Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of notorious drug kingpin "El Chapo," pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges Tuesday, days after an astonishing capture in the U.S.
Guzman Lopez, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, stood with feet shackled as federal prosecutors in Chicago detailed a five-count indictment that also includes weapons charges. He declined a Spanish interpreter and answered most of U.S. District Judge Sharon Coleman's questions designed to determine if he understood the proceedings with a simple, "Yes, your honor."
Guzman Lopez and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a longtime of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel were arrested by U.S. authorities in the El Paso, Texas-area last week, according to the Justice Department. Both men, who face multiple charges in the U.S., oversaw the trafficking of "tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence," according to the FBI.
Zambada has eluded U.S. authorities for years. He was thought to be more involved in day-to-day operations of the cartel than his better-known and flashier boss, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019 and is the father of Guzman Lopez, 38.
In recent years, Guzman's sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or "Chapitos," that has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. market. Last year, U.S. prosecutors unsealed sprawling indictments against more than two dozen members of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzman Lopez and his brothers, in a fentanyl-trafficking investigation.
