Guzmán Salazar, Jesus Alfredo

See also: Guzmán López, Joaquín; Guzmán López, Ovidio; Guzmán Salazar, Ivan Archivaldo

Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar is wanted in connection with an HSI Nogales, Arizona, investigation into the Sinaloa Cartel. He is a leader in a broad conspiracy that began in 2008 and continues to present day in which, he and his three brothers, known as the “Chapitos” inherited their father, the notorious, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera’s, drug trafficking networks. Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and his brothers assumed and consolidated control over “El Chapo’s” faction of the Cartel, and subsequently coordinated drug trafficking activities to smuggle large quantities of cocaine, generally in shipments of hundreds or thousands of kilograms at a time, as well as multi-kilogram quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana, from Mexico across the United States border, and then throughout the United States. The Chapitos, and other members and associates under their command in the Sinaloa Cartel also have utilized violence in Sinaloa and the United States to protect their drug distribution activities. This included obtaining guns and other weapons, bribing public officials, inciting, engaging, and threatening violence, to include murders, kidnappings, assaults, and battery against law enforcement, rival drug traffickers, and members of their own drug trafficking organization.

These acts of violence include the notorious “Battle of Culiacan” or “Culicanazo” that occurred on October 17, 2019, in which Mexican authorities arrested his half-brother and co-conspirator Ovidio Guzmán Lopez in Culiacan. The response, led in part by Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and brothers, showed their influence when hundreds of gunmen responded and engaged Mexican authorities in gun battles throughout the city, set fiery roadblocks, and caused multiple lives to be lost. The result forced the Mexican government to release Ovidio Guzmán Lopez.

On April 6. 2023, a federal arrest warrant for Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar was issued in the Northern District of Illinois for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Running a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, and Money Laundering (U.S. CODE 21 USC 846, 21 USC 848, and 18 USC 1956.) Guzmán Salazar is a fugitive and is known to possess firearms. He should be considered armed and dangerous.

The U.S. State Department has issued a reward of $10,000,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.