El Chapo/Sinaloa Cartel 2013 Updates - Page 4
09/17/2013 -- Guatemala arrests suspected drug trafficker wanted for ties to Mexican cartel
"Guatemalan and U.S. law enforcement agents on Tuesday arrested a suspected Guatemalan drug trafficker wanted for ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, the gang run by drug lord Joaquin 'Shorty' Guzman.
Waldemar Lorenzana was captured by Guatemalan officials working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Teculutan, Zacapa, some 130 km (80 miles) northeast of Guatemala City, the attorney general's office said in a statement."
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09/16/2013 -- Heroin Pushed on Chicago by Cartel Fueling Gang Murders
"The two Mexican couriers were hauling a tractor-trailer full of cash: $3 million collected for drugs sold on the streets of Chicago. Juan Gonzalez and David Zuniga were driving their rig through Indiana in October 2011, transporting the money to Mexico. As they stopped to fix a flat tire, three members of the Gangster Disciples, Chicago’s biggest street gang, held them up at gunpoint.
The gang had bought the drugs -- and now these members wanted the money back. They pistol-whipped and handcuffed Zuniga. As the gangsters were hooking their own purple Kenworth cab to the money-laden trailer, Gonzalez fled through a cornfield and called the police.
Gonzalez, who worked for Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, made a surprising request that fall day: He wanted proof for cartel leaders that police had confiscated the $3 million."
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09/07/2013 -- Mexico frees two teens jailed for drugs found in US-bought van
"A Mexican judge has acquitted two teenage boys who claimed they unknowingly transported cocaine in a van bought at a US government auction.
Sergio Alejandro Torres Duarte and Julio Cesar Moreno Guzman, both 18, were released Friday after nearly 10 months in jail in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.
During their detention, the youths had repeatedly expressed fear for their lives. They had initially been identified as members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, bitter rivals of the Sinaloa Cartel that controls the prison where they were held."
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09/01/2013 -- NH prosecutors prep for Mexican drug cartel trial
"Federal prosecutors in New Hampshire are preparing to try three men linked to a notorious Mexican drug cartel on charges of conspiring to distribute 1,000 kilograms of cocaine in a case that spans the globe.
Manuel Jesus Guttierez Guzman, Rafael Humberto Celaya Valenzuela and Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela were arrested in the port city of Algeciras, Spain, 13 months ago. Prosecutors say they are members of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel based in Mexico.
Three others named in the indictment remain at large, including Joaquin Guzman-Loera — known as 'el Chapo' — the leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Guttierez Guzman is the cartel chief's cousin and during numerous meetings with undercover agents over the course of the two-year investigation held himself out as a direct representative of his cousin, investigators say."
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08/30/2013 -- Mexico detains alleged Sinaloa cartel lieutenant; government claims he was behind 350 murders
"Mexican police captured an alleged former Sinaloa drug cartel lieutenant accused of involvement in the killings of more than 350 people found in various mass graves in 2011, officials said Thursday.
Police in the northern state of Chihuahua detained Mario Nunez, a 39-year-old also known as 'M-10,' on Wednesday in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, federal security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said."
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08/29/2013 -- Chihuahua police arrest reputed drug-trafficker "El Mayito" in Juarez
"A reputed high-level drug trafficker who during the cartel war was allegedly ordered by kingpin Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman to take control of Juárez was arrested Wednesday morning in Juárez, Chihuahua authorities said.
State investigators arrested Mario Nuñez Meza, who is also known as 'El Mayito' and 'El M-10,' in Juárez along with two other heavily-armed men during an operation by state and federal agencies, officials said. Nuñez Meza was taken to Mexico City to be questioned by a federal anti-organized crime unit."
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08/22/2013 -- Treasury Targets Front Operations Working on Behalf of Sinaloa Cartel Drug Lord “El Azul”
"The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the designation of five Mexican individuals linked to Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno (a.k.a. El Azul), a leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel. In addition, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published the new aliases of seven previously designated companies, which operate gas stations, with links with Esparragoza Moreno.
'We will continue to target companies and individuals that support the networks of Esparragoza Moreno, his criminal associate Rafael Caro Quintero, and other leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. We will take the necessary action to protect the U.S. financial system from their illicit proceeds and we will ensure that their attempts to evade sanctions will not succeed,' said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin."
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08/21/2013 -- Former AFD firefighter gets 30 months in prison
"A former Albuquerque firefighter was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in federal prison for his part in a massive drug organization with ties to drug kingpin Chapo Guzman and the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico.
Steve Chavez, 33, was a firefighter in early 2012 when he was charged along with 14 co-defendants with drug trafficking, money laundering and 'structuring transactions' – or trying to hide the money – due to his role in the so-called Varela Drug Trafficking Organization. Chavez will also have to forfeit more than $180,000 to the United States."
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08/10/2013 -- Chihuahua officials: Sinaloa drug cartel lieutenant 'El Ingeniero' killed
"A reputed narcotrafficker suspected of controlling smuggling routes in the Valley of Juárez for Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel was killed in a shootout on Thursday, Chihuahua officials said Friday.
Gabino Salas Valenciano, known as 'El Ingeniero' (the engineer), was reputedly a lieutenant in the Sinaloa cartel and was suspected in a wave of terror in the valley as one of the principal players during the drug cartel war that engulfed the Juárez region."
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08/07/2013 -- Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Tried To Buy Anti-Aircraft Missiles, Weapons From US Citizens, Says Justice Department
"A Justice Department report detailing 25 different cases of illegal arms trafficking between 2007 and 2012 has catalogued a few of the boldest bids by Mexico's most powerful drug cartels to acquire increasingly high-powered weaponry. Among them is a 2010 case in which David Díaz Sosa and Jorge de Jesús Castañeda, affiliates of the Sinaloa drug cartel headed by Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, tried to purchase a Stinger anti-aircraft missile and several anti-tank weapons from undercover agents."
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