El Chapo’s sons discuss the request to the US government: Lawyer | Drugs News

The sons of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman are in talks to cut a deal with US prosecutors, according to their lawyer.

The news was revealed during a trial in court in Chicago on Monday about the youngest son of El Chapo, Ovidio Guzman, who, along with his brother Joaquin Guzman Lopez, is accused of helping to manage the Sinaloa group that his father once led and involved in a large amount of drugs. the US.

The Guzman brothers – along with two other Mexican siblings – form the dreaded cartel “El Chapitos”. Both pleaded not guilty before the trial.

Their father “El Chapo” is serving a life sentence in a high-level facility in the US state of Colorado for a major drug conspiracy.

The reported talks by the Guzman sons come after one of the brothers was arrested at a Texas airport in July along with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the notorious head of a rival cartel.

Zambada, the 76-year-old co-founder of Sinaloa, has been described by prosecutors as “one of the most notorious and dangerous drug traffickers in the world”, who has eluded arrest for decades.

He pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of drug trafficking, murder and other charges in a New York court last month.

“Captive”

Zambada’s lawyer said his client was kidnapped and forced to board a small plane bound for Texas where American law enforcement was waiting for him.

Mexican prosecutors have filed kidnapping charges against Joaquin Guzman Lopez, suggesting that he smuggled El Mayo into the US as a reward for trying to obtain lucrative treatment for his jailed brother, Ovidio.

Experts say the Chapitos could provide important evidence in the case against Zambada, as well as a possible corruption investigation against Mexican officials.

“Any cooperation agreement with any drug trafficker means that you will inform the officials of the federal government of Mexico, the military, the police, in the transfer of drugs,” said Jesus Esquivel, Washington correspondent for the Mexican magazine, Proceso.

As an example, Esquivel cited the case of former Mexican public security chief Genaro Garcia Luna, who was sentenced to 38 years in prison last week in New York.

Different cases

Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who will defend both of the imprisoned Guzman brothers, told reporters that negotiations for compensation with the American justice system are beginning to slow down, according to several media reports.

He also emphasized that the sons are facing “two completely different cases”.

“This is not an agreement for one to do the other and the other to do the other … The government treats them differently,” Lichtman was quoted by ABC News Chicago as saying.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Erskine said both prosecutors and the defense hope to settle Ovidio’s case before trial and expect progress before the next trial scheduled for January 7.

US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram said Zambada’s arrest “strikes at the heart of the drug cartel, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, that is killing Americans from coast to coast”.

Cartel war

After the arrest of Guzman Lopez and El Mayo, a war broke out between the two opposing camps, with daily shootings wreaking havoc in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state. At least 72 people have been killed and 209 kidnapped, according to state prosecutor Claudia Sanchez.

Another recent target has been the local newspaper El Debate, which has been covering the ongoing conflict. On October 18, the book was sprayed with gunfire, but no one was reported injured.

The Sinaloa cartel has long been feared for its brutality against perceived enemies, including law enforcement and critical journalists.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland, when announcing charges last year against the Guzman brothers and their associates, detailed the group’s alleged abuse, including testing victims with fentanyl and feeding them to other tigers.