A son of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in Chicago on Tuesday as intrigue continued to swirl over how he ended up delivering himself and his father’s former partner, the elusive Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, into the hands of U.S. authorities in Texas.
After the hearing, the lawyer representing Joaquin Guzman Lopez told reporters that contrary to some media reports, there was no deal with federal prosecutors that led to the dramatic arrest last week.
“Take it from me as someone who knows, rather than from someone who thinks he knows or an anonymous source,” said Lichtman, who also represents Guzman Lopez’s infamous father and his brother, Ovidio. “We’ve got no agreement with the government. There has never been an agreement with the government with Joaquin Guzman Lopez. Period.”
Lichtman’s comments followed what was a fairly standard arraignment for Guzman Lopez, who faces five counts, including narcotics trafficking, conspiracy, and money laundering.
Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and sporting a goatee, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 38, was escorted by deputy U.S. marshals with the chains on his handcuffs making virtually the only sound in the 17th Floor courtroom.
He stood at the lectern for the entirety of the 15-minute hearing, answering U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman’s questions about his health and ability to understand the proceedings in heavily accented but fluent English.
Asked how he pleaded to the indictment against him, Guzman Lopez leaned into the microphone and said, “Not guilty, your honor.”
Guzman Lopez waived his right to a detention hearing and will remain in custody pending trial. Since there was no extradition agreement between the U.S. and Mexican government, he faces up to the death penalty on one of the counts, Lichtman confirmed.
His next court date was set for Sept. 30.
Security was tight at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, with cell phones and other electronics banned from the courtroom. After the hearing, Lichtman, told a horde of media in the courthouse lobby that he’d only been able to speak briefly to his client, whom he found to be “intelligent” with a clear understanding of his situation.
“He’s happy to be here. That’s all I can really say at this point,” Lichtman said. “I like him already. He’s somebody I can relate to. Just like I related to his father, just like I related to Ovidio.”
Lichtman also criticized — but did not refute — statements made by El Mayo’s attorney that Guzman Lopez had forcibly kidnapped the Sinaloa boss and flew him to U.S. soil against his will. Lichtman noted that there are no charges related to that allegation.
“He’s not being accused of kidnapping,” Lichtman said. “When the government accuses him, then I’ll take notice. When lawyers who are trying to score points with the media make accusations then I ignore that because it’s meaningless.”
Guzman Lopez, 38, one of four sons collectively known as the “Chapitos,” is under indictment in Chicago on sweeping narcotics trafficking charges alleging he helped lead a faction of the notoriously violent Sinaloa cartel after his father’s arrest eight years ago.
He has been in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago since Friday, a day after his arrest at a small airport near El Paso on a private plane that was also carrying Zambada Garcia, the notoriously elusive Sinaloa cartel co-founder who is also under indictment.
The plane landed apparently with little warning to U.S. authorities, who had to scramble agents to make the arrests. Zambada Garcia appeared last week in U.S. District Court in El Paso and waived his right to a detention hearing, pleading not guilty through his attorney to charges filed there.
The stunning news of Guzman Lopez’s and El Mayo’s arrests was announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday night in what appeared to be a hastily arranged written statement.
“The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world,” Garland said. He said Zambada Garcia and Guzmán López both face multiple charges “for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.”
In the hours that followed, the international intrigue spread and various conflicting stories began to emerge in the media, including one from an anonymous Mexican official that Zambada Garcia had turned himself in, and another claiming Lopez had duped Zambada Garcia into boarding the plane by telling him they were going to look at some property for sale near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Zambada’s Dallas-based lawyer, however, later pushed back against that version, claiming his client was violently kidnapped.
“My client neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government,” attorney Frank Perez said in a statement. “Joaquín Guzmán López forcibly kidnapped my client. He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin. His legs were tied, and a black bag was placed over his head.”
Perez said Zambada Garcia was then “thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a landing strip.”
“He was forced onto a plane, his legs tied to the seat by Joaquin, and brought to the U.S. against his will,” Perez said. “The only people on the plane were the pilot, Joaquin and my client.”
A transcript of Zambada Garcia’s court appearance in El Paso shows he was in a wheelchair for the hearing. At one point, he stood when addressing the judge, but later Perez told the judge “It is best if he sits down.”
“Let’s have him sit down and then move the wheelchair next to the podium on the side of the podium, thank you,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Berton said, according to the transcript obtained by the Tribune. “Move the wheelchair next to the podium, and then bend the microphone down to Mr. Zambada. Thank you.”
Perez could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Lichtman said repeatedly in Chicago that he could not address how his client got to be on that plane with El Mayo — a story he said that “seems to be changing every few minutes.”
“Eventually it will all come out,” he said. “But as a defense lawyer it’s just noise. I’m here to help the man and get him the best possible result. I’m not here to respond to the internet. …Whatever happened was not done at the direction of the government.”
Lichtman said he was at a baseball card show in Cleveland last week when he got the call about Guzman Lopez’s arrest, “I suppose a few minutes before (the media) did.”
Asked whether he’d try to get the case moved to another jurisdiction where Guzman Lopez is also facing charges, Lichtman said it wasn’t up to him where defendants are prosecuted.
“I don’t have that choice, sadly,” he said. “I would probably pick a place with a better airport. But no, we’re stuck in Chicago. And that’s fine.”
A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside El Chapo, Zambada Garcia was known for running the cartel’s smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.
Unlike El Chapo, Zambada Garcia had operated largely out of the glare of public and media attention. He wasn’t labeled Public Enemy No. 1. He dresses simply, prefers life on one of his many cattle ranches to extravagant parties, yachts or beachside nightclubs. Those who know him often referred to him as “Del Sombrero,” after his trademark wide-brimmed cowboy hat.
“He’s a straight-up rancher, old school,” said Pedro Flores, the convicted drug trafficker from Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood who, along with his twin brother, Margarito, helped the U.S. government bring indictments against a slew of Sinaloa figures, including Zambada and Chapo. “The way he treated people, he was the most understanding … always looking to please the people around him.”
Flores spoke to the Tribune last week with his longtime attorney, Robert Rascia, following the bombshell news of Zambada Garcia’s arrest.
“It is a big win for the U.S. government,” said Flores, who is living in an undisclosed location after completing his 14-year prison sentence.
El Mayo’s arrest is in many ways the culmination of the extraordinary cooperation that the Flores twins embarked on nearly two decades ago, agreeing to work with DEA agents while still living in Mexico and dealing directly with Sinaloa’s upper echelon leaders.
While much was made of the recordings the twins made of El Chapo, both twins told the Tribune that they dealt more often with Zambada, who embodied many of the same characteristics as their father, Margarito Sr.
Margarito Flores, who goes by the nickname Jay, recalled in an interview Friday how Zambada “never used the phone, ever,” preferring to meet face-to-face at one of his many ranches around central Mexico. He said some of those meetings took place under the shade of a tree, not some gilded office, where Zambada would take a seat on the ground in his Timberland boots.
“It was simple. It wasn’t Tony Montana in ‘Scarface,’” he said. “He reminded me a lot of my father.”
Asked about El Mayo on Tuesday, Lichtman said he had “no ill will.”
“I don’t know what to think,” he said. “Mayo is obviously, you know, he’s doing his thing. He’s managed to stay clear of a jail cell for 50 years. Fifty. Five-zero. It’s very impressive. I don’t know how he did it. I wish him all the luck in the world. I hope it works out for him.”
El Mayo’s arrest comes more than a decade after his son, Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the onetime heir-apparent to the Sinaloa cartel, was arrested on charges brought in Chicago and eventually agreed to cooperate against his father and other cartel leaders.
Zambada-Niebla, nicknamed “Vicentillo,” admitted playing a key role in trafficking thousands of pounds of cocaine and heroin into the U.S. using speedboats, submarines and jumbo jets. He had faced the possibility of life in prison, but was sentenced to 15 years in 2019 after then-U.S. District Chief Judge Ruben Castillo credited him for what prosecutors had called his “unrivaled” cooperation.
Known for his flashy lifestyle and hard partying, Zambada-Niebla was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2009 after the Flores twins — who were among the cartel’s biggest drug distributors — made recordings of Zambada-Niebla talking about massive drug shipments, obtaining grenades and explosives, and even attacking government buildings in Mexico in retaliation against law enforcement.
“El Chapo” Guzmán was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019.
Another son of Zambada’s, Ismael Zambada Imperial, pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa cartel.
Meanwhile, in recent years, Guzmán’s sons have lead a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or “Chapitos,” that has been identified as one of the main exporters of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid, to the U.S. market.
One of them, Ovidio Guzmán López, was arrested and extradited to the U.S. last year. He pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges in Chicago in September and is being held without bond.
Guzmán López was among 28 reputed members of the notorious Sinaloa cartel charged as part of a multijurisdictional fentanyl-trafficking investigation unveiled in April by Garland, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram and other top federal prosecutors, including acting Chicago U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual.
In outlining the charges, Garland described the violence of the Sinaloa cartel and how its members have tortured perceived enemies, including Mexican law enforcement officials. In some cases, cartel members also have fed victims, some still alive, to tigers owned by Guzmán’s sons, Garland said.
The superseding Chicago indictment, which was filed under seal in January 2023, alleged Guzmán López assumed day-to-day control of the cartel after his father’s arrest in 2016. The indictment accuses the sons of orchestrating the shipment of thousands of pounds of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the U.S. by rail, road and through tunnels and other means.
The sons allegedly furthered the conspiracy by bribing public officials and using guns and other dangerous weapons to commit violence, including murder, kidnapping, and assault “against law enforcement, rival drug traffickers and members of their own trafficking organization,” the indictment alleged.
Guzmán’s other sons charged in Chicago, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, remained at large as of Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
