US authorities have brought charges against 28 individuals, including the three sons of infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, for their alleged involvement in a fentanyl trafficking operation.
The trio of brothers, Ovidio Guzmán López, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Sálazar, who have been dubbed the “Chapitos” or “little Chapos,” are accused of torturing their victims with corkscrews, electrocution, and hot chilies, and have allegedly fed some of their enemies “dead or alive to tigers.”
The victims were allegedly tortured for information before being killed by the brothers themselves or at their direction. The bodies were then disposed of in various ways, including being fed to tigers owned by two of the brothers.
The indictment also details the capture and murder of two Mexican federal law enforcement officers in 2017, which reportedly involved two of El Chapo’s sons. The officers were subjected to horrific torture in the presence of the Chapitos, with one having his muscle ripped out with a corkscrew, followed by hot chilies being poured in his open wound and nose, and then being fatally shot by Iván. The bodies were later disposed of at a nearby motel.
The Sinaloa Cartel’s drug trafficking operation started with the purchase of precursor chemicals for fentanyl from China, then the drug was produced in Mexico and smuggled into the United States. Ovidio Guzmán López, one of the Chapitos, was captured in January after a shootout that left 29 dead.
