Earlier this fall, this office charged four people after a one-year-old boy tragically died from being poisoned by fentanyl at his daycare. The Southern District of New York’s investigation found that there were kilograms of fentanyl hidden in the Bronx facility, including underneath the floorboards where the children napped and played.
Although one of the defendants in that case fled to Mexico, we were able to secure his return to the United States to ensure that he will face justice here in New York.
And just last month, because of this Office’s efforts, another drug dealer who sold fentanyl-laced cocaine that killed three people was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
This office is also an important part of the Justice Department’s broader strategy to disrupt and dismantle every link in the global cartel-driven fentanyl trafficking networks.
In April, we announced charges in this District against 23 members, leaders, and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel, which runs the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.
Since that indictment, one of the defendants, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and a son of El Chapo, was extradited from Mexico to the United States.
Just last week, another defendant, Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as “El Nini,” one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s lead sicarios, or assassins, who led security operations for the cartel, was captured by the Mexican government. We are seeking his extradition to the United States.
And in June, this office charged a China-based chemical company and arrested two of its employees for producing and distributing to the United States and Mexico the building blocks needed to manufacture deadly fentanyl.
These are just a few examples of the work we are doing in this office and across the country to combat fentanyl trafficking and to hold accountable those responsible for flooding our communities with this poison.
And these examples represent just a fraction of what this office is doing to help fulfill the Justice Department’s overall mission: to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights.
I am very proud of the incredible men and women of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
And I am proud of the partnerships they have built with the law enforcement leaders who are here with us today.
We are now going to begin our meeting.
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