Mexican drug lord ‘El Mayo’ pleads guilty in US to drug-trafficking charges

Former Mexican cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada pleaded guilty on Monday to US drug trafficking charges, saying he was sorry for helping to flood the United States with cocaine, heroin and other illicit substances and for fuelling deadly violence in Mexico.

“I recognise the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people in the United States and Mexico,” he said through a Spanish-language interpreter. “I apologise for all of it and I take responsibility for my actions.”

Under the leadership of Zambada and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Sinaloa cartel evolved from a regional player into the largest drug trafficking organisation in the world, prosecutors say.

“Culpable,” Zambada said, using the Spanish word for “guilty”, as he entered his plea.

He acknowledged the extent of the Sinaloa operation, including underlings who built relationships with cocaine producers in Colombia, oversaw the importation of cocaine to Mexico by boat and plane and the smuggling of the drug across the US-Mexico border.

He acknowledged that people working for him paid bribes to Mexican police and military commanders “so they could operate freely”, going all the way back to when the cartel was just starting out.