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Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of notorious drug lord El Chapo, has been extradited from Mexico to the United States to answer for drug-related charges.
Lopez arrived in Chicago on Friday, September 15, and will be prosecuted for allegedly orchestrating the transportation of substantial amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl across the border and into the United States.
The son of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, a notorious drug lord, is now in the custody of US authorities pending trial, as announced by US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Garland stated, “This action marks the latest stride in the Justice Department’s campaign to dismantle all aspects of the cartel’s operations.”
The Mexican government has not provided an immediate response to requests for comments.
Guzmán López, known by the alias ‘the Mouse,’ was apprehended by Mexican security forces in January in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, from which the cartel derives its name.
Three years prior, the government had attempted to capture him, but the operation was aborted due to violent retaliation by his cartel associates, which engulfed Culiacan in turmoil.
The arrest in January led to a similar outbreak of violence, resulting in the deaths of 30 individuals in Culiacan, including 10 military personnel.
In response, the military employed Black Hawk helicopter gunships to confront the cartel’s truck-mounted .50-caliber machine guns. Cartel gunmen targeted two military aircraft, forcing them to land, and also attacked the city’s airport, where both military and civilian aircraft were subjected to gunfire.
This capture occurred shortly before US President Joe Biden’s visit to Mexico for bilateral discussions and the North American Leaders’ Summit.
On Friday, Garland paid tribute to the law enforcement and military members who sacrificed their lives in both the US and Mexico. He stated, “The Justice Department remains committed to holding those responsible for exacerbating the opioid epidemic, which has inflicted immense damage on numerous communities throughout the nation.”
In April, US prosecutors unveiled extensive indictments against Guzmán and his siblings, collectively known as the ‘Chapitos.’ These indictments outlined how, following their father’s extradition and eventual life sentence in the US, the brothers shifted the cartel’s focus towards synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.
El Chapo was convicted of drug-related offenses in 2019 and sentenced to serve his sentence in the notorious ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
Notably, his ex-girlfriend Emma Coronel was recently released from a halfway house earlier this week.
The indictment unsealed in Manhattan said their goal was to produce huge quantities of fentanyl and sell it at the lowest price.
Fentanyl is so cheap to make that the cartel reaps immense profits even wholesaling the drug at 50 cents per pill, prosecutors said. The brothers denied the allegations in a letter.
