Federal agents arrested two Mexican alleged cartel bosses on Thursday, including Joaquin Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez, the son of infamous cartel boss Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzman, in one of the biggest victories for US law enforcement in recent years. <\/p>\n
The two detained men belong to the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world\u2019s most powerful drug-trafficking organizations, thought to be responsible for the trafficking of vast amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US. <\/p>\n
Investigators exploited a rift in the cartel and used the help of Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez to lure the other suspect, Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada, onto a flight bound for El Paso, Texas, where they were eventually arrested. Zambada is a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018El Mayo\u2019 and Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez join an increasingly long list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates whom the Department of Justice holds accountable in the United States,\u201d said Attorney General Merrick Garland. <\/p>\n
Here are some of the men they join on that list: <\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Antonio Y\u00e9pez, \u201cEl Marro\u201d (August 2020)<\/strong> <\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Antonio Y\u00e9pez Ortiz, arrested in August 2020 in Guanajuato, was considered by authorities to be the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. <\/p>\n At the time, Mexico\u2019s Secretary of Security Alfonso Durazo confirmed Y\u00e9pez\u2019s arrest via his official Twitter account, noting that \u201cEl Marro\u201d was detained under a warrant for \u201corganized crime and fuel theft.\u201d <\/p>\n In January 2022, a court in Guanajuato sentenced Y\u00e9pez to 60 years in prison for kidnapping, according to the State Attorney General\u2019s office. <\/p>\n The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has generated most of its income through fuel theft and extortion, according to Mexican authorities. \u201cEl Marro\u201d had been sought for months, with authorities targeting his family and close associates amid a surge in violence in Guanajuato, an area controlled by the cartel. <\/p>\n Rafael Caro Quintero (July 2022)<\/strong> <\/p>\n Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the FBI\u2019s most wanted fugitives, was arrested in July 2022 by the Mexican Navy, having been on the run since 2013. <\/p>\n Born in 1952, Caro Quintero founded the now-defunct Guadalajara cartel in the 1970s with Miguel \u00c1ngel F\u00e9lix Gallardo and other drug traffickers, according to the US State Department. He is allegedly responsible for the cultivation, shipment, and distribution of large amounts of marijuana in Mexico. <\/p>\n An extradition order to the United States is pending against him. However, in July 2022, a judge temporarily suspended the extradition process. Caro Quintero is accused of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique \u201cKiki\u201d Camarena in 1985. <\/p>\n Ovidio Guzm\u00e1n \u201cEl Rat\u00f3n\u201d (January 2023)<\/strong> <\/p>\n Ovidio Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez, another son of \u201cEl Chapo,\u201d is believed to play a significant role in the Sinaloa cartel, according to the US Department of the Treasury. <\/p>\n Guzm\u00e1n was extradited from Mexico to the US in September 2023, as confirmed by the US Department of Justice. He faces charges in the US for conspiracy to import and distribute drugs, along with his brother Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez. <\/p>\n In 2019, the Mexican government captured Guzm\u00e1n in Culiac\u00e1n, Sinaloa, but later released him amid a tense situation between government forces and armed groups loyal to his organization. In October of that year, President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador admitted his government had ordered the release, stating that it had prevented \u201ca bloodbath.\u201d Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez was later recaptured on January 5, 2023, in a raid in Sinaloa, according to Mexican authorities. <\/p>\n His defense has requested additional time to review documents presented by US prosecutors during a recent hearing concerning the charges against him. According to the case file, the defendant\u2019s lawyers sought a review under Rule 16, which mandates information exchange between attorneys and prosecutors for trial preparation. Consequently, a new hearing has been scheduled for October 1. <\/p>\n N\u00e9stor Isidro P\u00e9rez \u201cEl Nini\u201d (November 2023)<\/strong> <\/p>\n N\u00e9stor Isidro P\u00e9rez Salas was arrested in November 2023 in Culiac\u00e1n and subsequently extradited to the United States. The US considers him one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel and linked with the security apparatus of Los Chapitos, a faction of the cartel associated with the children of El Chapo. <\/p>\n P\u00e9rez faces charges in two federal indictments. The first, in the District of Columbia, includes cocaine and methamphetamine importation, firearm possession, and conspiracy to obstruct justice through murder. <\/p>\n The second, in the Southern District of New York, accuses him of leading a criminal enterprise responsible for multiple deaths \u2013 including of a DEA informant \u2013 fentanyl trafficking, obstruction of justice through the murder of an informant, kidnapping with fatal outcomes for eight people, including a minor, and money laundering. <\/p>\n On May 30, P\u00e9rez pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces in New York. <\/p>\n Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada and Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez (July 2024)<\/strong> <\/p>\n Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada was arrested on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in El Paso, Texas, alongside Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez, 38, son of El Chapo. Both are in US custody, according to the Department of Justice. <\/p>\n Zambada is considered by US authorities to be the current leader of the Sinaloa cartel. His name has appeared in drug trafficking files for years, but there are no known charges against him in Mexico. <\/p>\n The US Department of Justice stated that both face several charges \u201cfor leading the cartel\u2019s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.\u201d <\/p>\n Authorities had been searching for Zambada for years, and in 2021 increased the reward for information leading to his arrest to $15 million. <\/p>\n On July 26 Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in the United States. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Federal agents arrested two Mexican alleged cartel bosses on Thursday, including Joaquin Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez, the son of infamous cartel boss Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzman, in one of the biggest victories for US law enforcement in recent years. The two detained men belong to the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world\u2019s most powerful drug-trafficking organizations, thought to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}