Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of jailed drug lord known as El Chapo, was extradited to the United States on Friday.
Guzman Lopez was arrested in Sinaloa, a state in the country’s northwest, on Jan. 5 for his ties to the drug trade and his role in his father’s cartel.
Almost nine months later, a joint operation led by the DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service has brought the 33-year-old into federal custody in Chicago.
His pursuit by U.S. authorities was blamed for violence in Mexico.
When Guzman Lopez was arrested in January, alleged cartel members took to the streets, stealing cars and setting numerous vehicles on fire.
An intense gunfight known as the “Battle of Culiacán” erupted in the region when Guzman Lopez was previously arrested in another case in 2019. He was later released after cartel members attacked Mexican armed forces.
Guzman Lopez was eventually indicted in April and charged with large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering and violent crimes connected to his father’s 2017 arrest and extradition.
His three brothers, Ivan Guzman Salazar, Alfredo Guzman Salazar and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, were also indicted at the time but are not in custody and reportedly remain at large.
Prosecutors said the four siblings, known as the “Chapitos,” played a significant role in the Sinaloa Cartel.
When they were indicted, Attorney General Merrick Garland called the organization the “largest, most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.”
In a statement Friday, Garland said: “The fight against the cartels has involved incredible courage by United States law enforcement and Mexican law enforcement and military service-members, many of whom have given their lives in the pursuit of justice.”
El Chapo, the notorious drug kingpin who brought the cartel to prominence, is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado, following his own conviction in 2019 at a trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.
His wife, 34-year-old Emma Coronel Aispuro, was just released from jail on Wednesday, after serving almost two years for charges of drug trafficking.
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