Los Chapitos

Los Chapitos

Founding location	Culiacán, Mexico
Territory	Sinaloa, Mexico City, State of Mexico
Leader(s)	Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar
Criminal activities	Drug trafficking, torture, kidnapping, murder, money laundering
Allies	Sinaloa Cartel Los Ninis Los Chimales Los Salazar Gente Nueva
Rivals	Mexican Armed Forces Jalisco New Generation Cartel Los Rusos Los Guanos Beltrán-Leyva Cartel Caborca Cartel La Plaza Cartel

Los Chapitos, also known as Los Menores or La Chapiza is one of the main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel originally made up of the sons of drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán to later be a unit of elite hitmen, well trained and armed. This criminal cell is currently in charge of the sale and distribution of illegal substances in the country and on US territory. It is considered one of the cartels that has generated the most violence in the northern states of Mexico.

The Los Chapitos faction was led by the recently arrested Ovidio Guzmán and made up of his brothers and half-siblings: Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, Joaquín Guzmán López and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, who after the arrest and extradition of Guzmán Loera in 2016 to the United States, the sons took control of the criminal businesses and command of the groups that made up the Sinaloa Cartel, however, a dispute over said command was created cell with another of its leaders known as Ismael “EL Mayo” Zambada.

History

On February 12, 2019, after three months of trial, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, "El Chapo", founding leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was found guilty by a jury in New York, United States. Described by many as "the trial of the century", "El Chapo" was found guilty of 10 criminal charges, which meant the "official" fall of whoever was the most wanted man in the world.

Five months later, on July 17, "El Chapo" was sentenced to life imprisonment by the same US jury, being confined in the "Gannet of the Rocky Mountains", one of the harshest prisons in the world.

On October 17, the federal government orchestrated an operation to arrest Ovidio Guzmán López, son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, "El Chapo", where members of the Sinaloa Cartel responded with all their force, filling the city with an army that paralyzed citizens and launched a total offensive to demand his release, unleashing a series of attacks and other violent acts in the Sinaloan capital. To avoid a massacre, the security cabinet, which was already holding Ovidio, decided to let him go.

According to the US Department of Treasury, Ovidio was a "key lieutenant" in the ranks of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Alliances and Enemies

Currently, his father's ex-right-hand man, El Mayo, is considered the number one internal enemy of Los Chapitos. Additionally, family friction has been reported with his uncle, El Guano, over control of the trafficking territory and the alleged extortion payments that he was thought to collect in some places in Sinaloa.

Other than that, Los Chapitos have their sights set on attacking the Beltrán Leyva Organization, an ally of the Sinaloa Cartel before a split in 2008 sparked a bloody war between the two groups. In 2016, more than 100 Beltrán Leyva members are said to have been responsible for looting the home of El Chapo's mother in the mountains of Sinaloa, forcing her to flee the region, along with hundreds of others from nearby communities.

According to expert reports, the CJNG is considered to have benefited from the ongoing disputes between Los Chapitos and El Mayo, which in turn has strengthened its power and control over the region.

In order to gain strength in their current turf wars, Los Chapitos have recruited allies in several states. Among them are some former rivals, such as Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuno, alias “El Flaquito,” who belonged to the Arellano Félix Cartel in Baja California, as well as old associates such as Néstor Ernesto Pérez Salas, alias “El Nini,” in Culiacán.

Finally, the CJNG remains one of the biggest enemies of Los Chapitos, due to its dispute with the Sinaloa Cartel for absolute control of Mexico's vast criminal economies. It is even said that the head of the CJNG Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho", put together a death squad to hunt down and kill the children of El Chapo

See also

• List of gangs in Mexico
• Mexican drug war
• Sinaloa Cartel
• Los Ninis
• Los Salazar
• Gente Nueva

References

This article "Los Chapitos" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Los Chapitos. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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