Four brothers, two born to El Chapo’s first wife, the others range in age from 33 to 40, according to the US Department of Justice. Led by El Chapo’s oldest son Ivan, the siblings have emerged as key figures in the Sinaloa cartel, US and Mexican anti-narcotics officials said. While the syndicate is a loose association of smuggling clans that cooperate on logistics and security, officials said the Guzmán’s block is a pillar of the organization, and Los Chapitos has consolidated power within it.
To chronicle the rise of this new generation of “narco juniors,” as the children of established traffickers are known in Mexico, Reuters spoke with four Sinaloa Cartel operatives and visited a home where gang members Other cash cows collected methamphetamine-filled pills. The news agency also interviewed dozens of sources, including law enforcement, intelligence and government officials in Mexico and the United States, as well as local residents who have witnessed the changing of the guard.
The rapid rise of Los Chapitos, many details of which are reported here for the first time, shows how the authorities may have underestimated the former party boys.
The 2019 battle with the Mexican military in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, has already cemented its place in narco lore. Soldiers captured Ovidio, the youngest of four siblings, then quickly released him on orders from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador after cartel foot soldiers fought the soldiers in a shootout that left 14 dead. , In which many people were also involved.
“This new generation is more violent,” said a retired Mexican police officer in Sinaloa. “Before that, they will interrogate you and then kill you. They kill now and ask questions later.
Within the cartel, according to US and Mexican security sources, the brothers have battled elders opposed to their father taking over, including El Chapo’s former right-hand man Damaso López.
But these young guns have also built a reputation as sharp businessmen. A half-dozen US officials and DEA sources said they have helped transform Mexico from a transit country into a major production center for Chinese-made fentanyl. To do this, he said, Los Chapitos built a network of clandestine laboratories in Sinaloa and smuggled precursor chemicals from China.
The earnings have been astronomical. The cartel could turn $800 worth of precursor chemicals into fentanyl pills or powder, generating profits as high as $640,000, according to one of the indictments filed in the Southern District of New York in April. US prosecutors say that cash has controlled a war chest used by the brothers to bribe politicians and police, and a growing army of poachers, or men killed, to protect their interests.
The impact on American roads has been devastating. US Deputy Attorney General Lisa O’Monaco told a Washington press conference that roughly every eight minutes an American dies of a fentanyl overdose. US overdose deaths, the lion’s share due to fentanyl, are set to rise to nearly 107,000 in 2021.
US and Mexican officials say the ascent of Los Chapitos coincides with a decision by López Obrador to break away from the aggressive anti-drug policies of his predecessors.
After taking office in December 2018, López Obrador reorganized Mexico’s security forces, eliminating teams that were once at the forefront of investigating cartel activity, security sources in the US and Mexico said. They say the president also curtailed security cooperation with the United States and largely avoided the so-called kingpin strategy that led the previous administration to arrest El Chapo and other high-profile traffickers.
Instead, the president has vowed to focus on social programs to combat crime and violence at the grassroots level, in what has been dubbed “abrazos, no balazos” or “hugs, not bullets”.
Mexico’s president did not respond to a request for comment about López Obrador’s approach to fighting crime. He has repeated his strategy on several visits to Sinaloa. “Nothing can be solved by the use of force. You cannot fight fire with fire,” López Obrador told residents in 2019. His supporters note that murders across the country have increased since he came to power have become stable.