El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel’s Operations Crippled

Ever since Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was recaptured in January this year following his escape from Altiplano prison last year via a tunnel, the U.S., Mexican, and Central American authorities have been working hard to destroy the Sinaloa cartel, which is headed by El Chapo Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. And with so many of the cartel’s key members having been arrested in the past few months, there is no doubt that they are getting a ton of information from them, enough to cripple some the organization’s main operations.

Just a few days ago, a well-connected network of money launderers for the Sinaloa cartel based in Miami was exposed. The individuals, who were said to run a highly complex operation, are reported to have used popular, anonymous names while transacting, while sending millions of dollars of proceeds from drug sales to Colombia. Some of the names used included Tony Montana, Neymar, Mr. Big, Pitbull, and Vito Corleone.

According to Katherine Fernandez Rundle, a Miami-Dade State Attorney, the operation relied on the state’s strong economy to cover the huge money transfers to drug lords in Colombia. The following was her actual statement.

“They use Miami’s strong international economy as the actual funnel of all of their international money-laundering operations… We are surely the global hub for money laundering.”

The attorney also indicated that there were numerous other players arrested in recent weeks and they included one in Boston, another three in Miami, while another is awaiting extradition from Colombia to the United States. Moreover, five people have already been arrested in connection with the illegal activity.

This is as reported by Latin Times.

In another money laundering scheme recently discovered in Panama, two drug traffickers and money launderers, Jorge Milton Cifuentes and Mallory Chacón Rossell were evidenced to be linked to El Chapo. This is according to leaked documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca. The following is an excerpt of the report, according to Business Insider.

“Documents from global law firm Mossack Fonseca leaked to journalists have linked the firm to two alleged money launderers and drug traffickers tied to notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán… Chacón was accused of being the most active money launderer in Guatemala and of leading a cell of Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel. The documents have revealed the involvement of Chacón in an offshore company set up by the law firm.”

Chacón is said to have headed a company called Broadway Commerce Inc between 2009 and 2010, supposedly created by the law firm Mossack Fonseca. She is said to have laundered about $4 million in Central America during this time. In 2011, she was linked to drug trafficking activities, with charges being filed by a grand jury in Florida.

The following is part of the report on this.

“A grand jury in Florida filed an indictment accusing her of trafficking in August 2011, according to Univision. The following year the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) put her on its ‘black list’ of suspected narcotraffickers… Chacón turned herself in to US authorities in September 2014 and pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in December that year… In addition to Chacón, Jorge Milton Cifuentes, a Colombian trafficker with extensive ties to Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel, also had dealings with the law firm, according to Mexican news site Aristegui Noticias and Mexico City-based magazine Proceso, both of which saw the leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca.”

El Chapo is currently in jail awaiting extradition to the United States.

[Photo by AP Photo/Marco Ugarte]