Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada is accused of ordering torture, plotting murders and flooding the U.S. with cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs.

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.

Former Mexican cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada is set to plead guilty next week in a drug trafficking case that accuses him of ordering torture, plotting murders and flooding the U.S. with cocaine,