Sinaloa Cartel drug lord to be sentenced in December

Jesús Vicente Zambada Niebla

, a key figure of the Sinaloa Cartel turned DEA informant, will be sentenced this December 17, 2018, in Chicago.

It is expected that U.S. district judge Ruben Castillo sentences the drug lord to 10 years in prison and to pay a fine of USD$ 4 million for smuggling billions of illegal drugs into U.S territory, instead of serving a life sentence.

On April 3rd, 2013 Jesús Vicente Zambada pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, claiming he acted as logistics manager for the Sinaloa Cartel and, in a turn of events which took many by surprise, that he had also been working as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), collaborating with the U.S. Government in the case against Joaquín Guzmán Loera, better known as “ El Chapo .”

Vicente Zambada, son of kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada – second-in-command of the Sinaloa Cartel – claimed he was aware of the activities of his father and “El Chapo” Guzmán, and of the use of violence employed by the criminal organization.

Other eight drug lords investigated in relation to the case in Chicago have already been sentenced, including twin brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores, who also became U.S. informants.

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