A federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted an adviser to a son of “El Chapo,” the imprisoned former leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel.
Jose Angel Canobbio Inzunza, 44, was charged with drug conspiracy in a five-page indictment handed down Monday.
Canobbio Inzunza – also known as “Guero”, “Guerito” and “El 90” – is believed to live in Mexico. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for him.
According to U.S. prosecutors, he was the main adviser, lieutenant and security chief of Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, one of the sons of Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, who is serving a life sentence. in a maximum security federal prison in Colorado. .
The indictment accuses Canobbio Inzunza of conspiring with the sons of El Chapo — known as Chapitosor Little Chapos – to manufacture cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and marijuana in Mexico and import these drugs into the United States
Canobbio Inzunza financed and led an armed security group known as The Chimaleswho provided security for the Guzman faction of the Sinaloa cartel, authorities said.
Four of Guzman Loera’s sons were charged last year in Chicago with running his drug empire after El Chapo’s 2016 capture in Mexico. The defendants in the federal indictment were Joaquín Guzman López, Ovidio Guzman López, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar.
The accusations against the Chapitos are part of a broader Justice Department campaign against what Attorney General Merrick Garland has called “the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world – run by the Sinaloa and supplied by Chinese precursor chemical and pharmaceutical companies.”
Last year’s indictment said the brothers were involved in the Battle of Culiacan, in Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel stronghold, where on October 17, 2019, about 700 armed cartel members attacked targets government and military forces, thus preventing the capture of Ovidio Guzman Lopez. At least 13 people died.
This indictment also states that the Chapitos shipped drugs from countries in Central and South America to Mexico using planes, submarines, boats and other carriers, then smuggled them into the United States using vehicles, rail cars and tunnels.
Joaquín Guzman Lopez surrendered to U.S. authorities in July and remains in federal custody in Chicago. Joaquín Guzman Lopez flew to the United States with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, whose lawyer accused Guzman Lopez of kidnapping El Mayo and transporting him to the United States. United.
Mexican authorities extradited Ovidio Guzman Lopez to Chicago in 2023. His lawyer said last month that his client was negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors.
The State Department announced a $10 million bounty for the arrest of Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar.
