Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Terry Cole congratulated the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, on the arrest of Salvador Díaz Rodríguez—alias “El Chava” or “El Gusano”—identified as an alleged financial operator for the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The message was shared via the DEA’s official X account and highlighted the joint intelligence efforts between Mexican and U.S. authorities that led to the August 27 capture in the Rivera Campestre neighborhood of Mexicali, Baja California.
The network to which Díaz Rodríguez belonged had reportedly laundered over $50 million by the time he was designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in March 2025. That same day, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California unsealed an indictment against him for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
In a statement released by the agency, Cole noted: “The DEA collaborated closely with our Mexican partners to identify and arrest Salvador ‘N,’ a financial operator for Los Chapitos and the Sinaloa Cartel. This arrest is the result of sustained intelligence, investigative, and financial analysis work on both sides of the border.”
The Administrator added: “We are targeting these networks at every level, from the cartel’s leadership to the financial infrastructure that keeps them operational. I congratulate Secretary Omar García Harfuch and our Mexican partners for their decisive action and continued collaboration.”
