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The son of jailed Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera and another cartel boss were arrested Thursday in El Paso, Texas, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said .
Joaquín Guzmán Lopez and Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael Zambada Garcia are facing “multiple charges” in connection with the Mexico-based criminal organization, “including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking network,” Garland said. he said in a statement.
The crime boss known as “El Chapo” was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States, serving a life sentence plus 30 years that was sent to New York in 2019.
The Sinaloa Cartel, like the Jalisco Cartel, “is at the heart” of the synthetic drug crisis in the United States, which includes fentanyl and methamphetamine, the Drug Enforcement Administration said in its report 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Department of Justice will not rest until every cartel leader, member and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Garland he said in the statement.
Another son of “El Chapo”, Ovidio Guzmán Lopez, who was also an alleged cartel leader, was arrested in Mexico in January 2023 and was extradited to the United States to face drug and money laundering charges. He pleaded not guilty in September of that year.
Joaquín Guzmán López and Ovidio Guzmán López they were charged by a US federal grand jury in 2018 on charges that alleged conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana in the United States
Joaquin Guzman Lopez, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and two other sons of “El Chapo” were also indicted by a federal grand jury in 2023, the Department of Justice. he said at the time.
The two other sons, Ivan Guzmán Salazar and Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, were not arrested. The four children are known as “Chapitos”. federal officials saidand they took over his father’s drug trafficking network and his cartel faction.
Currently, there are four criminal organizations that make up the Sinaloa Cartel, says the Drug Enforcement Administration, including “Los Chapitos” which was led by the four sons of “El Chapo.”
The brothers promoted making fentanyl a bigger part of the cartel’s business, the DEA said in the 2024 report.
“The Sinaloa Cartel has produced large amounts of fentanyl since at least 2012, but the Chapitos faction is responsible for pushing the importance of fentanyl to the cartel’s ‘bottom line,'” the report says.
There were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the United States last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and most of those – an estimated 74,702 – were from synthetic opioids, which includes fentanyl. The second most was from psychostimulants such as methamphetamine, with an estimated 36,251 deaths, he said.
The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels make fentanyl in labs in Mexico and then ship it to the United States, the DEA said in this year’s report.
The two cartels in 2023 allegedly ordered subordinates to stop fentanyl trafficking, and the “Chapitos” made a public show about it, but the DEA concluded that “the ban is probably a public relations stunt” .
“Throughout 2023, fentanyl was seized at the border in the same or higher amounts than in previous years, and no DEA field office reported that fentanyl is less available or more expensive, each other will indicate a decrease in supply,” the agency. he said