Mexican cartel leader El Mayo in US court after being set up by El Chapo's son

Sinaloa Cartel cofounder Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in a New York federal court Friday.

The 76-year-old former drug lord appeared during a hearing in the same Brooklyn courthouse where his old partner, Joaquín ' El Chapo ' Guzmán was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Zambada submitted his plea to 17 felony counts, which include money laundering and weapons charges.

He provided yes or no answers in Spanish via a court-appointed interpreter while the judge asked if he had an understanding of the case's documents and procedures. When asked how he was feeling, he replied, 'Fine, fine.'

Zambada remained jailed pending trial under orders of the magistrate. His next court date is October 31.

Zambada also pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier court appearance in Texas ahead of his transfer to New York.

The Eastern District of New York accuses Zambada of running 'one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl.'

Prosecutors said that Zambada also oversaw a private security force that was almost like an army, and a gang of hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture. They alleged that he ordered the murder of his own nephew several months ago.

Prosecutor Francisco Navarro described Zambada '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,' Navarro said during the arraignment.

Zambada's attorney, Frank Pérez, told reporters outside the court that his client was not considering making a deal with the government and expects the case to go to trial.

'It's a complex case,' he said.

Zambada has been in U.S. custody since July 25, when he flew to New Mexico on a private jet with El Chapo's son, Joaquín Guzman López.

Guzmán López, who surrendered, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy and weapons charges in Chicago on July 30.

The aging kingpin released a two-page letter via his attorney on August 10 and accused Guzmán López of ambushing and kidnapping him in Mexico.

Zambada said Guzmán López had asked him to participate in a meeting with local politicians, including Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha, at an event hall outside Culiacán, the capital of the northwestern state of Sinaloa.

Guzmán López's brother, Iván Guzmán Salazar, was also scheduled to be there. Both are leaders of Los Chapitos, the other half of the Sinaloa Cartel faction.

Zambada recalled greeting his childhood friend and local politician, Héctor Cuén, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, before 'a group of men assaulted me, threw me to the ground and put a dark-colored hood over my head.'

He said that he was placed in a pickup truck and taken to an airfield, where a jet was waiting to deliver him to US authorities.

Cuén was reportedly gunned down by assassins, a claim that Zambada countered.

'I know that the official version given by the Sinaloa state authorities is that Héctor Cuén was shot the night of July 25 at a gas station by two men who wanted to steal his pick-up truck,' Zambada wrote. 'That's not what happened. They killed him at the same time and in the same place where they kidnapped me.'

Governor Rocha dismissed Zambada's allegations and said that he was on a flight to Los Angeles around 9am, two hours before Zambada showed up to the meeting. Espejo Magazine reviewed flight logs that support Rocha's alibi.

Zambada's arrest has led to internal cartel strife , pitting his son, Ismael Zambada Sicairos, against El Chapo's two sons, Iván Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Guzmán Salazar.

Multiple shootouts have left 12 people dead since Monday. One of the victims was a soldier.

The incidents have lead to the closure of schools and businesses, and call on the government to increase police and military presence.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has been criticized for his policy of not confronting criminal organizations, called on both sides to show restraint during a press briefing Friday.

'[There is a plan] with the presence of the Armed Forces to ensure that there is no confrontation, to protect the population, and they must also act with a minimum of responsibility,' López Obrador said. 'It is their family, their fellow countrymen, their municipality, their state and their country.'

When questioned by a reporter if he had confidence that the cartel factions would take on his advice, López Obrador said: 'The president of Mexico is always listened to.'