Operator of 'Los Chapitos' Who Had a $1 Million Bounty on His Head Found Dead in Mexico

On Tuesday, authorities in the municipality of Calimaya in the State of Mexico found the body of a man that has been identified as a key operator for the Sinaloa cartel faction known as "Los Chapitos."

According to local reports, authorities received calls at around 8 p.m. on Feb. 4 about an individual with gunshot wounds in the neighborhood of San Andrés Ocotlán, less than 10 miles south of Toluca. When local law enforcement and first responders arrived to the scene, they found the victim with no vital signs.

State of Mexico's Attorney General's office collected the body and began investigating the cause of death. Soon after, authorities identified the man as Mario Alberto Jiménez Castro, also known as "El Kastor." He reported to an associate of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, one of the sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Before his death, Jiménez Castro was an important member of Los Chapitos, acting as a financial operator for the clique, mostly known for laundering money and trafficking fentanyl into the U.S.

Witnesses of the murder say the attacker approached El Kastor while he walked on the street and shot him several times before feeling the scene in a vehicle.

According to the U.S. Department of State, El Kastor and a co-conspirator operated a U.S.-based money laundering organization that used cryptocurrency to launder cartel drug money to Mexico from the U.S., including from cities such as New York, Boston, Denver, Nashville, Omaha and Salt Lake City.

Their modus operandi focused on directing individuals to pick up money from various traffickers in the U.S. and to then deposit drug proceeds into various cryptocurrency wallets controlled by other high-level members of the Los Chapitos cartel.

U.S. authorities said that between August 2022 and February 2023, U.S.-based couriers that worked for El Kastor retrieved more than $869,000 in narcotics proceeds which was then laundered via cryptocurrency.

On April of 2023, a federal grand jury in New York indicted Jiménez Castro and other cartel members, charging them with engaging in Fentanyl Importation Conspiracy, Fentanyl Trafficking Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns & Destructive Devices, Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns & Destructive Devices and Money Laundering Conspiracy.

Before his death, the Department of State was offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to his arrest.