El Nini, a Top Mexican Drug Gang Criminal Who Was Once One of America’s Most Wanted Men, Was Sent Back to the US

A top member of the Mexican drug gang known as “El Nini” has been sent back to the United States. He was one of America’s most-wanted criminals for his alleged role in the fentanyl trade.

In a statement on Saturday, US President Joe Biden praised cooperation between the US and Mexico in the case. He called the extradition of El Nini, whose real name is Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, “a good day for justice.”

“El Nini was a key figure in the Sinaloa cartel, which is known for being one of the deadliest drug crime networks in the world.” “The United States has charged him for his part in illegal fentanyl trafficking and for killing, torturing, and kidnapping many rivals, witnesses, and other people,” Biden said, thanking Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

He also said, “Our governments will continue to work together to fight the fentanyl and synthetic drug epidemic that is killing so many people in our home countries and around the world, and to bring to justice the criminals and groups that make, smuggle, and sell these deadly poisons in both of our countries.”

The US Department of Justice says that Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas “was one of the Sinaloa cartel’s lead sicarios, or assassins,” and that he helped make and sell fentanyl in the US.

Biden has said that El Nini is one of the most wanted criminals in the United States. In February 2021, Pérez Salas was charged in the US with conspiracy to trade cocaine and methamphetamine, having machine guns and other destructive devices, and threats against witnesses.

The US State Department offered a prize of up to $3 million for information that led to his capture. In November of last year, he was caught in Mexico.

Authorities say that Pérez Salas worked closely with Oscar Noé Medina González, who was a worker for Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, who is one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and was given a prison sentence in the US in 2019.

The State Department also said that Pérez Salas was in charge of the security for Los Chapitos, a group within the Sinaloa gang.

He is suspected of being one of the leaders of the “Ninis” cell, which is a group of “particularly violent” Los Chapitos security guards.

According to a statement from the office of US Attorney General Merrick Garland, they were very thankful to the Mexican government for all of their hard work in catching and extraditing El Nini.

“The Justice Department will keep going after the drug cartels that bring a lot of fentanyl and other drugs into our communities.”