00:00Thank you, Attorney General Bondi.
00:03As you've heard a short time ago, Ismael Zimbada Garcia, known as El Mayo, pled guilty
00:09here in the Eastern District of New York to being the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, the
00:15largest drug trafficking organization in the world.
00:18Among other things, he admitted to leading a continuing criminal enterprise and to RICO
00:24conspiracy charges.
00:27This is an historic day.
00:30With today's plea, the Sinaloa Cartel has been decapitated.
00:35Its two founders and leaders, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, also known as El Chapo, and now El
00:42Mayo, both stand convicted.
00:47These defendants built a criminal empire in Sinaloa, Mexico.
00:51Their cartel grew like it was a cancer throughout the hemisphere.
00:56They flooded the United States with deadly drugs, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine,
01:02and then fentanyl.
01:04El Mayo was first indicted in the Eastern District of New York in 2009, and we continued to add
01:11charges, including, as the Attorney General mentioned, fentanyl trafficking, right up until this very
01:18year.
01:19As a result of his conviction, El Mayo faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility
01:25of parole.
01:27This conviction is also a testament to the unrelenting determination of the prosecutors and the law
01:34enforcement agents who would never stop seeking to bring El Mayo to justice.
01:40As our Attorney General has pointed out, the plea marks the conclusion of a decades-long effort
01:47by hardworking and dedicated public servants across the United States.
01:52I want to thank the prosecution team from the Eastern District of New York, Assistant United
01:57States Attorneys Francisco Navarro, Robert Pollack, Adam Amir, Lauren Bowman, and Rebecca
02:07Urkulak.
02:09In addition to the United States Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida
02:13and the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, both of whom are
02:17here with us today, I also want to acknowledge the important contributions of the U.S. Attorney's
02:22Office for the Northern District of Illinois, the Southern District of California, and the
02:27Central District of California.
02:30I would also like to thank our American law enforcement partners at the FBI, Homeland Security, and the
02:36DEA, along with numerous other law enforcement agents throughout the government.
02:42I would also like to thank our counterparts in the Mexican Government.
02:47Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the presence here today of Frank Tarantino from the DEA,
02:53Ricky Patel from Homeland Security, and Philip Bates from the FBI.
02:58I am now going to ask Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Gagliotti to say a few words.
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