Overview
- In a televised interview with Adela Micha, Chávez Sr. said he knows both Los Chapitos and Los Mayos and described El Chapo Guzmán and El Mayo Zambada as “finísimas personas,” while denying criminal participation.
- He argued his son was compelled to strike a detainee after being summoned by armed men, asserting that in Culiacán “if you don’t go, they take you,” and claiming the act spared a life.
- Mexico’s Fiscalía General de la República alleges in a 2023 case file that Chávez Jr. was part of a cell serving Los Chapitos that trafficked firearms from the United States and labels him an “esbirro” or “ajustador de cuentas.”
- ICE detained Chávez Jr. in California on July 2, 2025, revealing an outstanding Mexican arrest order; he was handed over at Nogales on August 18 and was linked to process while permitted to remain free.
- Chávez Sr. recounted that the family used lawyers to find Jr. after he went missing in the U.S., saying authorities moved him from Phoenix to Texas before deporting him by car to Mexico.