Captured Sinaloa cartel ‘Engineer’ revealed as defendant in Chicago case

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Felipe Cabrera Sarabia, alias "El Inge," is shown to the press under the custody of army soldiers at the federal organized crime investigations headquarters (SIEDO) in Mexico City, Monday Dec. 26, 2011. According to federal authorities, Sarabia is a close associate and head of security for Mexico's most wanted criminal, Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias "El Chapo," leader of the Sinaloa cartel in the Durango mountains region. Authorities say Sarabia was captured on Friday in the capital of Sinaloa state. Photo: Marco Ugarte / AP

Updated: February 15, 2012 8:08AM

He was listed only as Felipe LNU — an abbreviation for “last name unknown” — when federal prosecutors in Chicago unveiled a sweeping indictment of the Sinaloa drug cartel in 2009.

But after he was captured last month in Mexico with great fanfare, the indictment was updated to reveal his full name — Felipe Cabrera Sarabia.

According to the Chicago indictment, Cabrera coordinated the Sinaloa cartel’s heroin deliveries to the United States and oversaw shipments of cash to Mexico from U.S. customers. Mexican authorities said Cabrera ran the operations of the Sinaloa cartel in the northern states of Durango and Chihuahua.

The Mexican Army nabbed Cabrera, nicknamed “The Engineer,” on Dec. 23 without a shot being fired, authorities said.

The Sinaloa cartel is allegedly headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who the U.S. Treasury Department described Tuesday as “the world’s most powerful drug trafficker.” Guzman, whose nickname means “Shorty,” is charged in the Chicago indictment, but he’s a fugitive. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is offering a $5 million reward for his capture and conviction.

Vicente Zambada-Niebla is the highest-level Sinaloa member in U.S. custody in the Chicago case. He’s being held in a federal facility in Michigan. Authorities have said he poses a major security risk for escape and for being targeted for assassination.

While he was in a federal lockup in Chicago, Zambada-Niebla allegedly sought information on two Chicago-based drug suppliers who are charged in the same case and cooperating with the government. He allegedly wanted to have them murdered, according to court testimony. But the alleged suppliers, twin brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores, weren’t killed, officials say.

U.S. authorities would not comment on whether they’ll seek Cabrera’s extradition.

According to the Chicago indictment, the Sinaloa cartel has imported tons of cocaine to Chicago and other parts of the country, as well as heroin. The cartel has moved drugs from Colombia and Panama to Mexico and then to the United States using assorted means, the indictment said.