Ismael Zambada Imperial, "El Mayito Gordo" released from U.S. prison

Ismael Zambada Imperial, "El Mayito Gordo", son of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was released from prison in the United States, according to information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. With registration number 92347-298, Zambada Imperial, 38, was released on July 22 from a medium-security prison in California. According to Univision, he must still serve five years of probation.

"El Mayito Gordo" was arrested in 2014 and extradited to the United States in December 2019 to stand trial on drug trafficking charges. He was accused of smuggling kilos of cocaine and tons of marijuana from Mexico to the US.

He was apprehended on November 12, 2014, in the town of El Salado, municipality of Culiacán, Sinaloa, with a van in which he was carrying 5 assault rifles, most of them AK-47 or "cuerno de chivo"; 5 pistols; 57 long gun magazines, 5 handgun magazines, and 2,107 cartridges.

On November 16, 2017, a federal judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison for the crime of carrying weapons for the exclusive use of the Army.

At the end of last June, he was sentenced in the U.S. to nine years in prison on two drug trafficking charges, which meant his upcoming release due to the time he spent in detention in Mexico and the United States.

Other members of the Zambada family - Vicente Zambada Niebla, Serafin Zambada Ortiz, and Jesus Zambada Garcia - have also been released by the US government after cooperating with authorities or pleading guilty to drug trafficking, Univision said.

More about 'Mayito Gordo'

He is the first-born son of Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada Garcia. El 'Mayito', 38, was incarcerated in the San Diego Metropolitan Detention Center, where he was extradited in December 2019.

Zambada's arrest by Navy agents took place on November 12, 2014, in the town of La Estancia de los Burgos, belonging to the El Salado syndicate, in the municipality of Culiacán, along with a group of bodyguards and townspeople.

El Gordo", also known as "El Gordo", was facing charges for crimes against health for commercial purposes, in addition to carrying a firearm and cartridges for the exclusive use of the armed forces. At the time of his arrest, three of his collaborators were taken to the federal prison El Rincón, in Tepic, Nayarit, accused of the same crimes as him.

During his stay in prison, Ismael Zambada Imperial claimed violations of his right to health through two other amparo petitions. However, these petitions were dismissed because, according to the judges, the challenged act did not exist.

Before his arrest, 'El Mayito' distinguished himself for being close to musical groups that are part of the so-called "alterado movement" in Mexico, a culture surrounding drug trafficking that glorifies the exploits of drug lords through music and other expressions. He published his escapades with women through social networks, where he showed the luxuries with which he lived and his travels.