Mega Edition: The Los Chapito's And Their Fentanyl Empire (10/27/26)
Los Chapitos—the faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán—built their fentanyl empire by turning the drug trade into a vertically integrated global business. According to U.S. prosecutors and the DEA, they secured precursor chemicals primarily from suppliers in China, sometimes using brokers in third countries, then moved those chemicals into Mexico where cartel chemists manufactured fentanyl powder and counterfeit pills in clandestine laboratories. The operation expanded rapidly because synthetic fentanyl did not require the same land, growing cycles or…
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