• Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada pleads guilty to drug trafficking charges in U.S. federal court.
• The former kingpin is expected to face life imprisonment following his guilty plea.
• Zambada acknowledges his role in flooding the U.S. with drugs and causing violence in Mexico.
• His criminal empire has been linked to shipments of over 1.5 million kilograms of cocaine.
• Zambada's arrest last year was reportedly a result of being lured by one of El Chapo's sons.

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a former leader of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, pleaded guilty on Monday to multiple drug trafficking charges in a Brooklyn federal courtroom. He admitted to running a vast criminal enterprise responsible for flooding the U.S. with cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl over several decades, expressing remorse for the harm caused, "I recognize the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people in the United States and Mexico," he stated through an interpreter, according to latimes and Reuters.

Zambada, 75, who had been a fugitive for over two decades, detailed the operational scope of the Sinaloa cartel, which he co-founded with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. He acknowledged that under his leadership, the cartel grew to become the largest drug trafficking organization worldwide, overseeing importation methods that included bribing law enforcement officials. "Many innocent people were also killed," he admitted, highlighting the violence associated with his criminal activities, as reported by HuffPost and ABC News.

His plea deal follows an intense period of scrutiny by U.S. authorities and comes after prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty. Zambada was arrested last year in Texas when he reportedly boarded a plane under false pretenses, believing he was meeting with a family member. His subsequent custody ignited violent conflicts back in Sinaloa, revealing the ongoing power struggles within the cartel post-Zambada, according to CBS News and BBC.

During the hearing, Zambada expressed that he had started his illicit activities at the age of 19 and had overseen the trafficking of a staggering amount of drugs. Prosecutors have alleged he will now be sentenced to life imprisonment on January 13, 2026, a fate that solidifies his downfall from a powerful drug lord to a convicted criminal, echoing sentiments from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who called this a "landmark victory" in the battle against narcoterrorism, as noted by South China Morning Post and India Times.

The ramifications of his actions are vast, and Zambada's plea marks the end of an era for one of the most infamous drug trafficking organizations in history, as highlighted by NPR and Africanews.