By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The accused Mexican kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada on Wednesday decided to stick with the lawyer defending him from U.S. drug trafficking charges despite a possible conflict of interest.
Zambada's lawyer Frank Perez has also represented his son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, who prosecutors say could testify against him at trial. Zambada Niebla previously testified against Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who founded the notorious Sinaloa Cartel alongside Zambada.
The septuagenarian Zambada has pleaded not guilty. Guzman, 67, was convicted in 2019 and is serving a life sentence at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Zambada waived any conflict of interest stemming from Perez's representation of his son.
Zambada Niebla, 49, was arrested in Mexico in 2009 and extradited to the United States the following year on cocaine trafficking charges. He pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He has since been released, prosecutors said.
During Guzman's trial, Zambada Niebla testified that his father was a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
No date has been set for Zambada's trial. Prosecutors with the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office said in a Dec. 18 filing that they expected to include Zambada Niebla on their list of potential witnesses, but they could not estimate how likely it was that he would actually be called to testify.
Zambada was taken into U.S. custody on July 25, 2024 at a New Mexico airfield along with one of Guzman's sons, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, in a major coup for U.S. law enforcement.