Mexico Drug lord "El Mayo" pleads not guilty in New York

According to media reports, the powerful Mexican drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada has pleaded not guilty in a court in New York. Following his arrest in the USA at the end of July, the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel was charged with drug smuggling and conspiracy to murder, among other things. The public prosecutor's office describes the 76-year-old Zambada as one of the most notorious and dangerous drug smugglers in the world.

According to the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, "El Mayo" was flown to the USA against his will. According to "El Mayo's" lawyer, drug boss Joaquín Guzmán López lured him into an ambush. Both were arrested after landing at a small airport in the state of New Mexico. Guzmán López, one of the sons of the cartel boss Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, who is imprisoned in the USA, had been negotiating with US officials for months to turn himself in.

El Mayo" and "El Chapo" were once partners. In north-western Mexico, the two opposing factions of the Sinaloa cartel, led by Zambada's heirs and "El Chapo's" sons, are now engaged in fierce gang warfare. At least twelve people have been killed in the past four days, according to the Attorney General's Office of the state of Sinaloa. Eleven more people have been injured and 20 kidnapped, and there have been repeated shootings and roadblocks with burning trucks.

SDA