El Paso Judge Approves Transfer Of ‘El Mayo’ From Texas To New York

Kathleen Cardone, a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in El Paso, determined on August 15, 2024, that the Sinaloa drug lord Ismael Mario Zambada García, alias “El Mayo,” 76 years old, be transferred to Brooklyn.

The co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel will be tried by Judge Brian M. Cogan, in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York.

During a court filing, federal prosecutors in El Paso said that Zambada García would be prosecuted for the charges he faces in the Eastern District of New York, before returning to face separate charges in Texas.

Federal prosecutors noted in their filing that they had not yet received a response from Frank Pérez, defense attorney for “El Mayo,” regarding his opinion on the imminent transfer of his client to New York, which did not have a set date.

The charges Zambada García faces in Brooklyn, filed on February 15, 2024, included conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl. While in Texas, he has drug trafficking and organized crime charges filed in 2012, arising from alleged conspiracies to send cocaine and marijuana to the United States.

Perez, the Sinaloa drug lord’s defense attorney, filed, on August 8, 2024, a request before Judge Brian M. Cogan in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York, to represent the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The ‘pro hac vice’ motion was sent by the aforementioned litigant to the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York. Perez indicated that he was filing the request to be able to “argue and judge this case in whole or in part as lead attorney for Ismael Zambada García.”

In addition, the lawyer argued that he had no disciplinary matters against him in any state or US court. He also explained that he was a litigator in the United States Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas, in El Paso, and that he had not been arrested for any crime, censured or suspended in any court.

The ‘pro hac vice’ motion grants a limited license to an American lawyer to be able to practice in a jurisdiction where he is not authorized. Perez confirmed, on August 6, 2024, to the Spanish agency EFE, that the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel would be transferred from El Paso, Texas, to Brooklyn, where he would be tried by Judge Cogan, in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York.

“The date on which the drug lord will be sent to New York has not yet been set, but it is known that there is already a pending charge against ‘El Mayo’ in the Eastern District of New York, the same where his former partner Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán was sentenced to life imprisonment,” added the aforementioned Spanish agency.

Hours earlier, the newspaper The New York Times released the information based on four sources and reported, in a text signed by reporter Alan Feuer, that the Sinaloa drug lord would be tried in the same Federal Court where his compadre, Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo,” was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, on February 12, 2019 and July 17 of that same year, respectively.

The New York newspaper recalled that “El Mayo” was first charged in the United States more than two decades ago and faced other charges, not only in Brooklyn, but also in El Paso, Chicago, Illinois, Washington D.C., and San Diego, California.

Sources told the NYT that the U.S. Department of Justice decided to send “El Mayo” to Brooklyn because they felt the case there was strong and were concerned about the security issues involved in filing charges against the Sinaloa drug lord so close to the Mexican border.

In addition, according to sources told the newspaper, some of the prosecutors who oversaw “El Chapo’s” trial had agreed to return to prosecute “El Mayo’s” case and that the judge who oversaw Guzmán Loera’s case was well versed in the issues related to the case.

The aforementioned media outlet detailed that the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York also had a secure prison, the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York (MCC New York), which was used to house “El Chapo,” that could reduce the security risks of judging “El Mayo.”

Source: Zeta Tijuana