Alleged Sinaloa cartel financial operator extradited to US

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – An alleged Sinaloa cartel “money man” will face American justice now that Mexico has extradited him to the United States.

The Mexican Attorney General’s Office handed over to U.S. agents Sergio Miguel Vega Mendoza, alias “The Whip,” to face pending drug and conspiracy charges. The handoff took place late last week at the Mexico City International Airport.

Between 2012 to 2015, Vega was “a high-ranking member of a criminal organization in charge of coordinating, supervising and transporting large quantities of drugs for distribution in the United States,” the AG’s Office said in a statement.

Vega, 51, will face charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Mexican authorities arrested the man known as The Whip as he was about to board a Sinaloa-bound airplane at the Mexico City airport on July 1, 2019, the AG’s Office said.

At the time of his arrest, Mexico characterized Vega as the chief financial operator for Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, one of the sons of jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera. El Chapo’s sons are collectively known at the “Chapitos,” or Little Chapos.

On April 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a major fentanyl trafficking indictment against 28 members of the Sinaloa cartel including Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, his brothers and half-brothers.

The U.S. government is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Guzman Salazar.

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