Dámaso López Serrano, also referred to as “El Mini Lic,” was sentenced on Thursday to 5 years in jail for his position in an tried fentanyl trafficking operation on U.S. soil.
López Serrano was as soon as an influential determine inside the Sinaloa cartel as a consequence of his father, Dámaso López Núñez, who for years served because the right-hand man of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. El Mini Lic earned a spot inside the cartel’s ranks by means of his shut relationship with Guzmán’s sons, however since his first arrest in the US in 2017, his position within the group’s prison actions diminished.
After spending 5 years in jail, El Mini Lic was launched from U.S. custody in 2022. As a part of his launch, López Serrano agreed to cooperate with regulation enforcement, offering key details about El Chapo’s sons and the Sinaloa cartel.
His second arrest happened in December 2024 in Virginia for allegedly trafficking fentanyl following an FBI undercover operation during which brokers posed as consumers. He pleaded responsible in Might to tried possession with intent to distribute the artificial drug.
In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Decide Anthony J. Trenga declined to depart from a joint suggestion beneath a plea settlement between Justice Division prosecutors and protection attorneys, The Washington Publish reported. The brand new five-year sentence will run concurrently with a separate five-year sentence for violating his earlier supervised launch and will likely be adopted by one other 5 years of supervised launch.
For greater than 5 years, the Mexican authorities has sought López Serrano’s extradition, as he’s needed for allegedly ordering the killing of Javier Valdez, a Sinaloa-based journalist who specialised in reporting on the drug commerce. U.S. authorities repeatedly rejected these requests, in keeping with Mexican officers, arguing that López Serrano was a protected witness offering info to U.S. regulation enforcement, a place that has drawn criticism from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Final 12 months, Sheinbaum stated agreements between the U.S. authorities and high-profile cartel figures resembling El Mini Lic have been “contradictory.”
“They label organized crime as terrorists in the US. They’ve a coverage of not negotiating with terrorists after which they negotiate, in order that needs to be defined by the U.S. authorities or the establishments inside the Justice Division or whoever makes these selections,” she stated.
Due to his shut ties to the Guzmán household, U.S. prosecutors have handled López Serrano as a key protected witness and have rejected Mexico’s makes an attempt to deliver him again to face fees.
In line with stories, El Mini Lic’s cooperation led to the arrests of Ovidio Guzmán López, one of many leaders of Los Chapitos, and different cartel members in latest months. Regardless of earlier failed efforts by Mexico, Sheinbaum’s administration is anticipated to resume its push to have López Serrano returned to Mexican soil.
As reported by The Washington Publish, a spokesperson for the U.S. legal professional’s workplace for the Jap District of Virginia, the place López Serrano was sentenced, declined to touch upon whether or not the federal government would help Mexico’s extradition request.
El Mini Lic as a whistleblower
Through the two years he spent out of jail earlier than his second arrest, López Serrano gave a number of interviews to Mexican journalists during which he disclosed delicate details about the Sinaloa cartel.
In a single interview, El Mini Lic described an alleged letter from El Chapo Guzmán ordering the cartel to separate into two factions: one led by Guzmán’s sons and the opposite by the Dámaso household.
“He needed my dad to be the chief. And I keep in mind that within the letter he requested my dad to care for his sons,” López Serrano informed Vice in 2023.
Regardless of Guzmán’s needs, his sons reportedly rejected safety from the Dámaso household, triggering an inside dispute between the 2 teams.
In one other interview with investigative journalist Anabel Hernández, López Serrano stated the Sinaloa cartel and its factions have been concerned in fentanyl trafficking since a minimum of 2014, after studying that prison teams in Jalisco and Michoacán have been transferring a drug referred to as “artificial heroin” that generated greater income.
“They despatched somebody to China to see what was occurring,” López Serrano stated. “They made contact and defined the method and the prices. El Chapo was the primary to supply fentanyl.”
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