The Department of Justice on Friday announced charges in a fentanyl-trafficking investigation against more than two dozen members of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, including the four sons of now-imprisoned cartel leader El Chapo, known as “the Chapitos.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the charges take aim at “the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world – run by the Sinaloa Cartel, and fueled by Chinese precursor chemical and pharmaceutical companies.”
Garland said the charges target suppliers in China who sell fentanyl precursors to the cartel, a Guatemalan-based broker who purchases the chemicals on behalf of the cartel, operators of labs in Mexico where the cartel manufactures fentanyl, a weapons supplier who provides the cartel with firearms smuggled into Mexico from the U.S., leaders of the cartel’s security forces, money launderers and the cartel’s leaders.
According to the indictments, 28 people were charged in the Southern District of New York, four in the Northern District of Illinois and another in the District of Columbia. Some were charged in more than one indictment. Eight of the defendants are in the custody of international partners, and the U.S. will be seeking their extradition, Garland said.
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Treasury Department sanctions Chinese entities
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against two Chinese entities and five people based in China and Guatemala for allegedly supplying precursor chemicals to the cartel for the production of illicit fentanyl “intended for U.S. markets.” Four of those individuals have been charged by the Justice Department, Garland said.
State Department announces rewards for information on ‘the Chapitos’
The U.S. Department of State announced rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of 27 people involved in fentanyl trafficking, including up to $10 million for Ivan Guzman Salazar, Alfredo Guzman Salazar and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and up to $5 million for Joaquin Guzman Lopez – known as “the Chapitos.” Ovidio Guzmán was arrested in Mexico earlier this year.
Anne Milgram, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the Chapitos “inherited a global drug-trafficking empire,” made it “more ruthless” and used it to spread “the deadliest drug our country has even faced.”
Garland warns of enough fentanyl to ‘kill every single American’
An American dies from fentanyl poisoning nearly every eight minutes, according to the Justice Department. More than 107,000, people died of drug overdoses in the U.S. from August 2021 to August 2022, and two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, Garland said.
The Sinaloa cartel is largely responsible for the surge of fentanyl into the U.S. over the last eight years, according to Justice Department. When cartel members bring fentanyl into the U.S., it is sold wholesale to other criminal organizations, who often mix fentanyl powder into other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, before resale, Garland said.
“They also often sell fentanyl pills as counterfeit prescription pain medications. As a result, many Americans are unaware that they are purchasing and being poisoned by fentanyl,” he said.
In 2022, the DEA and law enforcement agencies seized more than 50.6 million fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills — more than double the amount seized in 2021, Garland said. The DEA also seized more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder.
“Together, these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl. That much fentanyl could kill every single American,” he said.
In a statement on behalf of the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan added: “We remain steadfast in our belief that the global illicit drug trade is a threat to our public health and safety, national security, and economy.”
Officials warn about fentanyl sold to kids, through social media
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco noted thousands of Americans, including children, are dying from fentanyl marketed and distributed over social media – the “superhighway of the supply chain.” She said social media companies must do more to prevent the sale of fentanyl on their platforms.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49, according to a recent Washington Post analysis of CDC data. And the number of children under 14 dying from it “has increased at an alarming rate,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
DOJ alleges cartel tortured, killed, fed victims to tigers
Garland described how the cartel operates “without respect for human rights, for human life or the rule of law.”
Two of the defendants tested the cartel’s fentanyl on people who were tied down and experimented on a woman by injecting her repeatedly until she overdosed and died, Garland said. After someone died testing a batch of the cartel’s fentanyl, one of the defendants sent the batch to the U.S. anyway, he said.
The cartel’s security forces “often torture and kill their victims,” and they have fed some of their victims, dead and alive, “to tigers belonging to the Chapitos,” Garland said. Four people charged Friday also captured, tortured and killed Mexican lawmakers, Garland said.