By 
A federal judge says she is denying a Department of Justice request from last month asking that jailed Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada be transferred from Texas to the Eastern District of New York.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone’s ruling yesterday comes as competing DOJ jurisdictions each want to try El Mayo for various cartel-related crimes. The drug leader is also facing charges in New York, Illinois and Washington, D.C.
The judge’s multipage ruling notes that El Mayo was taken into custody by federal authorities at a small airport in New Mexico last July. His arrest at that time was on the strength of a warrant for a pending indictment in the Western District of Texas. These charges include conspiracy, racketeering, drug trafficking, money laundering, weapons and illegal importation of drugs.
