This Is How the U.S. Broke Two of ‘El Chapo’s’ Sons to Turn Them Into Snitches

On July 11, 2025, a trembling, thin young man with a vacant stare spoke before a U.S. judge in Chicago, Illinois. Clad in an orange prison jumpsuit, Ovidio Guzmán López formalized a plea and cooperation agreement requiring him to collaborate with the U.S. government—or else face spending the rest of his life in prison, just like his father, the infamous “Chapo” Guzmán.

About six months later, three Department of Justice offices—along with the anti-money laundering and narcotics divisions—would finalize a second, virtually identical deal with Ovidio’s brother, Joaquín. In his desperation to secure an agreement that would keep him out of prison for as short a time as possible, Joaquín had kidnapped and handed over one of his father’s associates and a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel: Ismael Zambada García, known as “El Mayo.”

The Guzmán López brothers share the same case number—1:09-cr-00383—in the Chicago, Illinois federal court as other defendants such as “El Chapo” Guzmán and “El Mayo” Zambada, according to legal documents reviewed by MILENIO.

The U.S. prosecutors’ legal strategy is simple: the young men had to plead guilty to criminal charges carrying a mandatory life sentence—a penalty they could avoid only if they agreed to cooperate, and actually did cooperate, with U.S. authorities, subject to the discretion of the U.S. government itself.

Charges filed by U.S. authorities against Ovidio Guzmán

Investigations indicate that Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán López—along with their half-brothers Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar—were and remain the leaders of “Los Chapitos,” a criminal cell operating under the umbrella of the Sinaloa Cartel and Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the biological father of all four criminal bosses. According to the indictment, from 2008 until the arrests of Ovidio and Joaquín—in 2023 and 2024, respectively—they became involved in their father’s business; following El Chapo’s 2016 arrest, subsequent extradition, and prosecution, they took control of the operations previously directed by Guzmán Loera.

In Ovidio Guzmán’s case, his plea agreement—signed on July 9, 2025, two days before his court appearance—covers four charges stemming from two separate indictments: one in Illinois and one in New York. The first two charges, from the Illinois case, are trafficking in cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine, as well as organized crime. The New York case involves charges of fentanyl trafficking and organized crime.

According to the United States Sentencing Commission, a charge of organized crime—specifically for participating in a continuing criminal enterprise—carries a mandatory life sentence, while drug trafficking charges range from ten years to life imprisonment.

Included in the agreement is a clause in which “El Ratón”—as Ovidio Guzmán was known within the Sinaloa Cartel—pledges to cooperate with authorities by testifying or providing information whenever requested.

“At the time of sentencing, the government must disclose to the sentencing judge the extent of the defendant’s cooperation. If the government determines that the defendant has continued to provide full and truthful cooperation, as required by this agreement, then the government shall request the court—pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3553—to reduce the mandatory minimum sentence for Count Two of the twelfth superseding indictment and Count One of the Southern District of New York indictment,” reads Ovidio Guzmán’s plea agreement.

Joaquín Guzmán and his plea agreement

Joaquín Guzmán López signed his plea agreement on December 1, 2025, regarding one count of trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana, and another count of organized crime; the latter charge also obligates him to cooperate with authorities so that they may request a reduction in his sentence.

In an unprecedented case, “El Güero”—the nickname by which Joaquín Guzmán was known within the Sinaloa Cartel—also admitted to kidnapping “El Mayo” Zambada in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on July 25, 2024. He stated he did so in the hope of gaining further credit for himself and his brother, although he also acknowledged that Washington never requested, solicited, approved, or condoned the operation—an event that currently keeps relations between the National Palace and the White House tense.

“Guzmán López, therefore, acknowledges that, as discussed below, neither he nor his brother will receive cooperation credit for the kidnapping,” reads the agreement signed by Joaquín Guzmán López. If nothing changes, Ovidio Guzmán López is scheduled for an intermediate hearing on July 27. At that time, U.S. prosecutors will likely announce whether “El Chapo’s” son has indeed continued to cooperate effectively—potentially leading to a sentence reduction—or if, in a worst-case scenario for the Mexican national, he will be denied a reduced sentence and spend the rest of his life in prison.

Joaquín Guzmán is scheduled to appear on August 31, under the same conditions as his brother.

The Zambada Niebla Precedent

On April 3, 2013, the first of the drug lords’ sons involved in Case No. 1:09-cr-00383—heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago—was taken into custody.

Vicente Zambada Niebla signed a plea agreement for cocaine and heroin trafficking; simultaneously, he negotiated his cooperation in exchange for a sentence reduction—a deal that has since secured his release from prison.

Furthermore, he succeeded in having U.S. prosecutors stipulate in the plea agreement that they would seek protective measures for “El Vicentillo”—as Zambada Niebla was known within the Sinaloa Cartel—as well as for his family.

The strategy paid off for “El Vicentillo,” who is now free in the United States, although he was required to testify as a cooperating witness in one of the most high-profile trials of a Mexican national in the U.S.: that of “El Chapo” Guzmán. While El Vicentillo, El Ratón, and El Güero were becoming witnesses for Washington, the Department of Justice was building other significant criminal cases involving the Sinaloa Cartel—such as the indictment against Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya (currently on leave) and nine other state and local officials who, according to investigations, were or are on the payroll of Los Chapitos and the Los Mayos faction.

Source: Milenio