Latest news with #GuzmanLopez
The Herald Scotland
12-07-2025
- The Herald Scotland
El Chapo's son pleads guilty in connection with running Sinaloa Cartel
Guzman's guilty plea in Chicago comes at a point where the level of violence the Chapitos unleashed continues to dominate Sinaloa. Mexican authorities recently found twenty bodies, including several that were decapitated and four that were left hanging from a bridge over a highway. They appeared to be victims of a turf war between the Chapitos and rival Sinaloa faction La Mayiza. Authorities hope Guzman Lopez's plea deal will help pave the way to further prosecution of the Chapitos and the Sinaloa cartel as a whole, experts say. It's unclear what information "El Raton" or "the Mouse" as he is known has agreed to share. "This is obviously a hugely symbolic case for the United States, U.S. prosecutors have made the Chapitos a top priority for years," said Parker Asmann, a Sinaloa Cartel expert with organized crime research group InSight Crime. "Securing his cooperation could mean they could undermine the drug trade and attack corruption in Mexico they want to target." Guzman Lopez admitted to four charges: two stemming from an indictment in Illinois and two from an indictment out of New York. The charges included international drug trafficking and engaging in a criminal enterprise. The judge delayed sentencing to a later date, but prosecutors and defense attorneys said Guzman Lopez could potentially face life in prison and have to forfeit $80 million.
NDTV
11-07-2025
- NDTV
Son Of Mexico's 'El Chapo' Pleads Guilty In US Drugs Case
Washington: A son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman pleaded guilty to drug charges in Chicago on Friday in a deal struck with prosecutors in return for a reduced sentence. Nicknamed "El Raton," or "The Mouse," Ovidio Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to two counts of drug conspiracy and two counts of knowingly engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. Guzman Lopez, who took over control of a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel with three of his brothers -- collectively known as "Los Chapitos" -- following their father's arrest in 2016, was facing a maximum sentence of life in prison. But prosecutors said in the plea agreement, which came after months of negotiations, that they would recommend a lesser sentence in exchange for Guzman Lopez's pledge to "fully and truthfully cooperate" with investigators. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman has not set a date yet for sentencing. Mike Vigil, former head of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, told AFP that Guzman Lopez could offer US authorities "valuable information" about the cartel and its protectors. In the plea agreement, Guzman Lopez said he coordinated the smuggling of vast quantities of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and other drugs and precursor chemicals from Mexico to the United States. One of his brothers, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, was arrested last year after arriving in the United States in a private plane with Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who claimed that he had been kidnapped. Both men are awaiting trial. The arrests sparked cartel infighting that has left more than 1,200 people dead and 1,400 missing in Sinaloa state, located in northwestern Mexico. - 'Crystal-clear message' - The two other "Chapitos" -- Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar -- have also been indicted on drug trafficking charges in the United States but remain at large. Their father was convicted in a high-profile trial in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in prison. Guzman Lopez gained prominence in October 2019 when the Mexican authorities detained him -- only to release him later on orders from then president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador amid a standoff between law enforcement and gang members. He was recaptured in January 2023, while Lopez Obrador was still in office, and extradited to the United States. The Sinaloa Cartel is one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups that US President Donald Trump has designated as global "terrorist" organizations. In its aggressive policy against drug cartels, the Trump administration announced additional sanctions against Los Chapitos in June for fentanyl trafficking and increased the reward to $10 million for each of the fugitive brothers. US Attorney Andrew Boutros said Guzman Lopez's guilty plea "sends yet another crystal-clear message that this administration is going to shut down and hold accountable transnational criminal organizations and their highest-ranking members and associates."
New York Post
11-07-2025
- New York Post
Son of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo' pleads guilty in US drug case, aims to avoid life sentencing
A son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin 'El Chapo' pleaded guilty Friday to U.S. drug trafficking charges, becoming the first of the drug lord's sons to enter a plea deal. Prosecutors allege Ovidio Guzman Lopez and his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, ran a faction of the Sinaloa cartel. They became known locally as the 'Chapitos,' or 'little Chapos,' and federal authorities in 2023 described the operation as a massive effort to send 'staggering' quantities of fentanyl into the U.S. 3 Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin 'El Chapo,' pleaded guilty Friday to U.S. drug trafficking charges. As part of a plea agreement, Ovidio Guzman Lopez admitted to helping oversee the production and smuggling of large quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and fentanyl into the United States, fueling a crisis that has contributed to tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually. Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges tied to his leadership role in the cartel. Terms of the deal, including sentencing recommendations or cooperation agreements, were not immediately disclosed. Speculation about a deal had percolated for months, as behind-the-scenes negotiations quietly progressed. Jeffrey Lichtman, an attorney for the two brothers, said Friday he would wait until Ovidio Guzman Lopez was sentenced before discussing whether the agreement was a good deal. Guzman Lopez's sentencing was postponed while he cooperates with U.S. authorities, as he agreed to do so on Friday. Whether he avoids a life in prison sentence depends on whether authorities say he has held up his end of the agreement. 3 Lopez agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors in the hopes of avoiding a life-in-prison sentence. AP Lichtman said he didn't know whether the case against Joaquin Guzman Lopez could be resolved with a plea deal, noting that it is 'completely different.' 'Remember, Joaquin was arrested in America well after Ovidio was, so it takes time,' he said. Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School and former assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said that Guzman Lopez, by pleading guilty, may have 'saved other family members.' 'In this way, he has some control over who he's cooperating against and what the world will know about that cooperation.' Levenson called the plea change a 'big step' for the U.S. government and said Guzman Lopez could provide 'a roadmap of how to identify members of the cartel.' 'This is big,' she said. 3 Mugshot of infamous drug kingpin 'El Chapo' after his 2nd arrest in 2016. AFP via Getty Images 'The best way for them to take out the cartel is to find out about its operations from an insider, and that's what they get from his cooperation.' Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday criticized the 'lack of coherence' in American policy toward Mexican cartels, highlighting the disparity between the U.S. government declaring cartels foreign terrorist organizations, but also striking plea deals with their leaders. Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2019 for his role as the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, having smuggled mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over 25 years. The brothers allegedly assumed their father's former role as leaders of the cartel. Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested in Mexico in 2023 and extradited to the United States. He initially pleaded not guilty but had signaled in recent months his intent to change his plea. Joaquin Guzman Lopez and another longtime Sinaloa leader, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, were arrested in July 2024 in Texas after they landed in the U.S. on a private plane. Both men have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges. Their dramatic capture prompted a surge in violence in Mexico's northern state of Sinaloa as two factions of the Sinaloa cartel clashed.
Chicago Tribune
11-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Son of ‘El Chapo' Guzman pleads guilty to narcotics trafficking charges in Chicago federal court
One of the sons of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman could spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty Friday in federal court in Chicago to helping his father and brothers run the notoriously violent Sinaloa cartel, importing thousands of tons of narcotics into the U.S., bribing public officials and using murder and kidnapping to amass and maintain power. By pleading guilty, however, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 35, has agreed to cooperate with U.S. authorities in any ongoing investigations and testify against his associates in the hopes that prosecutors will recommend a sentence of less than life in prison. Those details were revealed in a dramatic, 90-minute hearing under tight security at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to two counts each of supervising an ongoing criminal enterprise and drug trafficking conspiracy. In his plea agreement with prosecutors, Guzman Lopez admitted to three specific murders that took place in Mexico and Arizona, as well as his involvement in the January 2023 shootout with Mexican law enforcement as they tried to arrest him in the Mexican city of Culican, which led to the deaths of dozens of individuals. He also admitted to overseeing the shipment of thousands of kilograms of the powerful synthetic narcotic fentanyl into the U.S., an operation that authorities have blamed for countless overdose deaths over the past decade. Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackled at the ankles, Guzman Lopez stood at the lectern with his hands folded in front of him for the proceedings on Friday, listening through a Spanish interpreter. Each time prosecutors recited specific allegations in the plea agreement, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman asked him if he understood and agreed that he was responsible. 'Sí,' Guzman Lopez answered each time.
The Hill
11-07-2025
- The Hill
‘El Chapo' son pleads guilty to drug trafficking in US
Ovidio Guzman Lopez, a son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pleaded guilty Friday on federal drug trafficking charges related to his leadership role in the Sinaloa Cartel that his father cofounded decades ago. A sentencing date has not been set, but Guzman Lopez faces up to life in prison and may have to forfeit $80 million. The Associated Press reported that as part of a plea agreement, Guzman Lopez admitted to his role in the drug operation, but specific terms of the deal, including sentencing recommendations or cooperation agreements, were not disclosed. Many of the most recent filings in Guzman Lopez's case are marked sealed in the federal court filing system. Authorities alleged that Guzman Lopez, also known as 'El Raton' and 'Raton Nuevo,' conspired to distribute drugs from Mexico and other countries into the U.S. from 2008 to 2021. Guzman Lopez and his three brothers, known collectively as 'Los Chapitos,' assumed control of the deadly Sinaloa drug enterprise after their father's arrest in 2016, according to federal prosecutors. Guzman Lopez, 35, was arrested in Mexico in 2023 and extradited to the U.S. to face conspiracy charges in the alleged drug trafficking scheme. He pleaded guilty in Chicago. According to Guzman Lopez's indictment, he and his brothers conspired to amass 'greater control over the Sinaloa Cartel by threatening to cause violence, and causing violence' against associates. Guzman Lopez allegedly acted as a 'logistical coordinator' in aiding the transportation of 'multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana' from Mexico to the U.S. border then throughout the U.S. for distribution. Additionally, he was accused of helping launder money from the drugs sold.
