Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin Guzman Lopez—son of imprisoned drug kingpin “El Chapo”—pleaded guilty to federal drug charges on Monday in Chicago, federal prosecutors announced.

Lopez, 39, was charged with one count of drug conspiracy and one count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.

A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Lopez has been detained in U.S. custody since his arrest in July 2024.

Lopez took over as one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico when his father, Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo, was imprisoned in Colorado.

Prosecutors say Lopez and his three brothers, known collectively as “The Chapitos,” took over leadership of the Sinaloa cartel following their father’s arrest in 2016 and subsequent conviction in New York.

“The Guzmans have made a family business out of trafficking fentanyl and other dangerous drugs,” said acting Assistant Director Gregory Heeb of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Protecting Americans from the Sinaloa and other criminal cartels terrorizing and poisoning our communities is one of the FBI’s highest priorities and we will continue to work relentlessly to dismantle and disrupt these dangerous international criminal networks.”

Lopez coordinated the transportation of drugs and chemicals to manufacture drugs in Mexico and transport them to the U.S. border, according to officials.

Drugs trafficked included cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl, which were sometimes shipped in hundreds or thousands of kilograms.

Prosecutors said that Lopez used a network of couriers affiliated with the cartel to smuggle the drugs into the U.S. using vehicles, rail cars, tunnels, aircraft, submersible vessels, and other means.

After delivering the drugs, people working for Lopez and others laundered and transferred funds received in the U.S. to Mexico and other countries.

To protect the Sinaloa cartel’s operation, prosecutors say, Lopez and his associates bribed corrupt public officials and perpetrated violence against law enforcement officials, rival drug gangs, and members of their own cartel.

Lopez also admitted to committing international kidnapping.

Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán arrives at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., after his extradition from Mexico, on Jan. 19, 2017. (U.S. officials/handout via Reuters)

As part of the plea agreement, Lopez agreed to the entry of a personal money judgment of $80 million, which represents proceeds traceable to his offenses, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Lopez also acknowledged that the crimes to which he pled guilty involved more than 36 kilograms of fentanyl, 90 kilograms of heroin, 450 kilograms of cocaine, 45 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 90,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Lopez’s three brothers—Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez—have also been charged with drug trafficking in the United States.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to federal drug charges in Illinois. He is awaiting sentencing.

Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar were charged in Illinois and in New York but remain fugitives. The U.S. State Department has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to their arrests and convictions.

Emma Coronel Aispuro (C), wife of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leaves the U.S. federal courthouse after a verdict was announced at Guzman's trial in Brooklyn, New York, on Feb. 12, 2019. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

“Two down, two to go,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California.

The conviction of El Chapo was upheld by a U.S. circuit court of appeals in New York in 2022. He was convicted in February 2019 of trafficking billions of dollars of drugs and conspiring to murder his enemies when he led the cartel.

He is serving a life sentence at Colorado’s Supermax, the most secure federal prison, and was ordered to forfeit $12.7 billion.

El Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2021 after pleading guilty to helping the Sinaloa cartel.