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Ovidio Guzmán, a son of imprisoned former Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, has been extradited to the USA to face federal drug trafficking prices, the Justice Division stated Friday.
Prosecutors allege that the youthful Guzmán, 33, helped lead what Lawyer Common Merrick Garland has known as “the biggest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation on this planet.”
Mexican military and nationwide guard troops captured Guzmán within the Sinaloa metropolis of Culiacán in January in a gun battle with Sinaloa fighters that left at the least 29 individuals useless. He now faces prices of fentanyl trafficking, cash laundering and weapons violations.
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Garland on Friday praised the cooperation of U.S. and Mexican authorities and expressed gratitude for many who “have given their lives within the pursuit of justice.”
“This motion is the latest step within the Justice Division’s effort to assault each facet of the cartel’s operations,” Garland stated in an announcement issued by the Justice Division on Friday. “The Justice Division will proceed to carry accountable these chargeable for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities throughout the nation.”
Federal prosecutors allege that the Sinaloa cartel obtained precursor chemical substances for artificial medication, largely from China, manufactured medication in Mexico, moved these medication into the USA, and picked up, laundered, and transferred the proceeds.
Fentanyl is the main reason behind loss of life for People ages 18 to 49, authorities say. Between 2019 and 2021, deadly overdoses elevated by 94 p.c. An estimated 196 People die per day from fentanyl, in line with the Justice Division.
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Ovidio Guzmán is certainly one of 28 defendants indicted by grand juries in New York, Chicago and the District of Columbia within the alleged operation. Others embody two of his brothers; collectively, they’re referred to as the Chapitos.
Joaquín Guzmán, 66, was discovered responsible by a federal jury in New York in 2019 of drug trafficking, cash laundering and weapons prices. He was sentenced to life plus 30 years and is now on the Administrative Most U.S. Penitentiary, or Supermax, in Florence, Col.