, has been accused of overseeing a multi-billion dollar conspiracy to flood American communities with narcotics, including lethal fentanyl
.
He revealed that the Department of Justice claimed that for decades Ismael Zambada and The Sinaloa Cartel’s network of manufacturers, assassins, traffickers and money launderers are responsible for kidnapping and murdering people in both the United States and Mexico, importing lethal quantities of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamines and cocaine into the United States.
. He celebrated that “now, The May He joins the many other Sinaloa cartel leaders who have faced charges in U.S. court for the immeasurable harm they have inflicted on families and communities across our country.”
The main agencies that investigated the case expressed their support for the success of bringing The May before the American justice system. The administrator of the DEA, Anne Milgram, declared that Defeating the Sinaloa Cartel is the DEA’s highest operational priority and today, with the capture and additional charges filed against Zambada Garcia, we are that much closer.
of that objective. She, like other senior officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, reiterated that the Sinaloa cartel is responsible for the unprecedented drug crisis facing the United States
.
He added that Zambada He may have eluded capture for three decades, but today he is seeing what it means to face justice in America.
.
Friday’s prosecution “sent a clear message to drug traffickers around the world: ‘We will find you and we will bring you to justice,'” said Katrina Berger, associate director of the Department of Homeland Security’s HSI investigative agency.
The long-term threat posed by cartels will not be tolerated in the United States
said the assistant director of the FBI office in New York, Christie Curtis, and proclaimed that with the arrest of Zambada After 35 years, this tyranny comes to an end
.
