Néstor Isidro El Nini Pérez Salas, alleged hitman in charge of the security of Los Chapitos, the criminal gang of the sons of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, was transferred on Thursday to a maximum security prison in Mexico, according to the EFE agency.
Nini (31) appeared for almost three years on the list of the most wanted criminals in Mexico and the United States, who may request his extradition while he remains in the State of Mexico penitentiary center. This was determined by Mexico City magistrate María del Carmen Sánchez, who paused the immediate deportation of the alleged hitman and established a period of 60 days for the United States to formalize the request, according to Forbes México.
Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that the Department of Justice will do everything possible to have him tried in US courts :
We are now seeking El Nini’s swift extradition from Mexico to face justice here in the United States.
"I want to thank President López Obrador and the Mexican Army and special forces for effectively capturing El Nini," President Biden said in a press release, in which he also maintained that this arrest and that of Ovidio Guzman demonstrate the "commitment" of both countries to "secure our communities against violence, counter the cartels, and end the scourge of illicit fentanyl."
Así fue el operativo en Culiacán para lograr la captura de 'El Nini', presunto líder de las fuerzas especiales de ‘Los Chapitos’. #Video 🎥👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/CF1lAjZrMo
— JORGE BECERRIL JB/8 (@MrElDiablo8) November 23, 2023
Who is El Nini?
Pérez Salas is one of the members of Los Chapitos against whom the Department of Justice filed charges in April as part of a campaign to combat fentanyl trafficking -lawsuit that also included El Chapo's sons: Iván Guzmán Salazar, Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, Joaquín Guzmán López, and Ovidio Guzmán López-.
.@StateDept stands with our @TheJusticeDept and @USTreasury partners against the deadly trafficking of synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Tips in response to the reward offers should be directed to the Drug Enforcement Administration at [email protected] https://t.co/rhojeMrmsS pic.twitter.com/772RgrZQ3q
— US Dept of State INL (@StateINL) April 14, 2023
The DOJ points to Nini as responsible for the criminal group's security apparatus. It also claims he commands a "particularly violent" armed group called Los Ninis. Among other crimes, he is accused of having conspired to manufacture and bring illicit drugs into the country, having murdered or attempted to murder, and threatened and intimidated a government informant and witness.
Nini would also be the architect behind the Culiacanazo: a series of confrontations in the middle of the street in Culiacán, Sinaloa, to demand - successfully - the release of Ovidio Guzmán López. He would also be in charge of another operation to free the same clan leader, attacking the Culiacán airport with gunfire.
Así fue captado desde otro ángulo el enfrentamiento de esta mañana en el Aeropuerto Internacional de #Culiacán entre personal de la #GuardiaNacional y presuntos delincuentes.#Sinaloa #OvidioGuzman pic.twitter.com/jWYCoycXm0
— Sergio Martínez Estrada (@segme99) January 5, 2023
The State Department even offered $3 million as a reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
Treason?
Specialized journalist Anabel Hernández assured that El Nini's arrest on Wednesday had not been "causal." According to what she told Oscar Mario Beteta in a radio interview, Iván Guzmán Salazar, Chapo's eldest son, led a meeting at the beginning of the month in which he ordered Nini to be handed over or murdered.
After a decade serving Los Chapitos, his massacres, his growing wealth and famous friends - such as the singer Peso Pluma - he would have made him too popular.
