The fact that he was handed over by rival criminals and not extradited opens the door to capital punishment
The leader and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, could face a request for the death penalty in the trial in which he is being subjected in the United States, a possibility ruled out by international law in cases of extradition and not applicable in the case of Zambada because he was handed over to the United States by rival drug traffickers.
The possibility was raised in the first hearing of the trial held on Friday before the Federal Court of the Brooklyn district, in New York. “Is there any impediment due to extradition for the death penalty to be requested?” asked the judge. “No,” the prosecution responded, according to the Mexican press.
The judge has set the next hearing for January 15, 2025, after ensuring that this will be “definitely a long process.” Zambada is charged with 17 counts related to his leadership of the Sinaloa cartel.
Although the case has been compared to that of the historic drug trafficker Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, there is the difference that it includes accusations of fentanyl trafficking and crimes committed from the 1980s to 2024. The fentanyl accusation is the one that could prompt the request for the death penalty against Zambada.
Zambada, 76, was arrested on July 25 at an airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, near El Paso, after arriving on a private plane with Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, who had a deal with the United States authorities and who was the one who handed him over after kidnapping him in Mexico.
