US doubles reward to $10MILLION for capture of drug lord El Chapo’s sons – now one of the highest bounties in history
- The DEA is offering $10 million rewards for the arrest and/or conviction of two of El Chapo’s four sons
- Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar face multiple drug trafficking charges and are listed in the agency’s 10 most-wanted list
- The siblings along with their half-brothers, Ovidio Guzmán López and Joaquín Guzmán López, are known as Los Chapitos and run half of the Sinaloa Cartel
The Drug Enforcement Administration has doubled its reward for the fugitive sons of infamous drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán in hopes of dismantling a criminal organization that is considered by feds as one of the main suppliers of fentanyl across the United States.
The DEA is now offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar.
The reward for the two brothers is now among the highest offered by federal officials in history. ‘El Chap’ once had a $5million reward offer, while Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had a $25million reward.
The increase from the brothers was announced Saturday after the federal narcotics enforcement agency added Iván Archivaldo to its 10 most-wanted list, joining his brother Jesús Alfredo.
The Drug Enforcement Administration revealed Saturday a $10 million reward for information that leads to the arrest and/or conviction of Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, one of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s four sons who operate half of the Sinaloa Cartel
Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar (pictured) joined his brother, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, in the DEA’s 10 most-wanted list
Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel has played a role in manufacturing and smuggling fentanyl to the United States
The siblings, along with their half-brothers, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is currently in a Mexican prison and awaiting extradition to the U.S., and Joaquín Guzmán López, operate half of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The other half is managed by 75-year-old Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, who helped El Chapo form the cartel. U.S. authorities are offering a $15 million reward for his arrest and/or conviction.
Known as ‘Los Chapitos,’ the band of brothers rose to power following El Chapo’s arrest in January 2016 and extradition to the United States in January 2017 before he was convicted in New York and sentenced to life in prison.
Under the leadership of El Chapo’s sons, according to the Department of Justice, the Sinaloa Cartel remains one of the most powerful transnational criminal organizations in the world and is responsible for creating and importing fentanyl to the United States.
An April 14 unsealed indictment accused Los Chapitos of flooding the streets of the United States with fentanyl over the last eight years, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Joaquín Guzmán-López (left) and Ovidio Guzmán-López (right) are two of El Chapo’s four sons who have taken over the Sinaloa Cartel following his arrest and extradition to the United States
According to the DEA, Los Chapitos provide fentanyl to 27 cities across the United States
However, DEA agents have managed to infiltrate the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Chapitos over the last year and a half, obtaining “unprecedented access to the organization’s highest levels, and followed them across the world.”
The group has leaned on its connections in China to import precursor materials to Mexico, where fentanyl is manufactured into powder and pills at secret laboratories, according to the DEA.
Los Chapitos rely on couriers, tunnels and stash houses throughout Mexico and the United States to smuggle the lethal drug to at least 27 American cities.
The synthetic drug is considered 50 times stronger than heroin and is blamed as the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 19. Authorities saw a 94 percent spike in fatal overdoses from 2019 to 2021. There were at least 196 fentanyl-related deaths each day during that period.