Mexican drug lord, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, has entered a guilty plea to two drug smuggling and conspiracy charges in a court in New York, bringing an end to one of the longest and most notorious criminal careers in the history of organised crime. Zambada was not just any drug lord.

While other top Mexican drug traffickers were killed or extradited to the United States to face justice, Zambada remained comfortably ensconced atop his empire, exporting tons of cocaine, meth, heroin and fentanyl around the globe from his stronghold in the Pacific state of Sinaloa.

The Justice Department has said it would not seek the death penalty for former cartel leader Ismael Zambada García and other Mexican drug lords in U.S. custody.