The sons of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman are in talks to cut a plea deal with United States prosecutors, according to their lawyer.
The news was unveiled during a court hearing in Chicago on Monday for El Chapo’s younger son, Ovidio Guzman, who, along with his brother Joaquin Guzman Lopez, is accused of helping run the Sinaloa cartel his father once led and funnelling massive amounts of narcotics into the US.
The Guzman brothers – along with two other siblings still in Mexico – make up the “El Chapitos” faction of the feared cartel. Both have pleaded not guilty in prior court hearings.
Their father “El Chapo” is serving life in prison in a supermax facility in the US state of Colorado for a massive drug conspiracy.
The Guzman sons’ reported plea talks 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 faction.
Zambada, the 76-year-old co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was described by prosecutors as “one of the world’s most notorious and dangerous drug traffickers”, who had evaded capture for decades.
He pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of drug trafficking, murder and other charges in a New York court last month.
“Kidnapped”
Zambada’s lawyer has claimed his client was kidnapped and forced onto a small plane bound for Texas where US law enforcement was waiting.
Mexican prosecutors have filed kidnapping charges against Joaquin Guzman Lopez, suggesting he smuggled El Mayo into the US as a prize to try to get favourable treatment for his jailed brother, Ovidio.
Experts say the Chapitos could provide valuable evidence in the case against Zambada, as well as possible corruption investigations against officials in Mexico.
“Any cooperation agreement with any drug trafficker implies that he will inform on possible Mexican federal government officials, military, police, in the transfer of drugs,” said Jesus Esquivel, the Washington correspondent for the Mexican magazine, Proceso.
As an example, Esquivel cited the indictment of Mexico’s former public security chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, who was sentenced last week in New York to 38 years in jail.
Separate cases
Lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman, who will defend both jailed Guzman brothers, told reporters that plea talks with the US justice system are just getting off the ground, according to several media reports.
He also stressed that the sons are facing “two totally different cases”.
“This isn’t a package deal in terms of one doing one and one doing the other … The government views them differently,” Lichtman was quoted by ABC News Chicago as saying.
Assistant US Attorney Andrew Erskine said that both the prosecution and defence hoped to settle Ovidio’s case before trial and expected progress before the next hearing scheduled for January 7.
US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram said Zambada’s arrest “strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast”.
Cartel war
After the Guzman Lopez and El Mayo’s arrests, a war erupted between the two vying cartel camps, with daily shootouts wreaking havoc in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state. At least 72 people have been killed and 209 people kidnapped, according to state prosecutor Claudia Sanchez.
One of the recent targets was the local newspaper El Debate, which had been covering the continuing hostilities. On October 18, the publication was sprayed with gunfire, but no injuries were reported.
The Sinaloa cartel has long been dreaded for its brutality against perceived enemies, including law enforcement and critical journalists.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland, in announcing charges last year against the Guzman brothers and their associates, detailed alleged cases of torture by the cartel, including experimenting on victims with fentanyl and feeding others to tigers.