El Chapo Ally Working as Sinaloa Cartel Top Assassin Extradited From Mexico to U.S.

The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that a high-ranking member of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa Cartel, formerly led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, had been extradited to the U.S. to face international drug trafficking and firearms charges.

According to the department, Jorge Ivan Gastelum Avila was a Sinaloa Cartel hitman and "plaza boss" for the city of Guamuchil in Mexico's Sinaloa state from 2009 to 2016, Reuters reported.

He allegedly oversaw at least 200 armed men and conspired to distribute cocaine into the U.S. In a statement, the Justice Department said El Chapo and Gastelum, also known as "El Cholo Ivan," were arrested by Mexican authorities in 2016.

The department noted that El Cholo Ivan stayed in Mexican custody until April 1, when he was extradited to the U.S.

It added that the 42-year-old top assassin of the Sinaloa Cartel made an initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday.

The prosecutors said he is facing up to life in prison for the drug conspiracy charge and a mandatory consecutive sentence of 30 years for the firearms offense.

Sinaloa Cartel's Top Assassin 'El Cholo Ivan' Case

Prosecutors said El Cholo Ivan was accused of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five kilos or more of cocaine and more than 1,000 kilos of marijuana "intending and knowing that those substances would be imported into the United States."

He was also charged with knowingly and intentionally using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm, including a destructive device, during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, CBS News reported.

El Cholo Ivan was arrested alongside his boss, El Chapo, in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, as they attempted to flee authorities. At the time of his arrest, he was working closely with El Chapo as Sinaloa Cartel's lead "sicario" or assassin.

Arrest of Sinaloa Cartel Boss El Chapo

El Chapo was sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the ADX Florence "supermax" prison in Colorado after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019 on multiple drug-related charges.

The infamous Sinaloa Cartel boss was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993 and extradited to Mexico, where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking.

But in 2001, he escaped from prison. He was arrested again in Sinaloa in 2014 but escaped again from prison through a tunnel the following year.

Mexican officials announced in January 2016 that El Chapo had been captured again. He was extradited to the U.S. the following year.

El Chapo is serving a life sentence in prison after being found guilty of all 10 federal charges he faced. He was accused of illegally importing millions of kilos of cocaine from Mexico to the U.S., along with significant quantities of heroin and marijuana.

In January 2021, a federal appeals court in New York upheld the life sentence of El Chapo after his request for a new trial was dismissed.

In their decision, the three judges rejected some of El Chapo's arguments, including jury bias, "deplorable" jail conditions, and the U.S. government selectively targeting him for prosecution.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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