An assassin for the Sinaloa drug cartel who was arrested by Mexican authorities last fall has been extradited to the U.S. to face drug, gun and witness retaliation charges, the Justice Department said. Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as “El Nini,” is a leader and commander of a group that provided security for the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and also helped in their drug business, federal investigators said, reports the Associated Press. The sons lead a faction known as the little Chapos, or “Chapitos,” that has been identified as one of the main exporters of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl to the U.S., where fentanyl is blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per year.
“We allege El Nini was one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s lead sicarios, or assassins, and was responsible for the murder, torture, and kidnapping of rivals and witnesses who threatened the cartel’s criminal drug trafficking enterprise,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. The Justice Department last year announced charges against cartel leaders, and the Drug Enforcement Administration posted a $3 million reward for the capture of Pérez Salas, 31. He was captured at a walled property in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan last November. The nickname Nini is apparently a reference to a Mexican slang saying “neither nor,” used to describe youths who neither work nor study.