Alleged Sinaloa drug cartel assassin known as ‘El Nini’ extradited to US

A suspected murderer Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel was extradited Saturday to the United States, where it will face charges related to drug and arms trafficking, the Justice Department said.

Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, known as “El Nini”, was one of the “main sicarios, or assassins” of the Sinaloa Cartel, and was responsible for the murder, torture and kidnapping of rivals and witnesses who threatened the cartel’s criminal drug trafficking enterprise, the attorney said. ” Gen. Merrick Garland said in a statement after the extradition Saturday morning.

“We also allege that El Nini was part of the Sinaloa Cartel’s production and sale of fentanyl, particularly in the United States,” Garland said.

The United States had offered up to $3 million for information leading to the arrest of Perez Salas, who is accused of conspiring to traffic fentanyl, cocaine and weapons, among other things.

He is said to be a close associate of the sons of the Mexican drug lord. Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmánwho is serving a life sentence in the United States

He was arrested in Culiacan, northwest Mexico, in November 2023, less than a week after President Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged to coordinate more closely in the fight against drug trafficking, particularly that of the powerful synthetic drug fentanyl.

“El Nini played a leading role in the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, one of the deadliest drug trafficking rings in the world,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Saturday. “The United States has indicted him for his role in the illicit trafficking of fentanyl and for the murder, torture and kidnapping of numerous rivals, witnesses and others. It is a good day for justice.”

At the time of his arrest, Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, described Perez Salas to the Associated Press as “a complete psychopath,” adding that “putting him out of commission is a good thing for Mexico.” “.

The United States recorded more than 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl made up about 70 percent of them.

The U.S. government says fentanyl is often made from products originating in China and then smuggled across the Mexican border by drug traffickers, particularly the Sinaloa cartel.