Ovidio Guzman, one of many sons of incarcerated Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleaded not responsible to US fentanyl trafficking fees on Monday (Sep 18) in federal court docket in Chicago, in accordance with the Chicago Tribune, three days after his extradition from Mexico.
Guzman, 33, is considered one of El Chapo’s 4 sons, generally known as “Los Chapitos,” who inherited their father’s trafficking empire after his conviction on US homicide and drug fees in 2019. “El Chapo” Guzman is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security jail in Colorado.
US officers mentioned Ovidio Guzman’s arrest and extradition represents a major victory within the Biden administration’s marketing campaign to stem the lethal stream of fentanyl throughout the southern border.
Guzman was briefly arrested in Culiacan within the northern state of Sinaloa in 2019. However President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered him launched after lots of of Sinaloa Cartel gunmen overwhelmed safety forces within the metropolis.
Guzman was captured once more in January after an intense firefight. The US requested his extradition in February.
Fentanyl, a extremely addictive artificial opioid, is responsive for almost 200 American deaths a day, a toll that has strained US-Mexico relations and put home strain on the Biden administration to sluggish the unfold of the lethal drug.
The Sinaloa Cartel is primarily accountable for manufacturing and exporting fentanyl throughout the border, in accordance with US officers.
In court docket papers, prosecutors mentioned Ovidio Guzman and his brothers operated a large worldwide trafficking operation that transported medicine to the US utilizing airplanes, submarines, fishing boats and rail automobiles and reaped lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in earnings.
The State Division has provided rewards value hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for data resulting in the seize of the Guzman brothers.
“El Chapo” Guzman rose to prominence on the helm of the Sinaloa Cartel and added to his infamy by escaping Mexican prisons not as soon as however twice. He was extradited to the US in 2017 and convicted in federal court docket in Brooklyn.