Minilic, a repeat offender, seeks to negotiate with the gringos again

Dámaso López Serrano, “Minilic,” may be renegotiating with the United States Attorney’s Office, despite having reoffended in fentanyl trafficking, the leading cause of overdose deaths in that country. This is after the hearing scheduled for September 5th, at which his sentencing was to be handed down, was postponed to October 10th.

According to a series of documents that are part of case file number 25cr00116, the reason for the postponement is “good cause shown,” according to the written explanation submitted and signed by Judge Claude M. Hilton on August 26th.

According to experts, the path is the same and López Serrano already knows it: telling prosecutors that he will cooperate, then providing information that he knows will be of interest to the prosecution, then pleading guilty to the charges, and then awaiting sentencing.

“If the accused agrees to provide information that is of interest to the prosecutors, then it’s obvious they will negotiate with him,” explained Leonardo Silva, a former DEA agent in Mexico who led these types of investigations for many years.

López Serrano, however, had his story. In June 2017, he had surrendered to DEA agents at the Calexico, California, border crossing. Apparently, the drug trafficker surrendered to the same DEA agents he had met days earlier, with whom it is speculated he made a series of agreements, including providing information against his rivals, the faction known as Los Chapitos.

Months later, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) revealed that López Serrano was the one who ordered the murder of Ríodoce journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas, after publishing a report alleging that, following the arrest of his father, Dámaso López Núñez, Minilic lacked the leadership to confront the Chapitos and win the war he was waging with them.

After presenting a series of evidence, including photographs and messages, the FGR requested Minilic’s extradition from the United States, but the US State Department never honored the request, sparking discontent among the journalist’s friends and family.

After five years in US prisons and using a new identity, López Serrano managed to avoid threats from his enemies and, after cooperating with the prosecution, was released in 2022.

For two years, López Serrano was on parole, even allowing himself to give interviews to journalists, until December 13, 2024, when he was arrested for fentanyl trafficking in Virginia. Although he had reoffended, the United States again negotiated with him.

“He must have good information that has interested prosecutors and that no one else has, for example, who the new leaders are, or politicians or police chiefs involved in drug trafficking, or new trafficking routes or methods,” explained Mike Vigil, former head of DEA operations in Mexico. Mexican Products

Once again, the Attorney General’s Office insisted that the United States extradite López Serrano, and once again, Mexico received silence from the United States, according to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo during one of her morning press conferences at the National Palace.