The defense team for ‘El Mayo’ Zambada has requested that their client be allowed to serve his life sentence in a prison with specialized medical care.
Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada has a “final wish”: to die in his homeland, following his sentencing to life imprisonment in the United States on drug trafficking charges.
Will Mexico consider the request? Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch emphasized that this matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), led by Ernestina Godoy.
“It would be up to the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether to request extradition” to the United States, he commented during Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference in Toluca.
Why is ‘El Mayo’ asking to be extradited to Mexico?
Frank Perez, Zambada’s lawyer, stated that his client wants his story—leading the Sinaloa Cartel—to serve as an example to young people in Mexico regarding the dangers of getting involved with criminals.
“I pleaded guilty in the United States, accepted the punishment, and now I would like to go to my country and plead guilty in the same way,” were the remarks ‘El Mayo’ made to his lawyer, as recounted in an interview with reporter Ángel Hernández.
Has Mexico already requested the extradition of ‘El Mayo’ Zambada? In February 2025, then-Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero clarified that there were at least four requests, all of which had been submitted to the administration of former President Joe Biden. “It is the obligation of the Government of Mexico to initiate the extradition process,” and the U.S. administration has an obligation to respond to the requests, he said during the February 25, 2025, morning press conference.
Ernestina Godoy—now serving as prosecutor—explained this month that the Mexican justice system has at least 32 active investigations against the Sinaloa Cartel co-founder, “for which arrest warrants have been issued, enabling the request for his extradition.”
However, the U.S. rejected Mexico’s extradition requests due to the proceedings already underway against ‘El Mayo’ in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Godoy added.
Where will the $15 billion that the U.S. is demanding from ‘El Mayo’ Zambada come from?
When asked about the existence of properties owned by Zambada in Mexico, García Harfuch explained that the federal government had not found any held “directly” in his name.
Nevertheless, he noted that the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) had seized “a large number” of accounts and properties belonging to criminal organizations linked to the Sinaloa Cartel founder.
With this statement, the Security Secretary confirmed the assertion made by Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada’s lawyer, who stated that he had not identified any property registered in his client’s name.
The controversy arises after Judge Brian Cogan also ordered ‘El Mayo’ to forfeit $15 billion in assets—a sum his legal defense has said there is “no way he can pay.”
The Department of Justice has framed the case against ‘El Mayo’ within the context of its alleged fight against fentanyl—a campaign the Donald Trump administration uses to justify tariffs, military strikes near the Caribbean, and even the arrest of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Source: El Financiero
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1 Comment
Stupid old Coke Nose thinks he deserves to be treated like a human being; he doesn’t realize that it is beneath the honor and dignity of the U.S. courts to treat a person otherwise. Monsters never think of themselves as monsters, they cannot be rehabilitated -only destroyed. It is too bad the kids that took this shit stain into custody didn’t have the decency to kill him while they had the opportunity.