Someone Killed a DEA Most-Wanted Fugitive and Left His Body at a Sinaloa Hospital

One of the DEA’s most-wanted alleged fentanyl traffickers, who was allied with “Los Chapitos,” the sons of “El Chapo” Guzman, was killed in Sinaloa this week after getting into a car accident, according to news reports. 

Luis Javier Benítez Espinoza, known as “El Fourteen” crashed his SUV into the car of an unidentified 60-year old-man south of Culiacán, Sinaloa, on September 8, according to news reports. After the accident, Benítez reportedly fired his handgun into the sky before kidnapping the man and taking off. 

Two days later, Benítez's body was found outside a local public hospital. He had sustained two gunshots to the head and was wearing two walkie-talkie radios on his belt, according to local news. 

It is unclear if the man involved in the car accident had any ties to Benítez’s death or if he is even still alive. Doctors at the hospital told local media he had died a few hours before his body arrived there.

Benítez was being sought by U.S. authorities for allegedly working for the Sinaloa Cartel, more specifically with the faction headed by the four sons of drug kingpin Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, collectively known as “Los Chapitos.” 

The DEA was offering up to $1 million for his capture for “engaging in the movement of vast quantities of fentanyl from Mexico into the U.S. in pill and powder form,” according to the public warrant. 

“In approximately September 2022, Luis Javier Benítez Espinoza, a/k/a “El Fourteen,” began negotiating the sale of fentanyl pills to a buyer in the U.S. During those negotiations, Benítez Espinoza said that he worked for the “Chapitos” and specifically discussed his prior work with Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Oscar Noe Medina Gonzalez, also known as “Panu,” the warrant states. 

Benítez was killed less than a week after the DEA had updated its most-wanted list to include him as a major target. He was wanted for conspiracy to import and traffic fentanyl, possession of machine guns, and money laundering.

The list includes Oscar Noe Medina Gonzalez, allegedly right-hand man of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, El Chapo’s eldest son. “Medina Gonzalez is a seasoned hitman and is charged with protecting the fentanyl export routes and assassinating rivals from other Mexican cartels”, the description said. 

Second on the most-wanted list is Kun Jiang, a Chinese citizen who allegedly supplies the Sinaloa Cartel with chemicals used for manufacturing fentanyl in Mexico before they export the drug to the U.S. Illicit fentanyl, most of it produced by the Sinaloa Cartel, killed more than 70,000 Americans last year.

Los Chapitos are led by 40-year-old Iván Guzmán Salazar, along with his younger brothers Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Joaquín Guzmán López—all currently fugitives. In January, Mexican security forces captured another one of the siblings, 33-year-old Ovidio Guzmán López, after a firefight that left at least 29 people dead.

On April 14, the DEA announced new charges against “Los Chapitos”, alleging that they are more powerful and even deadlier than their father.