HomeNewsBriefUS Offers $5 Million Reward for Mexico's Other 'Chapo'
BRIEF

US Offers $5 Million Reward for Mexico's Other 'Chapo'

BELTRAN LEYVA ORG / 28 SEP 2017 BY ANGELIKA ALBALADEJO EN

The US government has offered a $5 million reward for the capture of a Mexican drug trafficker who has kept a low profile while allegedly playing a major role in Sinaloa's fragmented criminal landscape.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US State Department announced on September 27 that a $5 million reward would be offered in exchange for information directly leading to the arrest or conviction of Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, alias "Chapo Isidro" or "Chapito Isidro."

Chapo Isidro is recognized by the US government as the alleged leader of the Meza Flores drug trafficking organization based in Sinaloa state, Mexico. The Meza Flores network was formally classified as a Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) by the US Treasury Department in 2013.

SEE ALSO: Chapo Isidro Profile

US officials also believe that Chapo Isidro was previously a high-ranking leader of the Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO) and was considered the "right hand man" of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, who was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to life in prison in the United States earlier this year.

Chapo Isidro was indicted by a US federal court in 2012 for conspiracy to import large-scale drug shipments from Mexico to the United States.

InSight Crime Analysis

While Chapo Isidro does not have the same name recognition as many of his rivals and allies in Sinaloa's splintered criminal scene, his low profile seems to belie the extent of his influence, which has remained a concern for the US government.

Although the early roots of Chapo Isidro's involvement in drug trafficking activities remain unclear, he is best known for his alleged high-level role within the BLO and his subsequent leadership of several other criminal organizations in northern Sinaloa state, a heartland of Mexico's drug production.

While Chapo Isidro has rarely been in the spotlight, he became most notorious following the 2008 arrest of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, when a bitter divide formed between the BLO and their former allies, the Sinaloa Cartel.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Beltrán Leva Organization

In the bloody war that followed, Chapo Isidro is considered the driving force that maintained the BLO's foothold in the region. In fact, the rivalry between Chapo Isidro and the now captured Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is considered to have been a major driver of violence in Sinaloa at the peak of Mexico's drug war in the early 2010s.

These battles decimated the BLO, leaving all of its leaders either captured or killed. Chapo Isidro, on the other hand, has proved elusive to security forces and rivals, allegedly maintaining power as the head of various offshoot criminal groups. It is unknown what role he may be playing in the renewed fight for control between the BLO and the weakened Sinaloa Cartel following the arrest and extradition of El Chapo in January.

The US government's new offer of a reward for Chapo Isidro's capture suggest that law enforcement still considers him a key player. This thrust back into the public eye could make it more difficult for Chapo Isidro to continue operating freely in Sinaloa's explosive criminal landscape.

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

DISPLACEMENT / 22 MAY 2023

Drone attacks carried out by the Familia Michoacana forced hundreds of residents of towns in Guerrero, Mexico, to flee their…

BRAZIL / 31 DEC 2021

Prediction of the criminal dynamics for 2022 is even harder than most years, as it involves predicting the march of…

BRAZIL / 7 FEB 2023

A new report points out how the success rate in fighting money laundering across Latin America varies widely from country…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

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…