Sinaloa Cartel Drug Trafficker 'El Flaco' Sanctioned by US Trreasury Department

Sinaloa Cartel's Jose Angel Rivera Zazueta, a.k.a. "El Flaco," the drug trafficker responsible for procuring chemicals in China to send to Mexico to use in manufacturing narcotics has been sanctioned by the U.S. government. The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions for Rivera Zazueta and two other men.

According to the Treasury Department's official announcement, El Flaco was added to the Office of Foreign Assets Control's Specially Designated Nationals list or SDN. The other two individuals sanctioned were Mexican Nelton Santiso Aguila and Guatemalan Jason Antonio Yang Lopez. They are considered to be the Sinaloa Cartel lieutenant's top associates.

The drugs that El Flaco helps the Sinaloa Cartel create and transport include fentanyl, which the Sinaloa Cartel is regarded as the top trafficker to the United States. This synthetic opioid caused over 70,000 overdose deaths in the United States in 2020 alone.

El Flaco Works With a Chinese Company to Ship Materials To Make Drugs in Mexico

While the final products are illegal, many of the chemicals used to make these narcotics are legal, and the Sinaloa Cartel purchases these from China. The one who procures these materials is none other than El Flaco.

According to the Associated Press, he often works with the Chinese chemical transportation company, Shanghai Fast-Fine Chemicals. These chemicals are often falsely labeled and then shipped by the company to Mexico "for illicit fentanyl production intended for U.S. markets."

The U.S. Treasury Department also noted that the notorious drug trafficker operates on a global scale and has nodes in various areas, including the United States, Mexico, South America, Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

El Flaco also ships cocaine from Colombia to various countries, not just the United States. These include Spain, Italy, Guatemala, Mexico, and other countries within Europe, as well as Central America.

Who Is the Notorious Sinaloa Cartel Lieutenant, El Flaco?

Jose Angel Rivera Zazueta is a native of Culiacan, Sinaloa, which was recently attacked by elements of the infamous cartel after founder El Chapo's son, Ovidio Guzman, was captured by Mexican authorities.

However, El Flaco actually works for the other Sinaloa Cartel co-founder, El Mayo Zambada. He serves as a lieutenant for the notorious drug lord and is one of his most-trusted underlings.

El Flaco also operated in Europe and worked closely with Italian criminal organizations. He was even a person of interest for "Operation Falcon," which was an investigation run by the Italian Police and it helped unravel the Sinaloa Cartel's modus operandi within the country. According to infobae, the cartel tried to bring tons of cocaine in via their Italian criminal organization partners.

The cartel mostly operated in Catania, Sicily, the main power hub of the Italian mafia. It is noted that an Italian official also helped them but through the efforts of Italy's organized Crime Investigation Group (GICO), its main anti-mafia unit, they were able to identify the Sinaloa Cartel's main operators in the city.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: How Sinaloa Became Mexico's Biggest Cartel | The War on Drugs - VICE