#Joaquin El Chapo Guzman

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Mexican drug lord El Mayo and son of El Chapo arrested in Texas

The US arrested Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in El Paso, Texas, Reuters reported.

Zambada is one of the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexican history and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo. The latter was extradited to the US in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison.

Both Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez are facing multiple charges in the United States for smuggling huge shipments of drugs onto US streets, including fentanyl, the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.

Zambada, about 70, and Guzman Lopez, about 30, were detained after landing on a private plane in the El Paso area, two US officials reported.

Guzman Lopez is one of four sons of El Chapo. They are known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos, and have inherited their father’s faction in the Sinaloa Cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the United States. In recent years, the cartel has become a prime target for US authorities, who have accused the crime syndicate of being the largest supplier of fentanyl in the US.

US authorities have put a $15 million bounty on Zambada’s capture and a $5 million for Guzman Lopez’s head.

Sinaloa Сartel

According to US authorities, the Sinaloa Сartel smuggles drugs to more than 50 countries and is one of the two most powerful organised crime groups in Mexico.

Previous arrests of important cartel leaders triggered violence as a power vacuum emerged, resulting in serious infighting within the organisations, as well as between them and their rivals. Over the past year, US authorities have brought new charges against the sons of Zambada and Guzman for smuggling fentanyl, as well as for supplying precursor chemicals to illegal laboratories operated by their crime syndicate.

Over decades, the cartel has built sophisticated supply chains to move drugs around the world and supply highly regulated chemicals to its base in Sinaloa. US Attorney General Merrick Garland stated:

Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.

Read more HERE

[allthegeopolitics]

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said. A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Zambada was known for running the cartel's smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile. The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.

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[beardedmrbean]

Two top leaders of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel have been taken into custody by United States authorities to face charges for their role in leading the group's vast drug trafficking enterprise, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of "El Chapo" Guzman, were placed under arrest in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

"Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the Cartel's criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks," Garland said in a statement.MORE: El Chapo conviction upheld

"El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States," Garland said.

Zambada faces multiple federal indictments for his alleged role in the cartel and has been on the run from U.S. and Mexican law enforcement for years. His fellow co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman, was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and convicted in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.

"Today, the FBI and DEA arrested two alleged cartel leaders who have eluded law enforcement for decades. Ismael Mario 'El Mayo' Zambada García and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of El Chapo, will now face justice in the United States," Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

"Garcia and Guzman have allegedly overseen the trafficking of tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the U.S. along with related violence. These arrests are an example of the FBI's and our partners commitment to dismantling violent transnational criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel," Wray said.

The circumstances behind Zambada and Guzman Lopez being taken into custody were not immediately clear as of Thursday evening, however, the men were arrested in an operation that ended on U.S. soil.

"El Mayo" thought he was headed to inspect a clandestine Mexican airfield, of which the Sinaloa cartel has many in the country. Instead, according to a Homeland Security Investigations official, a senior ranking member of the cartel tricked him and flew him to El Paso instead.MORE: El Chapo's sons purportedly ban fentanyl in Mexico's Sinaloa state

Upon landing on the tarmac, agents from HSI, along with the FBI arrested "El Mayo" and Guzman.

The HSI official tells ABC News the operation had been planned "for months."

They were placed in handcuffs by FBI agents during an operation culminating at an airstrip not far from El Paso.

"The arrest of Ismael Zambada García, better known as 'El Mayo,' one of the alleged founders and leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast. El Mayo is one of DEA's most wanted fugitives and he is in custody tonight and will soon face justice in a U.S. court of law," said Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram.

"Joaquin Guzman Lopez, another alleged leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, and the son of 'El Chapo,' was also arrested today -- his arrest is another enormous blow to the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2017, he and his brothers, the Chapitos, allegedly took control of the Sinaloa Cartel after El Chapo was extradited to the United States. DEA will continue to seek justice for any American life that is lost and will work tirelessly to prevent more needless deaths and pursue those that are responsible," Milgram said.

The U.S. government had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Zambada.

"Too many of our citizens have lost their lives to the scourge of fentanyl," President Joe Biden said in a statement Friday morning. "Too many families have been broken and are suffering because of this destructive drug. My Administration will continue doing everything we can to hold deadly drug traffickers to account and to save American lives."

Guzman Lopez's brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was charged last year with two dozen others as part of a crackdown targeting a global drug trafficking network run through Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. According to the charges, the cartel used precursor chemicals shipped from China to fuel the fentanyl crisis plaguing the U.S.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 2019 and was captured by Mexican armed forces in January 2023 in a small town just outside the city of Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

He was captured in an overnight raid that had been in the works for more than six months, officials said at the time. The arrest followed an infamous incident in 2019, in which authorities briefly detained Guzman Lopez at a home in Culiacán, before word spread and heavily armed gunmen flooded the city. Massive shootouts occurred between cartel members and Mexican armed forces around the city. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered Guzman Lopez released in order to avoid more bloodshed.

Their father is serving a life sentence in the U.S. after being convicted in 2019 of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, including large-scale narcotics violations and a murder conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracies, unlawful use of a firearm and a money laundering conspiracy.

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Drug War 

Mexican forces firing from a helicopter against Sinaloa sicarios following the arrest of El Chapo’s son Ovidio Guzman this morning.

Ovidio Guzman, son of El Chapo and alleged major fentanyl trafficker, arrested in Mexico

Ovidio Guzmán, a top leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, the notorious drug lord currently serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison, has been arrested by authorities in Mexico, the country's secretary of defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, announced Thursday afternoon.

Guzmán was captured by Mexican armed forces in an overnight raid in a small town just outside the city of Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

He was transported by military aircraft from Culiacán back to Mexico City late morning on Thursday. Officials said the operation had been in the works for more than six months.

[qudachuk]

Merrick Garland, the attorney general, confirmed the extradition, calling it an effort to attack ‘every aspect’ of the cartel’s operationsOvidio Guzman, son of incarcerated Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been extradited to the US, where he...

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Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/11/joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-loera.html

Guzmán nació el 4 de abril de 1957 en una familia pobre en el rancho de La Tuna cerca de Badiraguato, donde vendía naranjas cuando era niño. Tenía dos hermanas: Armida y Bernarda; y tuvo 4 hermanos: Miguel Ángel, Aureliano, Arturo y Emilio. Poco se sabe sobre los primeros años de Guzmán.

Su padre supuestamente era ganadero, como la mayoría en la zona; sin embargo, se cree que también cultivó adormidera. El padre de Guzmán tenía conexiones con altos mandos en la capital de Sinaloa, Culiacán, a través de Pedro Avilés Pérez. Avilés fue un jugador clave en el negocio de las drogas de Sinaloa, visto como un pionero en encontrar nuevos métodos para transportar los productos rurales a las zonas urbanas para su envío por medio de aviones.

Según los informes, es el primero en usar aviones para contrabandear cocaína a los Estados Unidos. Para cuando Guzmán tuviera 20 años, su conexión con Avilés sería su ventana de oportunidad para iniciarse en el negocio de las drogas y hacer fortuna. A fines de la década de 1970, Héctor "El Güero" Luis Palma Salazar le dio a Guzmán su primera gran oportunidad. El Güero lo encargó de transportar la droga desde la Sierra a las ciudades y la frontera y supervisar los cargamentos. Era ambicioso y presionó a sus jefes para que aumentaran las cantidades de drogas que se transportaban al norte.

A principios de la década de 1980, Guzmán conoció a Miguel "El Padrino" Ángel Félix Gallardo. Gallardo lo puso a cargo de la logística, coordinando efectivamente los vuelos de avión, las llegadas de barcos y los camiones que venían de Colombia a México. El Güero todavía controlaba las entregas a clientes en los Estados Unidos, pero Guzmán pronto trabajaría directamente para el mismo El Padrino.

Aunque al principio Guzmán vivía en Guadalajara, al igual que Gallardo, su centro de mando y control en realidad estaba ubicado en Agua Prieta, Sonora. Tras la captura de Félix Gallardo, Guzmán tomó el control de todo el Cártel de Sinaloa. Guzmán es buscado por los gobiernos de México y Estados Unidos y por INTERPOL; hasta el momento ha evadido los operativos para capturarlo.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Justin Trudeau’s Party Has a Popularity Problem: Justin Trudeau (NYT) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party should be a shoo-in for a parliamentary seat at the southern point of the island of Montreal. The district has been a stronghold for his party for more than half a century. It was home to another Liberal prime minister a generation ago. The base for a former Liberal justice minister. An easy drive to Mr. Trudeau’s own redoubt in the city. And yet, days before a special election on Monday to choose the district’s member of Canada’s Parliament, polls show a tight three-way contest. For many lifelong Liberals, the problem is clear: It is Mr. Trudeau himself. “I am a Liberal supporter, but it’s almost like enough is enough,” Michael Altimas, 79, a retired city bus driver, said during a walk on a sunny day along the district’s long pedestrian commercial street. “For the most part, he’s been a good prime minister. “But he’s had nine years,” Mr. Altimas added, “and people are hearing often enough that he messed up, and they don’t want to support him anymore.” His own Liberal Party members are increasingly calling for him to step aside, worried that the party risks a drubbing in the next general election under the deeply unpopular leader.

Political violence becomes America's new norm—but is still shocking (BBC) After decades without political violence directed at a presidential candidate from one of the major parties, the US has now experienced this twice in the space of two months—with former president Donald Trump the target on both occasions. Americans have had to adjust to “new normals” in politics—large and small—on a seemingly regular basis in the past few years. The national discourse has coarsened, partisan divisions have sharpened and become more entrenched, and the standards for candidate behaviour have eroded. Given the national epidemic of gun violence, these kind of attacks are perhaps another, inevitable new normal. But for now, it is still shocking.

Over 30 killed in Mexico after cartel leaders arrested in U.S. (CBS News) Eleven more people have been killed in a wave of violence in a Mexican cartel heartland shaken by gang infighting, authorities said Sunday. More than 30 people have been reported dead in a week of bloodshed in Sinaloa. The clashes follow the dramatic arrest on U.S. soil on July 25 of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will. Zambada, 76, was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo. The violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada. Schools were closed Thursday and Friday due to the violence and the governor said Sunday's Independence Day festivities had been canceled. The United States on Thursday issued a security alert because of "reports of car thefts, gunfire, security forces operations, roadblocks, burning vehicles and closed roadways" in the vicinity of Culiacan.

Argentina’s President Milei presents 2025 budget, vowing austerity and setting up a showdown (AP) President Javier Milei of Argentina presented the 2025 budget to Congress late Sunday, outlining policy priorities that reflected his key pledge to kill the country’s chronic fiscal deficit and signaled a new phase of confrontation with lawmakers. In an unprecedented move, Milei personally pitched the budget to Congress instead of his economy minister, lambasting Argentina’s history of macroeconomic mismanagement and promising to veto anything that compromised his tough slog of tight fiscal policy. The president’s budget proposal followed a week of political clashes in the legislature—where Milei controls less than 15% of the seats—over spending increases that the administration warns would derail its IMF-backed “zero deficit” budget. Opposition parties have sought to pass laws to raise salaries and pensions with inflation to help hard-hit Argentines cope with brutal austerity. It will fall to the opposition-dominated Congress, which controls the government’s purse strings, to approve the final budget. Milei’s political isolation makes matters fraught, setting up weeks of negotiations with political rivals who insist on concessions.

Italian army will guard a hospital after attacks on medical workers (AP) Italy’s army will guard medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region starting Monday, after a string of violent attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy, local media reported. Recent attacks on health care workers have been particularly frequent in southern Italy, prompting the doctors’ national guild to request that the army be deployed to ensure medical staff safety. The turning point was an assault at the Policlinico hospital in the southern city of Foggia in early September. A group of about 50 relatives and friends of a 23-year-old woman—who died during emergency surgery—turned their grief and rage into violence, attacking the hospital staff. Video footage, widely circulated on social media, showed doctors and nurses barricading in a room to escape the attack. With over 16,000 reported cases of physical and verbal assaults nationwide in 2023 alone, Italian doctors and nurses have called for drastic measures.

‘A Catastrophe of Epic Proportions’ (Foreign Policy) In Central and Eastern Europe, heavy rainfall from Storm Boris has forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes in what Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has called a “once-in-a-century flood.” The storm made landfall last Thursday; extensive flooding has cut electricity across the region, destroyed key infrastructure, and killed at least 16 people, with more still unaccounted for. “This is a catastrophe of epic proportions,” said Emil Dragomir, the mayor of Romania’s Slobozia Conachi village. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday to announce a 30-day state of natural disaster across several affected areas. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban canceled all international engagements to focus on the storm. And Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said 2,400 soldiers were ready to offer relief support, including 1,000 troops for Lower Austria province, which has been declared a disaster area. Authorities expected the rain to ease on Monday, but several European cities are preparing for more flooding as water levels in local rivers continue to rise.

Germany begins conducting checks at all its land borders (AP) Germany on Monday began random checks at its borders with five Western European nations as it seeks to crack down on irregular migration, expanding a system of controls that are already in place at four other borders. The police controls began at the borders with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark on Monday morning and are due to continue for six months. Germany has already been carrying out the checks at its borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland since last year. Germany, a European Union member, announced last week that it was expanding border checks to all nine of its land borders this week as part of an effort to crack down on irregular migration and crime following recent extremist attacks.

Typhoon floods roads with water and broken tree branches in Shanghai (AP) The strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai since at least 1949 flooded roads with water and broken tree branches, knocked out power to some homes and injured at least one person as it swept over the financial hub Monday. More than 414,000 people had been evacuated ahead of the powerful winds and torrential rain. Schools were closed and people were advised to stay indoors. Typhoon Bebinca made landfall around 7:30 a.m. in the sprawling Pudong business district with winds of 151 kph (94 mph) near its center. Torrential rains flooded roads in the district, according to images broadcast by state media. Elsewhere in Shanghai, uprooted trees and fallen branches blanketed some roads and sidewalks. As the typhoon eased, responders cleared branches and other objects blown around by the storm.

An American pastor held in a Chinese jail for nearly two decades is finally home (CNN) A pastor who the United States says was wrongfully detained in a Chinese prison for nearly two decades has been released, according to the State Department, ending a case that the Biden administration said was a top priority in efforts to stabilize relations with Beijing. David Lin, 68, was detained in China in 2006 after helping to construct an unapproved church building. He was later sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud, a charge he denied. Lin was one of three Americans deemed by the US State Department to have been wrongfully detained in China. Businessmen Kai Li and Mark Swidan are still held behind bars, on espionage and drug-related charges respectively. Lin visited China frequently in the 1990s and started to preach the Gospel there in 1999, according to ChinaAid, a US-based non-profit Christian human rights organization. He was detained in 2006 for helping an underground “house church” build a place of worship and barred from leaving the country, according to ChinaAid. Lin regarded his incarceration as an opportunity to share his faith with fellow prisoners and established a prayer meeting group, according to ChinaAid. In 2009, Lin was jailed for life for contract fraud, a crime frequently used against house church leaders who raise funds to support their work, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based human-rights group which advocates on behalf of detainees in China.

Hunger still stalks Gaza (Washington Post) The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic. Hunger and disease stalk the embattled territory, which has been devastated over 11 months of war. Israel continues to carry out strikes on alleged militant Hamas targets in supposed safe zones, invariably killing civilians caught in the crossfire. And relief organizations trying to help alleviate a desperate situation are still lamenting impediments to aid distribution, and security risks to their workers posed by Israeli troops and a morass of gangs that have emerged out of Gaza’s ruin. Last week, a report by Refugees International, a humanitarian advocacy organization, corroborated evidence of “a severe hunger crisis” in the territory and linked it to the actions of Israeli authorities. It found that the “ebbs and flows in hunger conditions are closely linked to Israeli government restrictions and concessions on aid access, and to the conduct of the Israeli military,” the report’s executive summary noted.

‘Water Is Coming.’ Floods Devastate West and Central Africa (NYT) Aishatu Bunu, an elementary schoolteacher in Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria’s northeast, woke up at 5 a.m. to the sound of her neighbors shouting. When she opened her front door, she was greeted by the sight of rising waters outside. “We saw—water is coming,” Ms. Bunu said. In a panic, she and her three young children grabbed some clothes and her educational certificates and fled their home into waters that quickly became chest high, eventually finding temporary shelter at a gas station. Flooding caused by the rain has devastated cities and towns across west and central Africa in recent days, leaving more than 1,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed. Up to four million people have been affected by the floods and nearly one million forced to flee their homes, according to humanitarian agencies.

Amazon Wants Your Palm and TSA Wants Your Face (WSJ) I don’t need to bring my wallet or phone when I shop at Whole Foods anymore. I can pay with my palm instead. All I had to do was sign into the Amazon One app, give Amazon permission to use my body’s unique data—aka biometrics—and take a photo of each of my palms. Amazon used those photos to generate a number-based representation called a “palm signature” in its cloud, then deleted the images, the company says. After I chose a credit card to link to my palm, I visited my nearby Whole Foods. I hovered my hand over a palm sensor at checkout and walked out with a box of chocolate-chip protein bars. More companies and government agencies out in the wild want to read our body parts. The Transportation Security Administration, for example, started scanning passengers’ faces instead of checking IDs. These groups say the biometric processes are meant to eliminate friction, save time and reduce lines. The convenience and efficiency of biometric systems mean that you will likely see this sort of thing in more places.

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At least 10 murders in Mexico appear to be linked to arrests of cartel leaders in the United States

The killings of at least 10 people in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa appear to be linked to infighting within the dominant drug cartel there, confirming fears of repercussions from the July 25 arrest of two top cartel leaders. Last month, Joaquin Guzman Lopeza boss of a faction of the Sinaloa cartel, the Chapitos or “Little Chapos,” the sons of the imprisoned cartel leader Joaquín “El…

[mixi31051976]

FBI negoció la entrega del Mayo Zambada con Joaquín Guzmán López, según Ioan Grillo https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2024/08/14/fbi-negocio-la-entrega-del-mayo-zambada-con-joaquin-guzman-lopez-segun-ioan-grillo/

[realtybizblog]

The US Government Puts El Mayo’ & El Chapo’s Son In Custody

Despite Zambada’s arrest, former DEA official Mike Vigil doubts its impact on the drug trade, as someone within the cartel will likely replace him. Vigil believes the arrest is a win for law enforcement but not a big setback for the cartel.

[xnewsinfo]

The son of former Sinaloa drug cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman pleaded not responsible Tuesday to a bunch of prices linked to one of many world's largest illicit narcotics operations, prosecutors stated.Joaquín Guzmán López was arrested in a scheme allegedly orchestrated by Washington with out Mexico's participation, wherein he was detained in Texas final Thursday.The decide within the case denied him bail and remanded him in custody, ordering a case administration listening to for September 30, the assistant federal prosecutor's workplace stated in a press release to AFP.Lots of the particulars of the arrest operation, which additionally took cartel co-founder Ismael Zambada Garcia, referred to as "El Mayo," into U.S. custody, stay unclear.US media have cited legislation enforcement sources as saying Zambada was unwittingly lured throughout the border into Mexico by Guzman Lopez, one in every of "El Chapo's" 4 sons.In accordance with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) report launched in Might, the sons had been waging an "inside battle" in opposition to Zambada, their father's former associate.Guzman Lopez was indicted by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking, cash laundering and weapons possession prices, in keeping with court docket paperwork beforehand launched by prosecutors.CNN reported that Guzman Lopez's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, informed reporters that his consumer faces the dying penalty within the case. Lichtman didn't reply to an AFP request for remark."There was no settlement between Joaquín Guzmán and the federal government. Interval," Lichtman informed reporters in Chicago.Zambada's lawyer, Frank Pérez, has maintained since Sunday that his consumer was "kidnapped" and brought to the USA in opposition to his will.Zambada pleaded not responsible to drug trafficking and cash laundering prices Friday earlier than a federal decide in Texas, and has one other court docket look scheduled for Thursday in El Paso.Guzmán López, in his early 30s, is amongst "El Chapo's" sons, collectively referred to as "Los Chapitos.""El Chapo" was convicted on drug prices in New York in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security jail.DEA chief Anne Milgram stated Zambada's arrest "strikes on the coronary heart of the cartel that's liable for many of the medication, together with fentanyl and methamphetamine, that kill Individuals from coast to coast."

[beardedmrbean]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government thanked Mexico for arresting a hyper violent alleged Sinaloa cartel security chief, but according to details released Friday, the detention may have been highly personal for the Mexican army.

Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said Nestor Isidro Pérez Salas, who was arrested Wednesday, had ordered a 2019 attack on an unguarded apartment complex where soldiers’ families lived.

“He was the one who ordered the attack ... against our dependents, our families,” Sandoval said.

The Oct. 17, 2019 attack was a result of a humiliating failed effort to capture Sinaloa cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, one of the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Pérez Salas served as head of security for Guzman and his brothers, who are collectively known as the “Chapitos.”

Soldiers caught Guzman but later were ordered to release him to avoid bloodshed.

In order to pressure the army to release Guzman, cartel gunmen had surrounded the army families' housing complex in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, and sprayed it with gunfire. They took one soldier hostage, burst into four apartments looking for more potential hostages, and tossed in two hand grenades that failed to explode.

The army had apparently relied on an unwritten rule that soldiers' wives and children were not to be targeted. “It was an area that was not even guarded,” Sandoval said.

In January, when soldiers finally managed to detain Ovidio Guzman, Pérez Salas also allegedly participated in setting off violence that left 30 people dead, including 10 military personnel.

The army was forced to use Black Hawk helicopter gunships against the cartel’s truck-mounted .50-caliber machine guns. Cartel gunmen hit two military aircraft, forcing them to land, and sent gunmen to the city’s airport, where military and civilian aircraft were hit by gunfire.

Sandoval revealed Friday that there had been a special operation that day to get Pérez Salas, but it failed.

The army continued to follow his movements, and later tried to detain him a second time, but “he was able to escape,” Sandoval said.

The third time was a charm; video posted on social media showed that Pérez Salas was surrounded but managed to climb onto the roof of a house before he was caught Wednesday.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had posted a $3 million reward for the capture of Pérez Salas, though it was unclear if that will be distributed to the army and National Guard forces that caught him this week.

President Joe Biden issued a statement Thursday praising the arrest. U.S. prosecutors have asked that Pérez Salas be extradited — as his boss Ovidio Guzman was in September — to face U.S. drug charges.

“These arrests are testament to the commitment between the United States and Mexico to secure our communities against violence, counter the cartels, and end the scourge of illicit fentanyl that is hurting so many families,” Biden wrote.

But it appears Pérez Salas's arrest was personal for the Mexican army.

“He was also responsible for a series of attacks against military personnel that caused a significant number of casualties,” Sandoval said.

Pérez Salas is wanted on U.S. charges of conspiracy to import and distribute fentanyl in the United States. But he also allegedly left a trail of killings and torture of police and civilians.

An indictment in the Southern District of New York says Pérez Salas allegedly participated in the torture of a Mexican federal agent in 2017. It said he and others tortured the man for two hours, inserting a corkscrew into his muscles, ripping it out and placing hot chiles in the wounds.

According to the indictment, the Ninis — the gang of gunmen led by Pérez Salas and Jorge Figueroa Benitez — carried out other gruesome acts of violence as well.

The Ninis would take captured rivals to ranches owned by the Chapitos for execution, it said.

“While many of these victims were shot, others were fed, dead or alive, to tigers” belonging to the Chapitos, “who raised and kept tigers as pets,” according to the indictment.

And while the Sinaloa cartel does some lab testing on its products, the Ninis conducted more grisly human testing on kidnapped rivals or addicts who are injected until they overdosed.

[businesspr]

El Chapo’s Son Abducted El Mayo and Flew Him to U.S., Officials Now Say

U.S. officials say Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of El Chapo, forced Ismael Zambada García onto a plane bound for Texas, in a case that landed the two Sinaloa cartel leaders in custody last week. source https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/world/americas/sinalo-cartel-el-mayo-joaquin-guzman-lopez.html

[andronetalks]

How cartel leader 'El Mayo' Zambada was lured to US in elaborate sting

BBC By Will Grant BBC Mexico correspondent July 27,2024Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada is one of the most notorious names in drug war history, synonymous with the fearsome power and corrosive influence of the most important drug cartel in the world.The last of an original generation of drug cartel leaders, he created the Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman from the remnants of the…

[novumtimes]

How El Chapo’s Son Helped US Arrest Famous Narco Chief El Mayo

Washington: As a propeller plane on Thursday whirred towards the U.S.-Mexico border to cross illegally, U.S. agents raced to meet it at a small municipal airport near El Paso, Texas, and arrest two men who were part of Mexican drug trafficking royalty. The son of jailed former Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman planned to give himself up upon landing. The other passenger – legendary…

[recentlyheardcom]

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada: US operation to capture Sinaloa cartel leaders had the help of one of the captured men: a son of ‘El Chapo,’ official says

CNN  —  The arrest of two leaders of the Sinaloa cartel in the United States on Thursday was organized by one of the two men arrested, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of infamous cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Guzman Lopez organized his arrest along with that of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, who co-founded the cartel with El Chapo, by luring Zambada on a flight to examine a piece of land…