At 9:00 p.m. on May 8, 2008, customers at the City Club in the Tres Ríos Urban Development district of Culiacán heard what sounded like a bomb blast. It wasn’t a single explosion; it was five hundred rounds fired from AK-47 assault rifles, along with a bazooka round slamming into the parking lot wall. In less than three minutes, the body of Édgar Guzmán López—the eldest son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera—lay sprawled on the asphalt alongside those of César Ariel Loera and Arturo Meza Cázares.
They had been executed at point-blank range by an armed cell. The entire city ground to a halt. For days, the streets remained deserted. The police did not appear at the scene until after it was all over. Residents spoke of a war, yet no one knew for certain who had unleashed it.
According to the account written by Vicente Zambada Niebla—son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada—in the documents that formed the basis of Anabel Hernández’s book *El traidor* (The Traitor), the attack was not the result of a clash between rival cartels. What actually occurred that night was a case of friendly fire—an internal error—within the Sinaloa Cartel itself.
According to “El Vicentillo’s” testimony, the death of “El Chapo’s” favorite son was not an act of retaliation by the Beltrán Leyva organization—as official reports and journalistic accounts had maintained for years—but rather the consequence of a botched operation carried out by the armed wing commanded by Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza, alias “Macho Prieto.” He was the very same hitman who, for years, had served as both shield and spearhead for “El Mayo” Zambada.
The operation had been launched based on internal intelligence: a source indicated that a member of Arturo Beltrán Leyva’s faction—until recently an ally of the Sinaloa Cartel—was expected to appear at the shopping center.
The order had been unequivocal: no one was to leave their home that night. But Édgar did not have his radio turned on. He had gone out shopping with his wife and his cousin.
His pickup truck—according to testimony gathered by Jesús Gaxiola, a close associate—matched the description of the target vehicle. When Inzunza’s men spotted it, they did not hesitate. One of them shouted, “That’s the one!” and they all opened fire—500 rounds in all. They used assault rifles, grenades, and a bazooka. Guzmán López’s body was left unrecognizable. He was 22 years old.
