A court in the United States sent on Monday Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, the 77-year-old co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, behind bars for the rest of his life without parole and ordered the forfeiture of his fortune worth $15 billion, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. The ruling closes the book on a decades-long manhunt that ended with a dramatic arrest in July 2024. Zambada, who previously had a $15 million U.S. bounty on his head, was taken into custody near El Paso, Texas, after landing in a small aircraft alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of fellow cartel co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The Mexican government stated at the time that it did not participate in the operation. Following the 2016 capture of El Chapo, Zambada further consolidated his individual power over the Sinaloa Cartel.