One of the sons of Sinaloa kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has reached a plea agreement with U.S. federal prosecutors and is expected to plead guilty to several drug conspiracy charges in the coming weeks.
During a court hearing on Tuesday, attorneys for Ovidio “El Raton” Guzman Lopez and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois filed a notice with U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman about Guzman’s intention to change his plea of not guilty.
Based on the new information, Johnson canceled a status hearing set for May 12 and set a hearing for July 9, at which time Ovidio is expected to formally enter a guilty plea to some of the charges filed against him. In the hearing, the judge ordered that attorneys provide her with a copy of the plea agreement at least three days before the date of the next meeting.
As Breitbart Texas reported, Ovidio Guzman is one of four sons of jailed Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Following their father’s capture and extradition to the U.S. in 2017, his highly publicized trial in 2019, and his subsequent life sentence, the four sons, known as Los Chapitos, established their own criminal empire, becoming more violent than their father and focusing on the production of fentanyl.
El Raton earned a name for himself on October 17, 2019, after Mexican federal forces arrested him. His brothers unleashed the full power of the Sinaloa Cartel on the city of Culiacan, forcing then-Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to cower and order the cartel leader’s release, Breitbart Texas reported at the time.
On January 5, 2023, Mexican authorities were able to capture the younger Guzman a second time and managed to hold him until his extradition to the United States in September 2023, Breitbart Texas reported.
Last summer, Guzman’s brother managed to lure and capture the other leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, only to fly him to Texas and the waiting hands of U.S. federal agents. The perceived betrayal by Los Chapitos set off a fierce turf war between that faction and the faction loyal to El Mayo and his family. That turf war continues to this day, leading to thousands of killings and forced disappearances that spread terror through Western Mexico.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Read the full article here