NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Ismael 鈥淓l Mayo鈥 Zambada, a powerful leader of Mexico鈥檚 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鈥檚 standard questions about whether he understood various documents and procedures. Asked how he was feeling, Zambada said, 鈥淔ine, fine.鈥
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.
鈥淚t's a complex case,鈥 he said.
Sought by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, Zambada 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, Joaqu铆n Guzm谩n L贸pez, according to federal authorities.
Zambada that he was kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzm谩n L贸pez, a son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaqu铆n 鈥淓l Chapo鈥 Guzm谩n.
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.
鈥淗e was one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world,鈥 Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro said. 鈥淗e co-founded the Sinaloa cartel and sat atop the narcotics trafficking world for decades.鈥
Zambada, 76, 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 鈥渋n good spirits.鈥
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 鈥渟icarios,鈥 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.
鈥淎 United States jail cell is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes,鈥 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 鈥淓l Chapo鈥 Guzm谩n 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 Guzm谩n. Zambada had never been behind bars until his July arrest.
His 鈥渄ay of reckoning in a U.S. courtroom has arrived, and justice will follow,鈥 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, . The battles are believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of 鈥淓l Chapo鈥 Guzm谩n, who was convicted of drug and conspiracy charges and in the U.S. in 2019.
It remains unclear why Guzm谩n L贸pez surrendered to U.S. authorities and brought Zambada with him. Guzm谩n L贸pez is on a separate drug trafficking indictment in Chicago, where he has .
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Associated Press video journalist David R. Martin contributed to this report.
