El Chapo’s sons have been charged with running a prolific fentanyl business that has “devastated” American families, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Agents infiltrated the deadly Sinaloa cartel at the “highest levels” to disrupt production of the drug, which has become the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 49.
The gang is said to be made up of the sons of Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo.
The “Chapitos,” Ivan Guzman Salazar, 40, Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 37, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 36, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 33, now face multiple charges of narcotics, money laundering, and firearms.
None of them are currently in US custody, with only Ovidio Guzman in a Mexican prison.
The cartel has been transporting lethal amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl to the US for more than half a decade, aided by Chinese drug companies, authorities say.
Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, 40, (left) and Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 37, (right), two of the four sons of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo. The ‘Chapitos’ have been accused of running a prolific fentanyl business
Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 33, (left) and Joaquín Guzmán López, 36, are the other two sons of El Chapo charged by US authorities
Attorney General Merrick Garland said it was “the largest, most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.”
He added: “Families and communities in our country are being devastated by the fentanyl epidemic. Today’s actions demonstrate the comprehensive approach the Justice Department is taking to disrupt the fentanyl trade and save American lives.”
The unsealed indictments allege that the cartel is largely responsible for manufacturing and importing fentanyl for distribution in the US.
The gang sourced chemicals — largely from China — for synthetic drug production in Mexico before being moved to the U.S. to launder the proceeds of the drug trade, the indictments say.
The Chapitos reportedly used airplanes, submarines, container ships, fishing vessels and a range of other transportation methods to transport their drugs and precursor chemicals.
They reportedly maintained a network of couriers, tunnels and storehouses throughout Mexico and the US.
Fentanyl is a dangerous synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin.
It has fueled the opioid epidemic that has been plaguing families and communities across the United States for nearly a decade.
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of fatal overdoses increased by about 94 percent, with an estimated 196 Americans dying from fentanyl each day.
Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the charges against the cartel show the government “is now pursuing a relentless campaign to disrupt the production and trade of fentanyl.”
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, center, is escorted from a plane by the DEA in 2017. The infamous Mexican drug lord was convicted of drug trafficking in New York in 2019
She added: “Today’s indictments target every part of the Sinaloa cartel smuggling network and reflect the Justice Department’s commitment to addressing every aspect of this threat: from China’s chemical companies that sell fentanyl precursors to to the illegal labs that produce the poison, to the networks and money launderers and murderers that facilitate its spread.”
DEA administrator Anne Milgram said the Chapitos were “pioneers” in the production and trade of fentanyl and “flowed into the US.”
In the Southern District of New York, charges of fentanyl trafficking, weapons and money laundering were unsealed against 28 defendants, including three of the Chapitos: Ivan Guzman Salazar, Alfredo Guzman Salazar and Ovidio Guzman Lopez.
In the Northern District of Illinois, narcotics, money laundering and firearms charges against all four Chapitos were unsealed.
The US State Department is offering rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the Chapitos.
Ovidio Guzman was captured by the Mexican army in January, sparking wild scenes in Sinaola.
His arrest came three years after the Mexican military detained Guzmán, but then released him after gunmen from the Sinaloa Cartel took control of much of the city.
Gunshots and carjackings were reported in the city as news of Ovidio’s arrest spread.
In January, a judge ordered him to 60 days of preventive detention pending extradition following a hearing at the Altiplano maximum-security federal prison where he is being held.
The Mexican government urged residents to stay home as burning vehicles, shootings and blockades plagued the city of Sinaloa following Ovidio’s January arrest
Vehicles were set on fire after news of his arrest spread, with videos uploaded to Twitter by local media and residents of the city
It is the same prison where El Chapo escaped through a tunnel in 2015.
In March, Ovidio bizarrely claimed before a judge in Mexico that he is not El Chapo’s son.
The shocking revelation was made on Tuesday during a video conference hearing to block the 32-year-old’s extradition to the US.
“I am not the person they think, who the US claims,” Ovidio told Judge Rogelio Díaz during the five-hour session in the Altiplano.
During a 2016 interview with renowned Mexican criminologist Mónica Ramírez Cano, El Chapo confessed to being the father of 23 children.
He married four times, first in 1977 to Alejandrina María Salazar Hernández, with whom he had four children, including César, Iván Archivaldo, Jesús Alfredo and Alejandrina Giselle. He would then marry bank clerk, Estela Peña, but had no children with her.
El Chapo’s third marriage came in the mid-1980s when he married Griselda López Pérez, the mother of Édgar, Joaquín Jr., Ovidio, and Griselda Guadalupe.
His fourth and final marriage came in 2007 when he exchanged wedding vows with former beauty queen Emma Coronel, who gave birth to the couple’s twin daughters, Maria Joaquina and Emali Guadalupe, in August 2011.