El Chapo’s son Ovidio Guzman Lopez denies claims he moved huge Mexican cartel toward fentanyl production
The son of infamous drug lord “El Chapo” has appeared in court for the first time since being extradited to the US from Mexico.
Ovidio Guzman Lopez denied drug and money laundering when he appeared at a Chicago court on Monday – three days after he was brought to the US.
Guzman Lopez, 33, and his three brothers – collectively known as “Los Chapitos” – inherited their father’s empire after he was convicted of murder and drug charges in 2019.
Joaquin Guzman, commonly known as El Chapo, is the former leader of the notorious Sinaloa cartel. He was sentenced to life in prison and is serving his sentence at “super-max” jail in Colorado.
The brothers inherited their father’s multibillion-dollar empire when he was incarcerated, allegedly steering it into synthetic drugs including methamphetamine and the powerful opioid fentanyl, which has been blamed for killing almost 200 people in the US every day.
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Who are the Mexican drug cartels?
Guzman Lopez, known as “The Mouse”, and his siblings were all indicted by US prosecutors in April amid claims they produced huge amounts of fentanyl and sold the drug at its lowest price.
They operated a huge international trafficking operation that saw drugs transported to the US via airplane, submarines, fishing boats and rail cars, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, it is alleged.
The brothers all deny the allegations and claim they are the “victims of persecution” and “scapegoats”.
“We have never produced, manufactured or commercialised fentanyl nor any of its derivatives,” they said in a statement.
“El Chapo” pictured in New York in January 2017, shortly after his extradition to the US
The extradition of Guzman Lopez is “testament to the significance of the ongoing co-operation between the American and Mexican governments on countering narcotics and other vital challenges,” US Homeland Security advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall said.
Guzman Lopez was captured by Mexican security forces in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, in northwest Mexico, in January.
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His arrest sparked a wave of violence leading to the deaths of 30 people, including 10 military personnel, with the Mexican army deploying Black Hawk helicopter gunships in a shoot-out against the cartel’s truck-mounted 50-caliber machine guns.
Cartel gunmen hit two military aircraft, forcing them to land.
Read more:
Officer who arrested El Chapo’s son killed in hail of bullets
Mexico to close prison El Chapo escaped from
They also sent gunmen to the city’s airport, where both military and civilian aircraft were targeted.
Officials attempted to detain Guzman Lopez in Culiacan in 2019 but were forced to abandon their operation after similar violence unfolded.
Security forces outside the Altiplano high security prison in Mexico where Guzman Lopez was held after his arrest in January
Mexico’s President Andrez Manuel Lopez Obrador personally ordered his release after hundreds of cartel members overwhelmed security forces.
El Chapo escaped prison in Mexico twice before he was finally arrested and extradited to the US in 2017, ahead of his conviction at a federal court in Brooklyn.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of drug lord “El Chapo” Joaquin Guzman, pictured after his trial in 2019
His wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was released from US custody last week after serving less than two years behind bars.
The 34-year-old is said to have helped to plan her husband’s escape from prison in 2015, which involved digging a tunnel underneath a jail.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
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