“Socalj” for Borderland Beat

U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday that they’re discussing a potential plea deal with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Mayo also expressed his desire to retain his lawyer Frank Perez despite a possible conflict should Vincentillo Zambada be a potential witness in a future trial. Perez had defended Mayo’s son before.

Assistant U.S. attorney Francisco Navarro said the plea discussions with Zambada, a leader of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel, haven’t borne fruit so far, but prosecutors want to keep trying. A judge scheduled an April 22 hearing for an update.

Zambada’s lead attorney, Frank Perez, declined to comment on the discussions.

Zambada was an attentive and active participant during Wednesday’s hearing, which focused on whether he wanted Perez to continue representing him even while also representing a potential government witness in the case — Zambada’s son Vicente Zambada.

“I don’t want a different attorney,” the father said through a court interpreter. “I want him, even though this could be a conflict if he represents me and my son.”

Zambada said he realized there could be problems with Perez representing him and his son — “for example, that he will have to hide information that he obtained from Vicente from me.”

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan ultimately agreed that Perez could stay on the case, noting that Ismael Zambada also has other lawyers who could handle any piece of it relating to his son.

Artist’s rendition of El Mayo and lawyers on January 15, 2024.

According to Mexican journalists who covered the second hearing of ‘El Mayo’ in Brooklyn, New York, Mayo showed that he was in better health, as he arrived at the courtroom without needing a wheelchair.

“It seems that the prison in the US has not been too bad for him. I’m not joking. He looks MUCH more recovered than in the photographs of his arrest or as he did at the first hearing to present charges. He even smiles at times,” described journalist Arturo Ángel Hernandez.

“He has dark hair that is combed back, with a gray beard. He does, however, limp. At times he joked and smiled at his lawyers,” Hernandez reported at the time.