El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzman Lopez has been extradited from Mexico to the US to face drug charges.
Lopez was flown to Chicago on Friday, September 15, where he’ll face charges of smuggling huge quantities of meth and fentanyl across the border and into the United States.
The drug lord, also known as ‘the Mouse,’ and the son of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, is now in US custody ahead of trial, as announced by US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Garland stated that, “This action is the most recent step in the Justice Department’s effort to attack every aspect of the cartel’s operations.”
The Mexican government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Previously, Mexican security forces captured Guzman Lopez in January in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, the cartel’s namesake.
Three years earlier, the government had attempted to capture him, but aborted the operation after his cartel allies incited violence in Culiacan.
January’s arrest led to similar violence, resulting in the deaths of 30 people in Culiacan, including 10 military personnel.
The army deployed Black Hawk helicopter gunships against 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, hitting military and civilian aircraft with gunfire.
The capture occurred just days before US President Joe Biden visited Mexico for bilateral talks followed by the North American Leaders’ Summit.
On Friday, Garland acknowledged the law enforcement and military members who had sacrificed their lives in the US and Mexico.
“The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country,” Garland added.
In April, US prosecutors unsealed extensive indictments against Guzman and his brothers, collectively known as the ‘Chapitos.’
They detailed how, following their father’s extradition and eventual life sentence in the US, the brothers steered the cartel more toward synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.
El Chapo was convicted of drug offenses in 2019 and sentenced to die in the infamous ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
His ex-girlfriend Emma Coronel was recently released from a halfway house.
The unsealed indictment in Manhattan revealed that their goal was to produce substantial quantities of fentanyl and sell it at the lowest price.
Prosecutors stated that fentanyl is so inexpensive to produce that the cartel reaps immense profits, even wholesaling the drug at 50 cents per pill. The brothers denied the allegations in a letter.
