Juan Carlos Félix Gastélum pleads guilty to US drug‑trafficking charges

Juan Carlos Félix Gastélum, known as “El Chavo Félix” and son‑in‑law of Sinaloa Cartel co‑founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, entered a plea of guilty before a federal court in San Diego on 27 June 2026. He admitted responsibility for four federal offenses – three counts of drug‑trafficking and one count of money‑laundering – acknowledging that he led a cell of the cartel that operated clandestine methamphetamine labs in the Sierra Madre of Sinaloa and Durango and coordinated large shipments of meth and cocaine to the United States.

Félix was arrested in January 2025 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, and extradited to the United States in August 2025 together with dozens of other alleged cartel leaders. U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for March 2027. Under the agreement Félix faces a mandatory minimum of ten years and up to life imprisonment on each of the three trafficking counts, plus a possible twenty‑year term for the money‑laundering charge.

The case reflects ongoing bilateral law‑enforcement cooperation targeting the Sinaloa Cartel’s transnational narcotics network.