In 2026, several Sinaloa Cartel leaders, including Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán López as well as Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, will have key hearings in US courts to determine their sentences for drug trafficking and organized crime. These proceedings follow guilty pleas reached in 2025, amid an internal cartel war. Dates include January for Ovidio, June for Joaquín, and April for El Mayo.
The year 2026 will be a critical period for Sinaloa Cartel leaders in US courts, where they will face the consequences of their drug trafficking operations. Ovidio Guzmán López, known as 'El Ratón', was captured in Mexico in January 2023 and extradited to the United States in September of the same year. In July 2025, he accepted responsibility for four charges of drug trafficking and organized crime before Judge Sharon Coleman in Chicago. His hearing to set the sentencing date is scheduled for January 9, 2026.
Joaquín Guzmán López, 39 years old and nicknamed 'El Güero', surrendered to authorities alongside Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada in July 2024. He negotiated quickly with prosecutors and, on December 1, 2025, pleaded guilty to two similar charges in a Northern District of Illinois court. He will return for a preparatory hearing on June 1, 2026.
Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, the cartel's founder, was betrayed and handed over by his godson Joaquín Guzmán López in 2024, sparking an internal war between the 'Los Chapitos' and 'Los Mayos' factions. After 13 months, in August 2025, he accepted the charges for leading a criminal enterprise in a federal court in the Eastern District of New York. His lawyer, Frank Pérez, secured a 90-day extension to gather evidence, delaying the hearing to April 13, 2026.
These agreements involve cooperating with US authorities and paying millions of dollars in exchange for reduced sentences, revealing details about drug smuggling operations. Meanwhile, brothers like Iván Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzmán Salazar continue vying for control of the cartel in Mexico.
