An alleged prime Sinaloa Cartel fentanyl producer accused of supplying thousands and thousands of lethal drugs to the Chapitos was charged in a newly unsealed US indictment after Mexican authorities arrested Ivan Valerio Sainz Salazar in Sinaloa, federal prosecutors mentioned.
The Division of Justice (DOJ) mentioned Thursday that Sainz Salazar, also referred to as “Mantecas,” is charged with fentanyl trafficking and weapons offenses tied to an alleged conspiracy to manufacture the drug for the Sinaloa Cartel and smuggle it into the US.
Mexican authorities arrested Sainz Salazar and several other alleged associates in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, on Jan. 19, 2026, based on Mexico’s Secretary of Safety and Civilian Safety, Omar H. Garcia Harfuch.
“In an operation carried out by the Nationwide Guard, the Mexican Military and Air Drive, authorities detained Iván Valerio ‘N,’ alias ‘Mantecas,’ chief of a faction linked to the Beltrán Leyva group,” Garcia Harfuch wrote on X. “He was arrested together with 7 members of his group, in addition to firearms, automobiles and an artificial drug manufacturing middle. The investigation is ongoing.”
In response to the indictment, federal prosecutors declare the Sinaloa Cartel stays one of many main drivers of fentanyl flowing into the US, fueling document overdose deaths nationwide. The artificial opioid is way stronger than heroin and has devastated communities throughout the nation.
Investigators allege the cartel faction often known as the Chapitos – led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – oversaw a lot of that operation, counting on armed enforcers to guard drug labs, trafficking routes and management, typically utilizing military-grade weapons.
Prosecutors declare Sainz Salazar served as a key fentanyl producer for the Chapitos from about 2022 by way of 2025, serving to manufacture thousands and thousands of drugs, arranging drug transactions beneath armed safety and working labs that later grew to become central to the group’s fentanyl manufacturing.
Sainz Salazar, a 40-year-old Mexican citizen, has been charged with conspiring to import fentanyl into the US and conspiring to distribute it domestically – counts that every carry a compulsory minimal sentence of 10 years in jail and a most of life.
He’s additionally charged with utilizing and possessing machine weapons and damaging units in reference to the alleged drug conspiracy.
One weapons depend carries a compulsory minimal sentence of 30 years and a most of life, whereas one other associated conspiracy cost additionally carries a most sentence of life.
“As alleged, Sainz Salazar served as a serious producer of the Sinaloa Cartel’s fentanyl shipments sure for america,” US Lawyer Jay Clayton mentioned. “Fentanyl kills, and violent sellers in fentanyl should be taken off our streets. At this time’s fees goal a serious producer behind the Chapitos’ provide chain and underscore the dedication of the men and women of our Workplace to holding traffickers in any respect ranges of the manufacturing and distribution chain accountable.”
Joaquín Guzmán López, son of cartel boss “El Chapo,” pleaded responsible in a Chicago federal courtroom in December to drug-trafficking and persevering with felony enterprise fees.
Guzmán López, 39, is among the many so-called Chapitos, the group of brothers who took over a serious faction of the Sinaloa cartel after drug kingpin El Chapo’s 2019 conviction and life sentence.
Prosecutors say the brothers elevated the manufacturing and distribution of narcotics, together with fentanyl, and created a large pipeline that funneled tens of hundreds of kilograms of medicine into the US annually, per experiences.
Guzmán López pleaded responsible to 2 counts of drug trafficking and persevering with felony enterprise after acknowledging his function in overseeing the transporting of medicine to the US, principally by way of underground tunnels.
Guzmán López’s lawyer mentioned the plea deal permits his consumer to keep away from an computerized life sentence, based on the Related Press.
Guzmán López was arrested in July 2024 alongside longtime cartel determine Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada after touchdown on a personal jet in Texas.
The plea adopted the same settlement reached months earlier by his brother, Ovidio Guzmán López, on trafficking and money-laundering fees.
El Chapo himself stays in a maximum-security US jail serving life with out parole for working a multibillion-dollar trafficking empire. Prosecutors say his son stepped into his function.
