A reputed high-ranking member of the Sinaloa drug cartel has been indicted on federal charges in Chicago alleging he ran security and helped the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera smuggle and distribute large quantities of narcotics into the U.S.
Jesus Omar Ibarra Felix, also known by the alias “El Chuta,” was charged in the four-count indictment made public Friday with distribution of methamphetamine and fentanyl, using machine guns to facilitate drug trafficking, and providing material support for a foreign terrorist organization.
The indictment alleged that beginning in about 2017, Felix served as a “plaza boss” for the Ahome, Sinaloa region in Mexico, where he was responsible for narcotics distribution activities of Chapo’s four sons, who are collectively known as the “Chapitos.”
In addition to facilitating the movement of drugs into the U.S., Felix led an armed security group known as Las Fuerzas Especiales de Chuta, or “The Special Forces of Chuta,” which protected the conspiracy and “engaged in armed conflict” on behalf of the Guzman faction of the cartel, according to the indictment.
Felix, 45, is not in custody and is believed to be at large in Mexico. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
No lawyer was listed for him on the court docket.
Though not directly referenced, the charges appear to stem from the cooperation of two of the “Chapitos,” Ovidio Guzman Lopez and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who have pleaded guilty to separate indictments in Chicago and agreed to assist prosecutors in other avenues of investigation.
The brothers admitted in plea documents that they and their siblings assumed day-to-day control of the Sinaloa cartel after their father’s arrest in 2016, coordinating the shipment of thousands of pounds of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the U.S. by rail, road and through tunnels and other means.
Guzmán López, meanwhile, also admitted he orchestrated the dramatic kidnapping of elusive Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in 2024 and delivered both himself and his quarry to U.S. authorities in the hopes of leniency.
Zambada pleaded guilty in New York in August to partnering with El Chapo to lead the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug-trafficking organizations in the world, importing thousands of tons of narcotics into the U.S., through decades of violence and corruption.
Zambada is set to be sentenced in April in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
The other two Chapitos, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, remain at large in Mexico.
Their father, “El Chapo” Guzman, was convicted in New York in 2019 and is serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
