Even though notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is serving a U.S. life sentence, the relatives he put in charge of the family cartel back in Mexico are slowly being picked off by law enforcement.
Federal drug agents in the U.S. and Mexico are peeling at the onion of El Chapo’s empire, layer by layer arresting the makers and movers in his Sinaloa cartel. The latest to be put in handcuffs is Chapo’s beloved nephew, Isaí Martínez, who was in charge of fentanyl production according to law enforcement officials.
Martinez had been overseeing the pipeline from Mexico to Chicago, where thousands of overdose deaths have occurred over the past decade. Martinez is a top member of Los Chapitos, the core of the cartel onion, where now only two top traffickers remain and both of them are El Chapo’s sons.
It is headline news in Mexico: “Detained, the nephew of El Chapo.” Even though authorities slap a black privacy bar over his eyes, Isai Martinez is well known as “El Chinacate,”which translates to a “featherless bird.”
The only flight he’ll now make is one-way, and in shackles no less, to Chicago or New York to face sealed federal charges that law enforcement sources say are likely to include drug trafficking, organized crime and conspiracy.
“They’re putting a tremendous amount of pressure on Mexico and other countries to get these people and turn them over to us for the extradition,” said Mike Gannon, a former top Drug Enforcement Administration official in Chicago.
The arrest was made in the Casa Blanca section of Nogales, a border town south of the Arizona line. The federales say in a separate raid they also confiscated an arsenal of 151 guns, 18 grenades, and 1,500 pounds of cocaine.
Chapo’s nephew, in his early 40’s, curiously was out on bond in Mexico, despite having been arrested last year for allegedly overseeing the delivery of at least 10,000 fentanyl pills to the U.S.
In the Sinaloa chain of command, he is considered right behindtwo El Chapo sons, Ivan and Jesus. NBC Chicago investigative sources say both are in negotiations with US authorities to potentially surrender, as did their brothers, who are now in custody in Chicago.
“At the end of the day, it’s got to send a message to these high level drug crews that your days are numbered,” Gannon said. “That’s the bottom line. I mean, if you’re in the drug game, there’s a couple of outcomes that aren’t good that usually come your way. So the reality is, I think the high-level drug traffickers are definitely put on notice right now.”
GOUDIE: “Are you surprised that these arrests lately have been made without a fight?”
GANNON: “I’m not surprised because I think you’ve seen some of the fights that have happened and the outcome was they lost and they were either killed at the time or they were captured and they’re turned over. So, it doesn’t surprise me. But I think the United States government has put a lot of people on notice, especially some of these Kingpin high level drug traffickers, that they can be gotten if they want. And that puts pressure on people.”
After years of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials spinning their wheels in the quicksand of Mexican politics, now arrests and extraditions come at a steady clip. Gannon says that’s partly due to a more progressive Mexican government, but he says it’s mostly the result of an administration in Washington that has told Mexico’s leaders: if you don’t arrest cartel kingpins, the Americans will come in and do it for you.
