Alvaro Lopez-Nunez arrested in Nogales
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| Unconfirmed organizational chart of Los Damaso, before the fall |
There will be one more joining the family members and trafficking networks of Sinaloa cells, now waiting in purgatory at the San Diego MCC. Alvaro Lopez-Nunez, brother of Damaso Lopez, and uncle to Damaso Lopez-Serrano, was taken into custody yesterday by the DEA. Lopez-Nunez was arrested at the Nogales Port of Entry, according to a Press Release from the San Diego US Attorney's Office, posted today.
Lopez-Nunez, 38, was one of several names which appeared redacted on the indictment filed in August 2016 in the Southern District of California, for the arrest of Mini Lic, and Nahum Abraham Sicarios-Montalvo, aka El Quincenerao. He is charged with conspiracy to import cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, likely linked to seizures that took place in 2015, with tractor trailers loaded with drug shipments were seized by SEDENDA acting on federal task force intelligence.
Lopez-Nunez was arraigned in Tucson today, on the San Diego indictment, and will be extradited in the coming days and weeks. There was a sealed arrest warrant for him, issued in August 2016, after the indictment was filed.
Earlier this week, Jose Manuel Salazar-Nunez pled guilty, to an earlier 2015 indictment, directly linking him to the above noted seizures and trafficking conspiracy. It is unknown if Salazar-Nunez and Lopez-Nunez are related, though it is a possibility, the latter is cousin of the Lic family. The circumstances of his arrest are unclear, whether he "self surrendered" like his nephew, or he was arrested trying to cross into the US.
It seems the Lopez family had some safe access in the area, as they both chose to avoid Baja California, and Tijuana, to either make their way to the US, or turn themselves in. Little is known about Alvaro Lopez-Nunez, but he was directly involved in the trafficking and seemed to avoid attention in Mexico, with not even an AKA officially attached to his name.
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| El Pollo allegedly, and the arrest near Culiacan, in May2017 |
Days before Damaso Lopez was detained in Mexico City, his nephew, "El Pollo", David Lopez was arrested near El Dorado, and allegedly had a heart attack, or medical emergency during his transfer, to Culiacan, and died. Would this be Alvaro Lopez-Nunez son? "El Pollo" was said to have helped in the apprehension of his uncle by providing information.
He will face the same choices all the men inside the MCC must. They are facing decades in prison, and as far as Los Damasos, were no longer safe in Mexico, as they chose to surrender to the DEA, or risk arrest to enter the United States. They will cooperate, or they will choose not to. Those are the only options, unless they are spared that choice like El Pollo, and die before they have to make it which given their status at the MCC will be unlikely.
They have stories. They have knowledge. When the money goes, and the protection follows, and the luxury sub divisions turned to safe houses along border town, and you read the indictment against you, the knowledge is all you have left.
It's near poetic to watch these structures collapse, it seems like yesterday sometimes, and it's February 2014 again, and the pictures of Damaso Lopez are circulating, and the magazines are proclaiming him heir, and his son the next in line. Heavy lies the crown.
US Attorney's Office Southern District of California Press Release