By Steve Neavling
A top assassin for the Sinaloa drug cartel was extradited to the U.S. from Mexico, the Justice Department announced Saturday.
Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as “El Nini,” was the alleged security chief of the cartel, and he’s accused of ruthlessly protecting the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Mexican authorities arrested Pérez Salas last fall, and now he’ll face drug, gun and witness retaliation charges in the U.S.
“We allege El Nini was one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s lead sicarios, or assassins, and was responsible for the murder, torture, and kidnapping of rivals and witnesses who threatened the cartel’s criminal drug trafficking enterprise,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “We also allege El Nini was a part of the Sinaloa Cartel’s production and sale of fentanyl, including in the United States. I am grateful to our Mexican government counterparts for their extraordinary efforts in apprehending and extraditing El Nini. With this enforcement action, El Nini joins the growing list of cartel leaders and associates indicted in, and extradited to, the United States. The Justice Department will continue to go after the cartels responsible for flooding our communities with fentanyl and other drugs.”
Last year, the Justice Department charged more than 20 leaders, members and associates of the Sinaloa cartel.
