Mexican cartel leader 'El Mayo' Zambada pleads not guilty to US charges

NEW YORK (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a powerful leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, pleaded not guilty Friday in a U.S. drug trafficking case that accuses him of engaging in murder plots and ordering torture.

Participating in a court hearing through a Spanish-language interpreter, Zambada gave yes-or-no answers to a magistrate’s standard questions about whether he understood various documents and procedures. Asked how he was feeling, Zambada said, “Fine, fine.”

His lawyers entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf.

Outside court, Zambada attorney Frank Perez said his client wasn't contemplating making a deal with the government, and the attorney expects the case to go to trial.

“It's a complex case,” he said.

Sought by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, Zambada has been in U.S. custody since July 25, when he landed in a private plane at an airport outside El Paso, Texas, in the company of another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, according to federal authorities.

Zambada later said in a letter that he was kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Zambada's lawyer did not elaborate on those claims Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cho ordered Zambada detained until trial. His lawyers did not ask for bail, and U.S. prosecutors asked the judge to detain him.

“He was one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro said. “He co-founded the Sinaloa cartel and sat atop the narcotics trafficking world for decades.”

Zambada, 76, used a wheelchair at a court appearance in Texas last month, and U.S. marshals steadied him Friday as he walked into a federal courtroom in Brooklyn. He appeared to accept some help getting out of a chair after the brief hearing, then walked out slowly but unaided.

Perez said after court Friday that Zambada was healthy and “in good spirits.”

Sketch artists were in the small courtroom, but other journalists could observe only through closed-circuit video because of a shortage of seats.

In court and in a letter earlier to the judge, prosecutors said Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force that was almost like an army, and a corps of “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.

His bloody tenure included ordering the murder, just months ago, of his own nephew, prosecutors said.

“A United States jail cell is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes,” Navarro said.

Zambada also pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier court appearance in Texas. His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 31.

According to authorities, Zambada and “El Chapo” Guzmán built the Sinaloa cartel from a regional syndicate into a huge manufacturer and smuggler of cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs to U.S. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has described defeating the cartel as one of the agency's top operational priorities.

Zambada has been seen as the group's strategist and dealmaker and a less flamboyant figure than Guzmán. Zambada had never been behind bars until his July arrest.

His “day of reckoning in a U.S. courtroom has arrived, and justice will follow,” Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace declared in a statement Friday.

Zambada's arrest has touched off fighting in Mexico between rival factions in the Sinaloa cartel. Gunfights have killed several people. Schools in businesses in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, have closed amid the fighting. The battles are believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted of drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019.

It remains unclear why Guzmán López surrendered to U.S. authorities and brought Zambada with him. Guzmán López is awaiting trial on a separate drug trafficking indictment in Chicago, where he has pleaded not guilty.

Associated Press video journalist David R. Martin contributed to this report.

In this courtroom sketch, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, second left, assisted by the U.S. Marshals, is led into the courtroom as his defense attorney Frank Perez, seated right, watches in federal court, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York,. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro, right, leaves Brooklyn Federal court after the arraignment of longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Friday, Sept.13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro, right, leaves Brooklyn Federal court after the arraignment of longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

Frank Perez, attorney for longtime drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leaves Brooklyn federal court after Zambada's arraignment Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)

In this courtroom sketch, Ismael Zambada Garcia, El Mayo, center, is seated beside his defense attorney Frank Perez, left, in Federal court, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A former Memphis police officer testified Tuesday that he punched a “helpless” Tyre Nichols at least five times while two colleagues held his arms and said, “hit him,” then lied to his supervisor about their use of force in a beating that proved fatal.

Emmitt Martin III testified that he was at the traffic stop on Jan, 7, 2023, when Nichols was pulled over and yanked from his car. Nichols fled, and Martin said Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith gave chase and were punching the 29-year-old man without their handcuffs out when Martin caught up with them.

“They were assaulting him,” Martin said Tuesday.

Bean, Smith and Demetrius Haley have pleaded not guilty to charges that they deprived Nichols of his civil rights through excessive force and failure to intervene, and obstructed justice through witness tampering.

The four men, along with Desmond Mills Jr., were fired after Nichols' death. The beating was caught on police video, which was released publicly. The officers were later indicted on the federal charges. Martin and Mills have taken plea deals and are testifying against their former colleagues.

Jurors watched video clips as Nichols' mother and stepfather, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, sat outside the courtroom. RowVaughn Wells has never seen the video. Nichols’ brother watched the video inside.

Martin said he was angry that Nichols had run, and that the team had not yet made any arrests that night.

“I figured that’s what he should get,” Martin said.

Prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert asked Martin whether officers were allowed to use force out of anger.

“No ma’am,” he said, adding that he should have intervened.

Martin said he threw his body camera on the ground because he didn't want to show "we were assaulting Mr. Nichols.”

Martin said he kicked Nichols, while Mills hit him with a baton. Then Martin said he punched Nichols at least five times while Bean and Smith held his arms and urged Martin on. Officers were holding his arms while also commanding him to give them his hands.

“He was helpless,” Martin said of Nichols.

Martin said he did not tell Lt. Dewayne Smith, his supervisor, about their use of force. Martin said he told Lt. Smith that Nichols was high, without evidence, and that officers lied about Nichols driving into oncoming traffic and swinging at them during the traffic stop.

Martin testified that while he felt pressure on his gun belt at the traffic stop, he never saw Nichols' hands on his gun. Yet, Martin said, he told his supervisor that Nichols had his hands on his weapon.

“I exaggerated his actions to justify mine,” Martin said.

He said colleagues understood that, “they weren’t going to tell on me, and I wasn’t going to tell on them.”

Martin said they violated department policy with their use of force and lying about it.

Martin acknowledged his plea deal and he said he hoped the judge would show leniency at sentencing.

“I can’t sit here and live with a lie. The truth needs to come out,” Martin told Gilbert. “It was eating me up inside.”

Under cross examination by Bean’s lawyer, John Keith Perry, Martin said he had been injured in November 2022 when he was hit by a car, and he had only returned to work a few days before the Nichols arrest. While Martin was away from work, Justin Smith called and Martin told him he was having homicidal thoughts, Martin testified.

Perry tried to show inconsistencies between Martin’s previous statements to investigators and his court testimony.

He pressed Martin about his wording in court, such as “exaggerate” and “passive resistance,” suggesting Martin only used that language after lawyers guided him on his testimony. Martin acknowledged he did not use those words when speaking with internal affairs investigators in the days after the beating, adding that he was not being truthful at that time.

Nichols, who was Black, was pepper sprayed and hit with a stun gun during the traffic stop, but ran away, police video shows. The five officers, who also are Black, then beat him about a block from his home, as he called out for his mother.

Video shows the officers milling about and talking as Nichols struggled with his injuries. Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.

An autopsy report shows Nichols — the father of a boy who is now 7 — died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and elsewhere on his body.

The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.

Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.

Former Memphis police officer Demetrius Haley arrives at the federal courthouse for the second day of jury selection for the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Justin Smith leaves the federal courthouse after the first day of jury selection of the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Attorney John Keith Perry, center, leaves the federal courthouse with his client former Memphis police officer Tadarrius Bean after the first day of jury selection of the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

FILE - This combo of images provided by the Memphis, Tenn., Police Department shows, top row from left, officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, and bottom row from left, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. (Memphis Police Department via AP, File)