Notorious drug cartel leader Ismael Zambada sentenced to life in US prison

Notorious drug cartel leader Ismael Zambada sentenced to life in US prisonImage source, ReutersImage caption, Zambada being taken into custody in July 2024ByLisa LambertPublished7 minutes agoOne of the most notorious figures in Mexico's drug cartels, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, will spend the rest of his life in prison, a US judge ruled has ruled, two years after Zambada was lured to the US in an elaborate sting operation.The 76-year-old founded the violent Sinaloa Cartel, long the most powerful criminal organisation in Mexico, with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán.In 2024, El Chapo's son led Zambada to believe they were travelling to northern Mexico to inspect clandestine airstrips, when their plane instead landed in Texas and he was arrested. Last year, Zambada reached a plea deal and admitted to drug smuggling and conspiracy charges in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. On Monday, US District Judge Brian Cogan sentenced Zambada during a hearing in Brooklyn federal court. His guilty plea carried a mandatory term of life in prison, Reuters reported.El Chapo's son, Joaquin Guzmán Lopez, was also arrested in July 2024 and has pleaded guilty to federal drug charges. He has yet to be sentenced.In the plea deal, Zambada officially accepted his role in creating the vast criminal network which has sent huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the US since he co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel at the end of the 1980s.Prosecutors argued in a sentencing memo that Zambada "was one of the most-if not the most-prolific and powerful narcotraffickers in the world", according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner. The Sinaloa Cartel has been at war with itself since Zambada was taken into custody and has wreaked mayhem across the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Hundreds of people have been reported missing during fighting between its two rival factions.Violence and bloodletting also shook the cartel after El Chapo was arrested and extradited to...