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Mexico captures Sinaloa cartel boss who launched power bid after El Chapo arrest | Mexico captures Sinaloa cartel boss who launched power bid after El Chapo arrest |
(35 minutes later) | |
Mexican prosecutors have captured a leader of the Sinaloa cartel who launched a struggle for control of the gang following the re-arrest and extradition to the US of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. | Mexican prosecutors have captured a leader of the Sinaloa cartel who launched a struggle for control of the gang following the re-arrest and extradition to the US of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. |
The attorney general’s office said soldiers and prosecution agents had detained a drug gang leader it called “Dámaso N”. | The attorney general’s office said soldiers and prosecution agents had detained a drug gang leader it called “Dámaso N”. |
A federal official confirmed the suspect is Dámaso López, known by the nickname “El Licenciado” – a title for college graduates. López was long considered Guzmán’s right-hand man and helped him escape from a Mexican prison in 2001. A grand jury in Virginia has previously accused him of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and launder money. | |
López is believed to be locked in a dispute with Guzmán’s sons for control of the cartel’s territories, especially in the cartel’s heartland of Sinaloa state. In a handwritten letter made public in February, the sons alleged they were lured to a meeting with López, but attacked upon arriving. | |
Guzmán, who twice slipped out of maximum-security prisons in spectacular escapes, was detained for a third time outside a motel in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis in January 2016. He was extradited to the United States on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration to face multiple charges. | |
With Guzmán in jail, the Sinaloa cartel has been controlled by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García and Rafael Caro Quintero, two of the most traditional, old-school capos, plus López, and Guzmán’s son, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán. | |
It is believed that López and Iván Guzmán are feuding over the spoils of El Chapo’s empire, provoking a wave of violence in Sinaloa. | |
Guzmán faces US drug trafficking, money laundering and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty. |