Son-in-law of Sinaloa cartel boss ‘El Mayo' pleads guilty in San Diego federal drug case
SAN DIEGO - Juan Carlos Félix Gastelum, a son-in-law of the infamous Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, pleaded guilty Friday in San Diego federal court to four counts related to drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies.
Also known as "El Chavo Félix," the 43-year-old admitted in his plea agreement that he led a drug-trafficking organization associated with the Sinaloa cartel and was "a principal operator of the Sinaloa Cartel's clandestine methamphetamine manufacturing laboratories" in the mountainous Mexican states of Sinaloa and Durango.
He also admitted that he sold the methamphetamine produced in his labs to other leaders in the cartel in loads ranging from "several hundred pounds to several thousand pounds," and that he worked with co-conspirators to import "thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine" and large quantities of cocaine into the United States.
Attorneys representing Félix declined to comment on his guilty plea Friday, as did the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego.
According to the Department of Justice, Félix is married to a daughter of Zambada, who once led the Sinaloa cartel alongside Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
The Justice Department, including investigators and federal prosecutors in San Diego, has spent decades attempting to dismantle the powerful cartel. Mexican authorities captured Guzmán in January 2016, and he was later extradited to the U.S., where he was found guilty of federal drug charges and sentenced to life in prison.
Zambada arrived in the U.S. in July 2024, flown here against his will by one of Guzmán's sons, who by that time was a rival. Zambada had previously been indicted on federal drug charges in San Diego, as well as five other federal districts, according to the Justice Department. He pleaded guilty last August in a federal case in New York to charges of racketeering and leading a continuing criminal enterprise.
Mexican authorities arrested Félix in January 2025 in the cartel stronghold of Culiacán, Sinaloa. In August, Mexican authorities expelled him to the U.S. along with 25 other alleged high-ranking cartel figures.
Mexican officials said at the time that while the Trump administration had requested those individuals, their mass expulsion was not part of the wider negotiations happening at that time involving higher tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump. Instead, Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said their removal to the U.S. was designed to "prevent these criminals from continuing to operate from within prisons and to break up their networks of influence."
Documents unsealed in Félix's case shed little light on the details of his crimes. The documents showed that prosecutors in San Diego secured an indictment against him nearly four years ago, in September 2022.
Chief U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant took Félix's guilty plea Friday morning inside the downtown federal courthouse. The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for March of next year.
According to his plea agreement, Félix faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum term of life imprisonment for each of the three drug conspiracy charges. He faces a 20-year maximum for the money laundering conspiracy charge.
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This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 9:40 PM.