BROOKLYN — Ismael Zambada was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Brooklyn federal court. The Sinaloa cartel co-founder pleaded guilty in August 2025 to charges of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan presided over the sentencing hearing that resulted in the maximum penalty for the 76-year-old defendant. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for his guilty plea.

He acknowledged culpability for 85 underlying crimes as part of his guilty plea. The court ordered him to forfeit $15 billion in assets related to the cartel's illicit profits, though prosecutors stated they have not located or recovered the bulk of that money.

During the proceedings, he apologized in court. "I am not here to ask for compassion. I am here to take responsibility and to say I’m sorry — for the harm I caused and for the example I set."

He offered further reflection on his background and choices. I grew up in an environment where violence and crime seemed normal, but now I know that’s no excuse. There comes a time when every person must take responsibility for their decisions. I didn’t, and many people paid the price.

He stated in court, Choose a different path. There is no future in violence. It only leads to prison and death.

Violence must end in Mexico and elsewhere. Too many lives are being lost. No one wins.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. commented on the scale of the criminal enterprise. "Ismael Zambada Garcia spent nearly four decades poisoning American communities to make billions of dollars in profit and ordering the murders of anyone who stood in his way."

Nocella stated, "Drug dealing is a dead end, not just figuratively, but literally a dead end. Drug dealers die in prison." The government had previously offered a $15 million reward for his capture prior to his arrest in July 2024.

He stated he was kidnapped in Mexico and flown to the United States. His legal team argued that he did not cooperate with the government in a typical sense and did not divulge information about cartel members or Mexican officials.

The defense requested that he serve his sentence in a federal prison hospital due to age-related health issues. Judge Cogan stated that sealed medical records indicate he is experiencing declining cognitive abilities and other progressive medical conditions.

Federal prosecutors argued that he poses serious ongoing security risks and that some facilities may not be appropriate for those concerns. The Federal Bureau of Prisons will make the final decision on where he will serve his sentence.

In his admissions, he stated that from 1980 until 2025, he and the cartel were responsible for transporting at least 1.5 million kilograms of cocaine. He admitted that people working for him paid bribes to Mexican officials to facilitate these operations.

He acknowledged that cartel underlings built relationships with cocaine producers in Colombia and oversaw importing cocaine to Mexico by boat and plane. Prosecutors described him as the cartel’s strategist and dealmaker who was more involved in day-to-day operations than his co-founder Joaquín Guzmán.

Guzmán was convicted in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Colorado. He was born in Sinaloa and worked as a farmer in his youth before entering the drug trade.

In the 1980s, he collaborated with the Guadalajara cartel and later with the Juárez cartel. His son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2019 for drug trafficking.

Prosecutors alleged that he ordered the murder of his nephew, Eliseo Imperial Castro, months before his arrest. They also alleged that in 2023, at least three people were killed in retaliatory violence directed by him after a cache of drugs was stolen from the cartel.