HomeNewsBriefUS Adds Family of Sinaloa Boss 'El Azul' to Kingpin List
BRIEF

US Adds Family of Sinaloa Boss 'El Azul' to Kingpin List

EL AZUL / 8 AUG 2012 BY MICHAEL KANE EN

The US Treasury has added nine organizations and 10 individuals to the “Kingpin List” for their links to Sinaloa Cartel head Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, alias “El Azul.”

On Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that two woman identified as El Azul's wives and four of his children were joining the blacklist. This freezes their US assets, and bars US citizens from doing business with them.

OFAC said that El Azul’s network of associates, including family members, helped him run a collection of businesses, including a real estate company in Jalisco and gas stations in Sinaloa (see Treasury's diagram of the network).

InSight Crime Analysis

The addition of El Azul’s associates to the Kingpin List is the latest in a string of actions taken by US authorities this year to increase pressure on the Sinaloa Cartel leadership.

In early April, Jesus “El Rey” Zambada Garcia, a leading member of the cartel and brother of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, was extradited to the US to face drug trafficking charges. Later that month, the FBI unsealed the latest indictment against the Sinaloa Cartel bosses. In May, the Treasury added two of Sinaloa head Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman sons and two high-ranking members of the cartel to the Kingpin List. The same designation was placed on another of Guzman’s sons and an ex-wife last month after the US Treasury Department said they were key operatives in the cartel.

The three top leaders of the cartel have up to now eluded law enforcement, however. In February, El Chapo escaped a raid by Mexican authorities on his hideout in Los Cabos. El Azul avoided arrest during a raid conducted by 120 soldiers last month on a ranch in Colima.

The director of OFAC said that El Azul has tried to avoid detection by maintaining a low profile. Nonetheless, the kingpin, who has been involved in the drug trade for more than three decades, is wanted by both Mexican and US authorities. He was indicted by a federal court in 2003 on drug trafficking charges and US authorities are offering $5 million for information leading to his arrest.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COVID AND CRIME / 3 NOV 2021

One of the most sought-after destinations in all of Latin America, the Caribbean resort town of Tulum is now the…

BELTRAN LEYVA ORG / 5 APR 2023

US officials may designate Mexican crime groups as terrorists, but this mischaracterizes the threat. …

CHAPITOS / 9 JAN 2023

Mexico has arrested one of El Chapo's sons, Ovidio, at a bitter cost. But will it make a difference to…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…