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Monday, May 15, 2023

Fentanyl & El Mayo - Damaso's Rebuttal to los Chapitos

"HEARST" and "Ivan" for Borderland Beat


A review of the verifiable evidence which corroborates the claims in the response letter from Damaso López Serrano, alias “El Mini Lic”.  


His letter acts as rebuttal to a letter that los Chapitos released earlier this month. The Chapitos were, in turn, were responding to specific parts of the US indictment, or stating their personal grievances. 


It can be difficult to keep track of the various claims and responses. This article aims to match up each claim and subsequent response, to create a more comprehensive view of these letters. To read any of these documents in full, please see the link to the US indictment, the Chapitos letter, and the Damaso letter.


This article is Part 1, covering the allegations about their involvement in fentanyl and their alleged framing of El Mayo.




On Fentanyl & Flooding the Streets

US indictment: 

For years, the Chapitos and their confederates have knowingly reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from the destruction and despair caused by fentanyl, knowing full well that the drug can be lethal to end-users of the Cartel's product. In doing so, the Cartel has driven users of other drugs to fentanyl addiction by mixing fentanyl into other narcotics and selling fentanyl disguised as, for example, legitimate prescription pills. 


As IVAN ARCHIVALDO GUZMAN SALAZAR, the defendant, has stated to associates, the Cartel seeks to flood the United States with fentanyl in order to supply "streets of junkies." In or about May 2022, during a meeting with other Cartel members, Ovidio Guzman Lopez acknowledged that users of fentanyl can die if the mixture is just a little "off." Indeed, multiple "cooks" used by the Cartel to manufacture its fentanyl at Chapitos-controlled labs in Mexico have died from testing the product.



Chapitos letter:  

We have never worked with fentanyl, however there are plenty of Sinaloans who do so and that is why there are [fentanyl] seizures. [...] We have never established, knowingly, a relationship with fentanyl traffickers. 


We want to make this clear: Ivan never said 'We will flood the streets of the US with fentanyl.'



Damaso’s response: 

They say they have never worked with fentanyl, but don't you remember in 2016 what you did to the Monárrez brothers at the bus station in Culiacán? All because they were making large quantities of fentanyl and they didn’t want to work under you. At the end of the day you stole their formula and their [fentanyl] cooking method.


Do you also not remember that in 2017 and 2018, El Panú and José Ángel called a meeting in a restaurant in Culiacán, in which they told many young people to introduce fentanyl pills into their supply and present them as M30, but not tell them that they were made of fentanyl. 


What did they tell them? That this [fentanyl] was the business of the future. That it was much better than cocaine, crystal meth and heroin. They invited each person in attendance to start looking for clients and they gave each one 5000 [fentanyl] pills.


And what about the labs they had in the mangroves of Conchal, also on the Navolato side, and in the Sanalona area. Did they forget that they sent El 300 to collect the fee for each lab that was in Sinaloa? They told them that they had to pay them with product since Sinaloa was your territory and therefore, whoever wanted to operate would have to pay a fee. Have you already forgotten how you wanted to monopolize the fentanyl market? 


Maybe now, since Ivan seems to have Alzheimer's [he has become forgetful], he can’t remember the words he frequently said, which were "We have to get fentanyl in there. We are going to flood the streets of America with drug addicts."



Further Context: 

El Panú refers to one of Ivan’s top lieutenants, Oscar Medina González, who was also named in the US indictment. For more details on Panu’s criminal history, please see this previous story



“José Ángel” likely refers to José Ángel Canovio. He along with his brother Jorge Canovio, are referred to as los Güeritos, or los Brontos, and they lead their own subgroup within los Chapitos.




M30 refers to blue oxycodone tablets. The DEA reported on counterfeit oxycodone M30 tablets containing fentanyl being smuggled into the US and causing overdoses in releases like this, which was published in 2021. 



“El 300” likely refers to Karim Elias Gil Acosta. He and his brother Kevin Alonso Gil Acosta, alias “El 200”, have been Sinaloa Cartel figures for many years. 



The two were detained by the Navy in February 2014. Their family tried to claim the men were kidnapped, but the Navy put out a press release making clear the men were detained, not kidnapped after they were found to be carrying firearms and drugs. It later came out that the brothers were actually captured by the Navy during an operation attempting to capture Chapo Guzmán, called Operation Gargoyle. El 200 and 300 were quietly released from custody at some later point. 






On Mayo Being Involved in Fentanyl 


Chapitos letter: 

We have never worked with fentanyl, however there are plenty of Sinaloans who do so and that is why there are [fentanyl] seizures. Those seizures belong to somebody and we encourage law enforcement to investigate them. If the government has agents working in the state, then they already know what's really going on in Sinaloa. It isn't hard to know who really owns these seizures. 



Damaso’s response: 

Now in more recent days, you had fentanyl pills planted in various houses in Culiacan and placed an image on them that alluded to Mr. Ismael Zambada, in order to blame him for being responsible for the production of fentanyl. Even though it was you, yourselves, who planted all that evidence that corresponded to pills, presses, and logos with the image of an individual with a hat, as well as notebooks with information.


You provided the locations [of these fentanyl labs with fake evidence] to the government so that they could go and seize the property. 



Further Context: 

Damaso is referring to a recent fentanyl lab seizure on May 3, 2023. The lab was allegedly found in the San Benito neighborhood of the city of Culiacan, Sinaloa. 


On May 4, just one day after the lab was found, Chapitos released their public letter in which they alluded to raids on fentanyl labs in Sinaloa in which fentanyl that didn’t belong to them but, instead, belonged to someone, was seized. 



On May 6, images purportedly from the interior of the San Benito lab were leaked online and published by prominent cartel news sources like Calvarie Locus


Two of these photos, likely taken by a member of law enforcement, showed labels for baggies of the fentanyl which featured a cartoon image of Mayo. Many concluded, based on the labels, that the fentanyl lab belonged to groups working under El Mayo. To read more, please see this previous article translated by Ivan. 



Whether the Chapitos letter’s reference was just a timely response to a recent event, or if Chapitos carefully orchestrated the timing of the seizure and subsequent image leaks, is unclear at this time. 


So, Damaso claims that this evidence was planted by Chapitos in order to cast suspicion on El Mayo. What can we make of this? 


There is a commonly held belief that control over the city of Culiacan is split, with the northern half belonging to los Chapitos and the southern half belonging to El Mayo. The lab seized on May 3 was in the San Benito neighborhood, which, as shown in the map below, lies in the southern part of the city. 



Furthermore, El Mayo is believed to be in some way involved in fentanyl production. For proof of this, look no further than the arrest of the Mayo lieutenant Armando Bátiz Camarena, alias “El Inge” in 2021 (beware: photos of him online may be incorrectly showing a CJNG operator). 


That being said, it is generally uncommon for unblurred images of drug labels to leak from Sinaloa, a state known for a high-degree of law enforcement-cartel collusion. And there is the aforementioned convenient timing of the lab seizure and image leak.





On Chapitos being Persecuted by the US for Fentanyl


Chapitos letter: 

We invite any interested media outlet or governmental agency, Mexican or international, to investigate the fentanyl issue in Mexico and Sinaloa thoroughly. 


Who produces it? Where do they get the precursors from? And, how do they transport it to the US? 


We are certain that any impartial investigation will reach this conclusion: The sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who the public knows as Los Chapitos, have never created, manufactured, or sold fentanyl, nor any of its derivatives.


We are victims of persecution and we are being made into a scapegoat.



Damaso’s response: 

Who produces the fentanyl, then? You buy pure [already-made] fentanyl and you also produce it. You regularly buy the raw material and manufacture it in Sinaloa, to give it the ‘fentanyl finish’. You are producing it in the form of powder and tablets for its commercialization. Generally they buy them from Asia. 


How do they get them to the U.S.? By means of buses, cargo trucks, small planes, boats, parcel delivery companies, and other methods which deliver fentanyl to the US border, and then they bring it in through [US port of entries] with cars with hidden compartments, or through blind mules, or cargo trucks, or people who cross the checkpoints on foot, etc.


You [Chapitos] are the target of a well-justified persecution. So, don't cry about it. Face your problems. As they say ‘It’s time to grow up and learn to be men.’ 









A comparison of the Chapitos letter and the Damaso letter will continue in the next part: 


Fame & Infamy - Damaso's Rebuttal to Chapitos

50 comments:

  1. Mayo has been moving big weight since the 1970s, has always done his best to keep as low of a profile as a mega trafficker can, and it's been reported that his people aren't even supposed to mention him by name, but all of a sudden they're putting cartoon images of him on their perc 30s? There's no doubt in my mind that it wasn't his people who did that.

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    1. Yep, thanks to his uncles who were MAJOR heroin dealers throughout the 70s… Btw much like Mayo himself, and his father, the entire patriarchy of his family are CUBAN…

      Don’t believe me? Read Vicente’s book “El Traidor” and check out these articles from back in the day…

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/11/07/drug-smuggling-gambling-and-the-shadowland-of-vegas/8d228e0d-ecf1-4c9f-8e54-e30036755ed6/

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    2. Cruz Vazquez certainly played a major role, but he was Mayo's brother in law.

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    3. Mayos family doesn't come from cubans the clme from cattle ranchers my grandfather told me stories about mayos as a teenager he use to take meat too sell too my great grand mother who owned a restaurant in Costa rica

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    4. I think any sane person would agree with you.

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    5. 11:15 PM

      Hats off to you for finding that article. It's actually the first printed report that I have read - coming from a legit paper - that alludes to the Zambada family originating from Cuba but it's not conclusive. This is the allusion, when talking about Antonio Cruz Vasquez, "he met and married Modesta Zambada, daughter of one of three Cuban emigre patriarchs". The following link has the same info but it omits what the other article says:
      https://vanguardia.com.mx/noticias/nacional/quien-es-antonio-cruz-el-cubano-que-cambio-la-vida-de-el-mayo-zambada-hasta-convertirlo-en-NPVG3524393

      I wish I knew the sources of the Washington Post's article.

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    6. 1:57 o yea Costa Rica, a lot of palomas come from there so we call them Palomas Ticas

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    7. Sheesh goes to show these older guys were real gangsters.. risk their own jail time.. now we got a bunch of spoiled brats trying to run things

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  2. Mayo never would put his face on a product.

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    1. Correct… why would he have to?

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    2. a picture of a hat, not of his face.

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    3. For some time now there have been videos from Zacatecas with the Mayo cowboy hat emblem prominently displayed on his gunmen. Be it morale patches or caps.

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  3. Big mouth & a whole lotta talking for someone in WP who got ran out of Sinaloa with his whole family tree. He sounds bitter & jealous of them.

    Also, please get up of your knees and wipe your mouth clean for trying to DR Mayo.

    This dude writing full blown novel while hiding and under protection of the US Government 🐀🐀🐀

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    1. Damaso was a dead man once Chapo got caught. The Chapitos had no need for him. He was simply working under Chapos wing.
      Sure he was ran out of Sinaloa but he gave up a fight.
      Now he's giving us the truth how Sinaloa works witness protection program or not.
      CDS is full of marranos!
      Nuthuggers of these only know how to clench Sinaloa nutts but can't bear the truth.

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    2. 6:23 of course he is a rat, if you havent noticed all sinaloas in the drug game are big fat rats

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    3. Diablo 007: When your done meat 🥩 riding them zip it up for em too… 😂😂

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    4. El damaso had his own wing in the sinaloa cartel. He allegedly betrayed the cartel first

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  4. Animo Sicarios!
    Disinformation Operation by DEA against los patrones.

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  5. DEA is telling this guy what to say to lure out the Guzmans. This is how the CIA tracked down Bin Laden

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    1. That's how they got Bin Laden?!

      Damn, I must have missed that scene in Zero Dark Thirty. I thought they interviewed detainees at Guantánamo Bay until they got the name of a courier... who they followed to Bin Laden's compound.

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    2. 6:50
      Symbionese Liberation Army got ratted out as they sat on the porch drinking plum wine in the black folks' 'hood in Watts or Inglewood or somewhere..
      Cops came and shot 'em up and burned down the crib..
      I can remember being in Berkeley at the time, trippin' on purple microdot and groovin' on all the flyers of the Hibernia bank robbery hanging from every stop sign and telephone pole , featuring Patty Hearst, machine gun in hand, with the inscription "We Love You Tania"..
      🦎

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    3. That is not how they track down bin Laden maybe you should try reading the book 0 dark, 30 written by the navy seal team six member who shot bin Laden… Also, the CIA agent who ultimately tracked down his his personal messenger, wrote about the mission extensively as well. They did not feed people, false information and tell them what to say they simply followed him to his house in Abbottabad Pakistan via drones and watched the house via satellite until they identified bin Laden walking on the upper floor terrace and went in and wasted his ass

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    4. 8:36
      If you read that in a book it must be true..
      Bin Laden was tall like a motherfucker, so you program the spy satillite to disregard all chaparitos, zero in on furtive lanky fellows, once you got the dirty rat cornered, send in a Sikorsky full of clinically insane SEALs to go all cowboy serial killer on his ass, fade to black..
      🦎

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    5. 07:50 @Hearst I heard they found Bin Laden by tracking DNA samples obtained by imitating medical professionals and administering shots, vaccines, and medicines while really working as covert intel officer agents in Peshawar Pakistan.

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    6. Nobody shot bin laden, he was a cia-asset, a phony with a big marketing campagne. 911-hoaxed too, all cgi and controlled demolition. A terrorist-attack by their own usa government. You are fokking late to the game if you still think 911 really happened and that it was arranged by some actor in a cave in Afghanistan. More then late, you are retarded.bin laden was cia

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    7. They are putting out Mini Lics rebuttals, expecting Chapitos to respond. Do you think they cannot track back how the message gets to the lawyer? There are couriers in this situation as well.

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  6. “dont cry, face your problems” fckn 🤡. abla el que corrió ja! no mms

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    1. 8:01 😂 como si los chaputitos fueran muy hombres, andan ahi llorando que ellos no trafican el Fentanilo y no son nadien en el CDS, o y que lla no existe el CDS🤣 por eso les dicen Chillaloas igualitos el Damaso jr a los chillapitos, pinche bola de llorones no aguantan nada

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  7. US threats of closing down the border of imports and exports will definitely increase Mexico's efforts to combat cartels. The NAFTA trade agreement can always be dismantled. As for those who enjoy Mexican avocados will have to supplement to California avocados.
    Just my thought.

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    Replies
    1. That will likely never happen, Mexico is the US' second biggest trading partner. And with the issues with China, trade with Mexico will increase.

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    2. Tired of seeing mexican trucks with stolen diesel come into texas.

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  8. I can’t believe a word mini lic says. Lowest of the low. Won’t stop Bitching because he will never be able step foot in Sinaloa again. Ran out of the country. Spiteful little lic

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    1. You can’t believe it because your a cheer leader who can’t believe that CDS is bad they are all bad grow up the US wouldn’t spend all this money keeping him alive if he lied to them.

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    2. 8:49 and now the snitching gane begains, chapitos vs damaso who will win? At least Damazo admitted what he did and thats why he is walking free in the usa but them chapitos are making fake letters saying they dont hold any power in Sinaloa and such 🤦‍♂️ no tienen no guevos para decir, si yo soy traficante y vengan por mi y se mueran en la raya, son iguales de llorones que su papa cuando lo extraditaron 🐁🐁🐁

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    3. i think you can't trust him on this cos despite having inside information, he also has a vendetta against chapitos and would say any shit to bring heat to them. not saying they don't make fentanyl but, gotta take it all with a pinch of salt.

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    4. 3:34 shit, chapitos dont need no one to bring heat on them they are doing it by them selfs, yes he has a vendetta and thats exact reason why he is so dangerous, he was really close with them and know a lot how they act and what they have done, whether you like it or not Damaso jr is a real danger for the chapitos and he way more about them than you will never know

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    5. 3:34 who cares may the Chapitos die a slow painful death. I would like to play soccer with Ivan's head

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  9. The fact you were included in his letter disclosures says A LOT … He respects the team here and I congratulate everyone @ BB for keeping the prestige alive! 🦉

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    1. I think sometimes we forget in the comments that there are some very scary(dangerous)eyes that watch this site.BB is a site that has reached a point where if you are in the "business"be it government or criminal you HAVE to read BB.Guarantee that BB is on some analysts daily read to vet info for higher ups.What the team has built here is incredibly impressive!So everyone say hi to that analyst somewhere in Washington cause he sees you

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    2. 1:44
      Why you have to beat around the bush.
      Just say it, you won't be arrested.
      Yes the FBI and DEA gather intelligence, from this valuable site.
      They are better translated, that what some other translation apps offer.
      Undercover AR

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    3. the sophomoric bickering and the inane cheerleading must drive the poor feds crazy..
      🦎

      Delete
  10. chapillos are done!!!! wholesalers to the clients beware chapillos gonna start turning in folks!!!! Al estilo Rataloa!!!!

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    Replies
    1. 1:03 te lo firmo donde quieras compa, que asi va a pasar

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  11. Esto en que afecta la semifinal Chivas -america y Monterrey - Tigres

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Van a estar perros los partidos! Salud Caguaman!! 🍻

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    2. Chivas ftw!!!

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  12. is it true that ovidio was taxing local fisherman, who have nothing too with the narco lifestyle?

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  13. workers going about their daily lives and these little scumbags are taxing them. are you fuking kidding me on. ffs! thought chapo might have brought them up with some morals. obv not! enjoy americano jails amigos - hahahahahah

    ReplyDelete
  14. And the snitching continues, no shame on none of these clowns.

    ReplyDelete

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