The charges against the four men known as the “Chapitos\,” are part of a Justice Department campaign against what Attorney General Merrick Garland called “the largest, most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.”
Four sons of drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera are charged in a federal indictment unsealed Friday in Chicago accusing them of taking control of their father’s empire after his arrest and strengthened their grip over the cartel through brutal violence.
The charges against the four men known as the “Chapitos” are part of a wider Justice Department campaign against what Attorney General Merrick Garland called “the largest, most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world — run by the Sinaloa Cartel and fueled by Chinese precursor chemical and pharmaceutical companies.”
In recent years, fentanyl-related deaths in Chicago and elsewhere in the country have risen to alarming levels, prompting the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal and local law enforcement agents to redouble their efforts to cut off the supply in Mexico.
Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and is the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 49, the feds say.
