El Chapo's Son In Chicago Court On Drug Trafficking Charges: Authorities

CHICAGO — The son of infamous cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera was arraigned Monday in federal court in Chicago on drug trafficking charges, according to authorities.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 33, of Culiacan, Mexico, was extradited Friday from Mexico to the United States after he was arrested in January in Mexico, authorities said.

Known as “El Raton” and “Raton Nuevo,” Guzman Lopez is charged out of Illinois with five counts in a larger indictment alleging that he engaged in a trafficking enterprise from 2008 to 2021 to distribute cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He also faces money laundering and gun charges, authorities said.

El Chapo was convicted in New York federal court for his role leading the Sinaloa Cartel, and Guzman Lopez and his three brothers, who are also charged in the indictment, took over the cartel’s operations, according to the department.

Guzman Lopez pleaded not guilty in Illinois and was ordered detained without bond, authorities said. He has also been indicted on federal charges out of New York related to drugs, weapons, money laundering and criminal enterprise, according to the department.