U.S. authorities are intensifying their pursuit of one of “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons with a $10 million bounty attached.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on August 28 announced a renewed push to capture Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, also known as “Alfredito” and “Menor,” who is accused of helping lead his father’s former Sinaloa Cartel empire.
The 40-year-old fugitive has an outstanding federal warrant in the Northern District of Illinois related to charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, running a continuing criminal enterprise, and money laundering.
Guzmán Salazar, wanted since 2008 in connection with an HSI Nogales, Arizona, investigation, is considered armed and dangerous.
Authorities say he and his brothers, collectively known as the “Chapitos,” inherited their father’s trafficking networks after Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera was captured and extradited to the United States, where he is serving a life sentence.
ICE’s update said Guzmán Salazar’s faction of the cartel smuggled multi-ton quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico border. The network, officials added, also used “violence in Sinaloa and the United States to protect their drug distribution activities.” That violence, according to investigators, included murders, kidnappings, assaults, and bribery of public officials.
One of the most visible examples was the October 2019 “Battle of Culiacán,” when Mexican authorities briefly arrested Guzmán Salazar’s half-brother Ovidio Guzmán López. Gunmen loyal to the Chapitos overwhelmed Mexican forces with street battles and blockades, forcing authorities to release Ovidio. The episode, known locally as the “Culicanazo,” demonstrated the cartel’s grip in its stronghold of Sinaloa.
ICE’s public alert about the bounty left some ambiguity. Confusion persists over whether the latest bounty overlaps with a separate $10 million reward offered by the Treasury Department earlier this summer. FOX Local reported Thursday that ICE did not clarify if the two were cumulative.
Guzmán Salazar’s brothers remain divided between captivity and freedom.
Archivaldo Iván Guzmán Salazar, like Alfredo, is still at large in Mexico, while Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán López are in U.S. custody. In May, prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty against Joaquín Guzmán López in Chicago.
Ismael Zambada Garcia, a 75-year-old, also known as “El Mayo,” the Sinaloa Cartel’s co-founder, pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering and criminal enterprise, The Dallas Express previously reported.
The Sinaloa Cartel, dating back to the 1970s, remains one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent criminal organizations. In recent years, U.S. officials say its production and smuggling of fentanyl has fueled tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually.