EL PASO, Texas â A powerful Mexican drug cartel leader on Thursday made his second appearance in federal court in Texas after being taken into U.S. custody last week.
Ismael âEl Mayoâ Zambada, 76, used a wheelchair for the hearing before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso. Zambada, the longtime leader of Mexicoâs Sinaloa cartel, eluded authorities for decades until a plane carrying him and JoaquĂn GuzmĂĄn LĂłpez, a son of notorious drug kingpin JoaquĂn âEl Chapoâ GuzmĂĄn," landed at an airport near El Paso on July 25. Both men were arrested and remain jailed. They are charged in the U.S. with various drug crimes.
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Discussions during the short hearing Thursday included whether Zambada would be tried with co-defendants or separately. He is being held without bond and pleaded not guilty during a short hearing last week, where he also used a wheelchair.
His next hearing date was set for Sept. 9. His attorneys declined to comment after Thursday's hearing.
One of his attorneys, Frank Perez, previously has alleged his client was kidnapped by GuzmĂĄn LĂłpez and brought to the U.S. aboard a private plane. GuzmĂĄn LĂłpez, 38, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court in Chicago.
Zambada was thought to be more involved in day-to-day operations of the cartel than his better-known and flashier boss, âEl Chapo,â who was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019.
Zambada is charged in a number of U.S. cases, including in New York and California. Prosecutors brought a new indictment against him in New York in February, describing him as the âprincipal leader of the criminal enterprise responsible for importing enormous quantities of narcotics into the United States.â
The capture of Zambada and GuzmĂĄn LĂłpez has fueled theories about how federal authorities pulled it off and prompted Mexican President AndrĂŠs Manuel LĂłpez Obrador to take the unusual step of issuing a public appeal to drug cartels not to fight each other.