Gradually, investigations by U.S. authorities have increasingly pointed not only to members of Los Chapitos but also to their alleged accomplices as being responsible for a mass killing.
“This is what will happen to all the snitches and rats.” That message accompanied the gruesome scene: before the eyes of passersby and authorities lay the bodies of eight people bearing visible signs of torture and gunshot wounds. It happened in Tamazula, Durango.
It was October 2023, and the U.S. government had just announced a manhunt for *Los Chapitos*—the Sinaloa Cartel faction inherited by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The reason? They were accused of running a prolific trafficking network for fentanyl, a small yet potent synthetic opioid that had triggered a public health crisis within U.S. borders.
As U.S. security agencies closely tracked the Guzmán brothers—along with their associates and collaborators—incidents of violence began to be documented in both Sinaloa and neighboring states. Meanwhile, the arrest and extradition of Ovidio Guzmán López foreshadowed the potential downfall of other key operatives.
It was against this backdrop that—according to local media reports—the bodies were dumped in the municipal seat and along a road leading to the mountainous region bordering Sinaloa and Durango.
At the time, the discovery was viewed as just another instance of the violence plaguing the region due to the widespread presence of criminal groups; however, the identity of one of the victims ultimately revealed to U.S. authorities the involvement of not only a high-ranking member of *Los Chapitos* but also a commander from the Culiacán municipal police.
The Victims
Hours before authorities announced the mass killing, reports regarding the disappearance of three individuals had already been filed with the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office. According to accounts of the incident, a group of at least ten masked individuals armed with long guns arrived at the Bosques del Rey residential complex in Culiacán on a Tuesday and abducted three people.
Alarm bells rang among the public and authorities alike after it emerged that one of the victims was a minor identified as Jesús Alberto Chaidez Beltrán; a missing person notice for him was quickly circulated throughout the Sinaloa capital. Efforts to find him alive proved unsuccessful.
The teenager—only 13 years old—was killed alongside seven other men. The case not only sparked outrage across the state but also triggered a series of investigations that eventually pointed to another of the victims: Alexander Meza León.
According to information from the Department of Justice, this man had managed to infiltrate the Sinaloa Cartel and become an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)—a role underscored by a message left at the crime scene that used the word *sapo* (toad) as slang for “snitch.”
Also killed alongside Alexander Meza León were Jesús Alberto Chaidez Beltrán, Germán Alexis Beltrán Gutiérrez, Alberto León Mendoza, Joel Alejandro León Valenzuela, Alexis Alberto Meza León, Abel Ruíz Beltrán, and Kevin Aly Sarmiento Zavala.
Gradually, the investigation not only established Meza León’s role as a DEA informant as the motive for the mass killing but also identified an operative for “Los Chapitos” as the person primarily responsible for the crime.
The involvement of “El Nini”
The position Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas attained within the Sinaloa Cartel’s criminal structure—specifically within the faction led by the Guzmán brothers—was the result of an extensive criminal career.
Also known as “El Nini” or “El 19,” the head of security for El Chapo’s sons built a reputation that quickly drew the attention of U.S. authorities, leading to formal indictments filed against him in federal courts in the Southern District of New York and the District of Columbia.
In addition to facing charges related to drug trafficking, organized crime, money laundering, possession of machine guns and explosive devices, and conspiracy to commit these offenses, El Nini was also accused of retaliating against witnesses; specifically, he was linked to the murder of Alexander Meza León.
“PÉREZ SALAS killed and procured the murders of Alexander Meza León, German Alexis Beltran Gutierrez, Jesus Alberto Chaidez Beltrán, Alberto León Mendoza, Joel Alejandro León Valenzuela, Alexis Alberto Meza León, Abel Ruiz Beltran, and Kevin Aly Sarmiento Zavala, and attempted to kill another victim (‘Victim-1’), in retaliation against a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration (‘DEA’)—namely, the victim Alexander Meza León (the ‘CS’)—for the CS’s assistance in the DEA’s investigation into PÉREZ SALAS and his associates,” states a portion of the court document reviewed by MILENIO.
His extensive criminal history made El Nini’s arrest a priority for authorities on both sides of the border, ensuring his downfall came swiftly. Just one month after the mass killing, Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas was arrested in Culiacán; in May 2024, he was extradited to the United States, where—as of this writing—he remains in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Although his case was sealed upon his arrival in the United States, sources consulted by journalists Luis Chaparro and Angel Hernández for MILENIO revealed that “El Nini’s” legal strategy appears aimed at reaching a plea agreement with the prosecution.
One indication of a possible negotiation was, for instance, the relocation of his wife to the neighboring country; however—while the formalization of any agreement would ultimately be confirmed by his defense team or the authorities—new details have emerged regarding the murder of a DEA informant in Culiacán. These details were outlined in the accusation filed against the Governor of Sinaloa (currently on leave), Rubén Rocha Moya, as well as nine other state public officials.
The accusation against Juanito
Juan Valenzuela Millán is one of the key figures named in the indictment against public officials from Sinaloa, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
According to information released by the Department of Justice, Valenzuela Millán—also known as “Juanito”—was a high-ranking commander in the Culiacán Municipal Police, a position he held from at least 2018 until 2024. Like his co-defendants, he is accused of using his position to facilitate the operations of “Los Chapitos” in the state in exchange for monthly bribes for himself and more than 40 officers from the police force to which he was assigned.
“Millán granted Los Chapitos unlimited access to the Culiacán Municipal Police and used the force’s officers and resources to help Los Chapitos traffic drugs and maintain control over Culiacán, including the kidnapping, detention, and/or murder of the group’s enemies,” states a portion of the indictment reviewed by MILENIO.
In this regard, Juanito was implicated in the kidnapping and murder of Alexander Meza León and his family members. According to U.S. authorities, the multiple homicide was carried out on the orders of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and another key member of Los Chapitos; the former municipal police commander allegedly provided assistance in the operation.
Under Juan Valenzuela Millán’s command, municipal officers detained Alexander Meza León and another individual in a patrol car, kidnapped them, and handed them over to cartel hitmen, who tortured and murdered them along with other victims. Juanito was also accused of ordering his subordinates to surveil and detain—at gunpoint—other civilians who interfered with Los Chapitos’ objective of locating and capturing other victims; these individuals were subsequently abducted, tortured, and murdered due to their association with the DEA informant. Little by little, investigations and information accessed by U.S. authorities have pieced together part of what happened regarding the eight bodies found that Saturday in October 2023 in Tamazula, Durango, as well as the individuals involved in the crime—an act that not only claimed the life of the anti-narcotics agency informant but also left other victims caught in the brutality and violence of the reprisal carried out by Los Chapitos.
Source: Milenio
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