Surrender of El Chapo’s Godson Changes Dynamics of Sinaloa’s Drug War Duncan Tucker - VICE News
go to original August 3, 2017

Infamous drug lords rarely hand themselves over to the U.S. government voluntarily. But that’s precisely what Dámaso López Serrano, the godson of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, did after walking through the border crossing at Calexico, California, last week.

The U.S. government has not commented on his arrest or what charges he might face following his surrender, but the timing isn’t entirely surprising, say security analysts familiar with Mexico’s violent drug war.

López Serrano’s sudden surrender comes three months after the capture of his father, Dámaso López Nuñez, and amid a series of high-profile losses in the father-son duo’s bloody war with Guzmán’s sons for control of his criminal empire. Having grown increasingly isolated after his father’s arrest, analysts believe López Serrano likely cut a deal to help prosecutors convict his godfather Guzmán, who faces trial in New York’s Eastern District court in April.

Nicknamed “Mini Lic,” López Serrano is known throughout Mexico as a flamboyant playboy who led a group of young cartel assassins called the Anthrax squad. He is famed for flaunting his exotic pets and gold-plated firearms on Instagram and is the subject of a narcocorrido anthem that has been viewed over 213 million times on YouTube.

His father, known as “El Licenciado,” served as Guzmán’s right-hand man until the Sinaloa cartel boss was captured last year and extradited to the United States in January. Sensing opportunity, the pair betrayed their former benefactor and launched an audacious bid for power.

They were accused of briefly kidnapping Guzmán’s sons Iván and Alfredo last summer and leading them into a near-fatal ambush in February, but overplayed their hand when López Nuñez inadvertently hired a government informant to wage cyber-warfare against them. That mistake led to his arrest in May, leaving Mini Lic vulnerable against the Guzmán clan.

Mexico’s murder rate soared to a record high as the two rival factions turned Sinaloa into their battleground.

... “No Mexican narco would voluntarily turn himself in to the U.S. government without negotiating their terms,” noted Alejandro Hope, a prominent security expert.

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