Ismael Zambada Garcia, Fentanyl Trafficking, New York 2024

Co-Founder of Sinaloa Cartel Charged in Superseding Indictment with Conspiracy to Manufacture and Distribute Fentanyl

Brooklyn, NY - A fifth superseding indictment was filed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as “El Mayo,” with conspiring to manufacture and distribute a substance, containing N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl] propanamide (“fentanyl”), a Schedule II controlled substance intending and knowing that such substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States.

Zambada was previously charged in multiple superseding indictments with running a continuing criminal enterprise, as well as murder conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl manufacture and distribution conspiracy, as well as other drug-related crimes, through his continuing leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.

The fifth superseding indictment extends the end-dates of the continuing criminal enterprise and several conspiracies from May 2014 to January 2024. Zambada Garcia remains at large.

“As alleged, Zambada Garcia is charged with numerous drug offenses, now including the manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, a deadly drug that was largely unheard of when he founded the Sinaloa Cartel more than three decades ago and today is responsible for immeasurable harm,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.

The investigation was led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York City Police Department, and the New York State Police.

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat Americans have ever faced, and the Sinaloa Cartel continues to be the largest trafficker of fentanyl into the United States,” stated DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.

“As the co-founder and current leader of the largest, most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, Ismael Zambada Garcia is accused of supplying fentanyl to the United States at a time when the lethal narcotic has claimed lives at a devastating rate,” stated HSI Acting Assistant Director Ivan J. Arvelo.

Zambada Garcia remains at large and is currently a fugitive. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/co-founder-sinaloa-cartel-charged-superseding-indictment-conspiracy-manufacture-and