“El Mayo” Zambada speaks to Judge Brian Cogan (not pictured) in Brooklyn federal court, as his defence attorney Frank Perez looks on, in New York. (Picture credit: AP)

Ismael Zambada García, the elusive Mexican drug lord known as El Mayo, pleaded guilty in a New York courtroom on Monday to drug trafficking charges, marking the downfall of one of the last remaining founders of the Sinaloa cartel.Zambada, 75, admitted to running a vast criminal empire alongside Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, smuggling cocaine, heroin and other drugs into the United States for decades. “I started getting involved with illegal drugs in 1969, when I was 19 years old, and I planted marijuana for the first time,” he said in court, as per The New York Times. “I recognise the great harm that illegal drugs have done to the people of the United States and Mexico and elsewhere, he said. Acknowledging the cartel’s violence, he recognised the great harm illegal drugs had caused.Appearing before Judge Brian M. Cogan in Brooklyn, Zambada pleaded guilty to engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy. He is due to be sentenced on January 13 and faces life in prison. As per news agency AP, prosecutors said he and his cartel moved at least 1.5 million kilograms of cocaine into the US between 1980 and 2024, while also trafficking heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.US attorney general Pam Bondi hailed the plea as a “landmark victory,” declaring, “El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a US federal prison, where he belongs,” as per BBC.Zambada’s arrest in July 2024 came after an extraordinary betrayal by his former ally’s son. According to the New York Times, Joaquín Guzmán López, one of El Chapo’s sons, lured him onto a private plane under the pretence of a real estate deal, before delivering him to US authorities in Texas. The double-cross ignited violent clashes in Sinaloa between Zambada’s loyalists, known as Los Mayos, and the faction led by Guzmán’s sons, Los Chapitos.In court, Zambada calmly described overseeing cocaine shipments from Colombia, ordering cartel killings and bribing high-ranking officials to protect his network. “I take responsibility for my role in all of it and I apologise to everyone who has suffered or been affected by my actions,” he told the judge, as per AP.Zambada’s conviction means both architects of the Sinaloa cartel, El Mayo and El Chapo, will now spend their remaining years behind bars in the United States, closing a chapter on one of the most powerful drug empires in modern history.