The co-founder of the deadly Mexican Sinaloa cartel, Ismael Zambada, appeared in court in Brooklyn Friday, pleading not guilty to a raft of charges following his arrest in a dramatic sting by US agents.
New York has charged Zambada, who has also faced charges in Texas, with crimes including conspiracy to manufacture and internationally distribute drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl.
In Texas he pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder.
Zambada co-founded the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in the 1990s.
He escaped capture for much of his life despite a US bounty on his head of $15 million.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, Zambada was detained on July 25 with El Chapo’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, after they landed in the United States on a private plane.
“I was ambushed,” Zambada, 76, said in a statement released through his lawyer that he said aimed at clearing up the rumors and misinformation surrounding his capture.
Zambada’s lawyer and the US ambassador to Mexico have both previously said that he was taken against his will.
Spiraling criminal violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since 2006.
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