Los Chapitos Lose 80% of Their Leaders in Less Than 500 Days of War

“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat 

Iván Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzmán are on the ropes. Their main leaders have been killed by rivals, shot dead by federal forces, are under arrest, or are on the run.

Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, the two Chapitos who remain at large, are in serious trouble: the "war in Sinaloa" hasn't even lasted a year and a half, and they have already lost their most important leaders.

On December 23, two key financial operators were arrested in Jalisco: Mario Alfredo Lindoro Navidad, "El 7," and Mario Lindoro Elenes, "El Niño," brother-in-law and father-in-law, respectively, of the eldest son of El Chapo Guzmán. Both had a crucial task for the survival of Los Menores: ensuring a constant cash flow to finance the war.

That same day, but in Culiacán, Alan Núñez Herrera was murdered; he supplied them with weapons to fight against La Mayiza. And just hours earlier, on December 21, the number three in the Los Chapitos structure and their top security chief was executed in Mexico City: Óscar Noé Medina, "El Panu."

The four losses before Christmas, within less than 60 hours, represent the accelerated loss of money, ammunition, and protection for Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo. And a reality that is now impossible to hide: the "historic" Sinaloans who protect Los Chapitos—because they watched them grow up in Culiacán or because they are loyal followers of their father—are becoming extinct.

"It's a changing of the guard before our very eyes," says a source in the security cabinet. "The Sinaloans are losing ground in Culiacán, and a new generation has to come in to protect Los Chapitos, who have already seen that their circle isn’t invincible," says an agent deployed in the Mexican Pacific.

In October 2024, MILENIO published a list compiled during the previous administration by the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), which tracked 10 leaders who head the Los Chapitos' troops. These were the most trusted people in the faction who would go all out against La Mayiza and other rivals. Old-school capos and millennials hardened in the family "narco-wars" since birth. The true lords of lead. December 31st marks 479 days of the "war in Sinaloa," and eight out of ten of them are already out of the fight. Their fates are a mosaic of typical outcomes for those who enter organized crime: murdered by rivals, killed by federal forces, arrested, or on the run. All under the shadow of having been betrayed by their own friends.

This is how the leaders have been falling:

The first to fall this year was El Gavilán, the mysterious head of Los Chapitos' hitmen, who was killed on January 6, 2025, during a shootout against Los Rugrats, the armed wing of La Mayiza. His death was concealed by Iván Archivaldo to avoid showing weakness, but the beginning of the year already marked a trend: a slow bleeding of Sinaloan leaders.

The following month, in Calimaya, State of Mexico, another important accountant for Los Chapitos was murdered: Mario Alberto Jiménez Castro, El Kastor, for whom the United States had offered a one-million-dollar reward. A hooded gunman ended his life in a parking lot, a common setting for meetings between friends that end in deadly betrayals.

The US offered a million dollars for information on 'El Kastor', who was killed in February.

That same February, the powerful financial operator José Ángel Cannobio Inzunza, known as El Güero, was arrested in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The United States was seeking him as one of the main exporters of fentanyl, and coincidentally, his arrest came days after Los Chapitos felt pressure from Washington following their designation as a terrorist organization for opioid trafficking.

Jorge Humberto Figueroa Benítez, known as El 27 or La Perris, was killed in May in a confrontation with the military in Navolato.  Like his predecessor as head of security for Los Menores—Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, El Nini—his death sparked speculation among social media users identified as alleged members of organized crime: How did the authorities know his exact location? Was he betrayed?

The last person killed on the list is Óscar Noé Medina, El Panu, who was executed four days before Christmas. His open and well-known conflicts in Culiacán with Jaziel Abdiel Guzmán Araujo, Iván Archivaldo's cousin, have revived theories about defections and disloyalty within Los Chapitos' inner circle.

‘El Panu' fue asesinado en un restaurante de la Ciudad de México. 

The physical deaths of other leaders haven’t been confirmed, but their presence has disappeared: federal sources confirmed to MILENIO that at least three of them have ceased to actively support the sons of El Chapo Guzmán.

Samuel León Alvarado, El León, reportedly fled Sinaloa after the explosives attack in Culiacán in February of this year. Liborio Núñez Aguirre, El Karateca, allegedly made a deal with the federal government to stop supporting the conflict between the Chapitos and the Mayiza in exchange for the definitive suspension of "acts depriving him of his liberty, consisting of detention for extradition purposes," a request that was made public in 2023.

The only international leader on the list, Jobanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiego, Chiquito Malo, leader of the Colombian Clan del Golfo, also reportedly withdrew his support in Mexico to focus on his own country, following the U.S. crackdown.

"The Colombian drug traffickers are fighting their own domestic battles to get involved abroad. Chiquito Malo just lost a brother in his own war. They're preoccupied with their own affairs," the source confirms.

Only two leaders remain, but their influence has diminished within the Chapitos' inner circle and the national organized crime landscape: arms trafficker Juan Pablo Lozano, El Camarón, who may be hiding in the United States, far from the troubles in Sinaloa; and Pedrito Loaiza, son of Don Pedro Loaiza, a drug trafficking legend in the Sierra Madre Occidental, who hasn’t played a prominent role in the conflict.

And although they’re not considered top leaders, other losses have surrounded the Chapitos in the last year: from the arrest of Mauro Alberto Núñez Ojeda, Jando, a trusted confidant of Iván Archivaldo, to Kevin Alonso, El 200, a hitman boss. 

The Cousins ​​Step In

“At this point, Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo (Guzmán) only have their cousins ​​left. The core group, their blood relatives. But they don't seem as skilled or experienced as the men they've lost in the war,” says the source, who conducts criminal intelligence in the state.

It is likely, he says, that other relatives of the two Chapitos will rise to positions of power, such as Alberto Zepeda Cano, alias El Chapito Lomas, and his brother Joel Zepeda Cano, alias El 23. And that Jaziel Abdiel Guzmán Araujo, the American cousin, will gain influence. However, the recent downfall of Iván Archivaldo's brother-in-law and father-in-law demonstrates a compromised family circle.

“This shows us the changing of the guard: the native Sinaloans are stepping back, and their places could be taken by enforcers from the Jalisco Cartel. That would be historic, something never seen before,” the military officer assures.

Earlier this year, Iván Archivaldo forged an unlikely alliance with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG): in exchange for greater protection against eventual arrest or assassination and increased capacity to attack La Mayiza, Los Chapitos would share routes established by their father with Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who has been implementing an aggressive expansion plan throughout northern Mexico for years.

The pact stipulated that a high-ranking member of the CJNG, such as Audias Flores Silva, El Jardinero, would take charge of the two brothers' security, using the same force and strategies that have made El Mencho untouchable. To assume complete control of this difficult mission, he would have to infiltrate the inner circle of Los Chapitos' security chiefs, a compact group made up of native Sinaloans. “When we in the government learned that there was an alliance between Los Chapitos and the CJNG, this was one of the most worrying possibilities: that the strength of the Jalisco group would be evident in the displacement of the Sinaloa group, and that they would gradually become indispensable to Los Chapitos.

“Without El Panu and other security chiefs who were childhood friends of Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo (Guzmán), the CJNG emerges stronger at the beginning of 2026: the survival of Los Chapitos depends on them. One more betrayal, and the fire will spread throughout Sinaloa,” he asserts.

Source: Milenio