The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:
Today, Mexican authorities extradited Sinaloa Cartel leader
Damaso Lopez Nuñez, also known as “El Licenciado,” to the United States to face
drug trafficking charges filed in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger
for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director Robert Johnson of the
FBI Headquarters Criminal Investigative Division, Assistant Director in Charge
Nancy McNamara of the FBI Washington Field Office and Acting Special Agent in
Charge Scott W. Hoernke of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),
Washington Division Office made the announcement.
Lopez Nuñez, 52, arrived in the United States this afternoon
and will make an initial appearance on Monday, July 9, before U.S. Magistrate
Michael S. Nachmanoff in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge
T.S. Ellis III.
Lopez Nuñez is charged in a one-count indictment alleging
that between 2003 and December 2016, Lopez Nuñez conspired with others to
distribute significant quantities of narcotics for illegal importation into the
United States.
“Until his capture, Damaso Lopez Nuñez allegedly
participated in a multi-year conspiracy to distribute large amounts of cocaine,
intending that the drugs be imported to the United States,” said Acting
Assistant Attorney General Cronan.
“Lopez Nuñez’s arrest and extradition demonstrates the commitment of the
United States and our partners in Mexico to the pursuit of drug traffickers who
seek to flood our streets with addictive and deadly poisons, for their own
illicit gain.”
“This successful extradition of a high-level target is a
reflection of years of collaboration and cooperation by multiple Department of
Justice units and our law enforcement partners who are all committed to
combatting transnational criminal organizations,” said U.S. Attorney
Terwilliger. “With thanks to the
authorities in Mexico for their efforts in facilitating this extradition so the
defendant can be held accountable and face justice for his alleged crimes.”
The case was investigated by the FBI and the DEA, in
cooperation with Mexican and Colombian law enforcement authorities. Substantial assistance was provided by the
U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of California. The Department of Justice’s Office of
International Affairs provided significant assistance in bringing Lopez Nuñez
to the United States. The U.S. Marshals
Service provided critical assistance in the location and capture of Lopez Nuñez
and assisted in the extradition.
The U.S. Department of Justice thanks the Government of
Mexico for its assistance in this case.
This case is also the result of the ongoing efforts by the
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a partnership that
brings together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state,
and local enforcement agencies. The
principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, dismantle and
prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and
money laundering organizations and enterprises.
Deputy Chief Amanda Liskamm, Assistant Deputy Chief Michael
Lang, and Trial Attorney Cole Radovich of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and
Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel J. Grooms and
James L. Trump of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.
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