The guilty plea caps a stunning reversal of fortune for Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who, with "El Chapo" Guzman, ruled the Sinaloa cartel for decades.

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.

August 10 was, for many in Mexico, a quiet Sunday like any other. But in Sinaloa—a northwestern state facing the Pacific—it was no ordinary Sunday. That day, 17 homicides were committed: one every 85 minutes.