El Chapo's sons deny involvement in leadership of Sinaloa Cartel and fentanyl trafficking allegations in the US
NAVOLATO, MEXICO: The four sons of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman have denied their involvement in the Sinaloa Cartel flooding the United States with fentanyl and distanced themselves from leading the transnational criminal organization that their father co-founded. The four siblings, known as 'Los Chapitos,' denied being leaders of the Cartel, which their father co-founded with Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada.
"We are not the head of the Sinaloa Cartel nor are we interested in being," Los Chapitos wrote in a letter read live on Mexican news outlet Milenio, delivered by their attorney José Rodríguez. "What does exist is a countless number of small and large groups that have their base of operations in the state or are made up of people from Sinaloa and operate in other parts of the country or even in other parts of the world. These groups operate completely independently of others and are not accountable to us, nor do we request them."
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Who is the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel?
According to the four siblings, there were several people and organizations claiming to be part of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was co-founded by El Chapo and Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, who still remains at large. He is currently considered by the DEA to be one of the leaders of the Cartel.
The United States government has offered rewards of $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of each of the wanted individuals, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán, while a reward of $5 million is being offered for Joaquín Guzmán López. Currently, Ovidio Guzmán López is imprisoned in Mexico City and is fighting against his extradition to the United States through the Mexican judicial system.
US prosecutors earlier stated that the Sinaloa cartel, under the leadership of El Chapo's sons, was responsible for producing and importing fentanyl into the United States. The indictment stated that Los Chapitos were responsible for distributing fentanyl in the United States for the past eight years, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans, but in the past year and a half, DEA agents have gained unprecedented access to the organization's highest levels and followed them across the world, managing to infiltrate the Sinaloa Cartel.
'We have never worked with fentanyl'
However, El Chapo's sons have refuted the allegations but acknowledged that there are people involved in the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl. They urged the authorities to deploy more agents in the investigation to uncover the truth about the drug trade. "The fame of our name reached an unsuspected position. We have never worked with fentanyl," the letter read. "However, in Sinaloa, there are many who work it. That is why there are seizures, which have a first and last name, investigate. It's easy to know who really owns all those seizures. We have never knowingly established relationships with people who traffic fentanyl. We want to make the following clear: Iván will never say or have said "We will flood the streets of the United States with fentanyl."