Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, pleaded not guilty to U.S. narcotics trafficking and murder charges on Friday.

The alleged Sinaloa Cartel co-founder, known as "El Mayo" Zambada, pleads not guilty on Friday morning on drug trafficking charges.

BROOKLYN (CN) — Arrested after four decades of heading the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court for drug trafficking-related charges targeting one of the world’s most powerful drug cartel leaders.

Federal authorities say prosecution of "El Mayo" Zambada is a major step in the battle against fentanyl overdoses in the U.S.

The accused Mexican kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges on Friday in the same New York courthouse where fellow Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was convicted five years earlier.

Prosecutor Francisco Navarro described "El Mayo" as "one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world. "A United States jail cell is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes and ensure his return to court,

Mexican cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who was one of the United States’s most wanted drug lords, pleaded not guilty to murder and drug trafficking charges in federal court in New York on Friday.