BEHIND THE ARREST OF ‘EL NINI’

New details emerge on who was behind the arrest of 'Los Chapitos' head of security.

Luis Chaparro

CULIACÁN, Sinaloa .— Over the rooftop of a two story house in a middle class neighborhood in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Nestor Isidro Pérez, known as ‘El Nini’, alleged head of security for the sons of infamous drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, was nabbed on Wednesday 22 in plain daylight. 

“Ya entrégate Nini! (Turn yourself over Nini!),” a man is heard yelling at ‘El Nini’ as he tried to escape by jumping over the rooftop before two gunshots, allegedly from the Mexican military, were fired to dissuade him from the idea. 

In a video shared widely in social media, ‘El Nini’ is seen wearing only his underwear walking over the rooftop of the house where he was hiding at an alleged property of another ‘Chapitos’ henchmen known as ‘El Piyi’. 

The operation to nab ‘El Nini’ began almost at the same time of the second arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, known as ‘El Ratón’, the youngest of ‘Los Chapitos’ and currently in prison in the U.S., according to sources inside the Mexican military. 

“After the second Culiacanazo we got intelligence from their comms (walkies) of Nini’s whereabouts. We chased him to his in law’s house in Culiacán but he managed to escape,” the source said. 

A source inside the Chapitos faction detailed how Nini managed to escape back then: he grabbed the motorcycle of one of his look-outs and wearing a helmet, fled the scene while the Mexican military arrested the lookout thinking they had ‘El Nini’. 

But this time, the arrest was successful and harmful. ‘El Nini’ was caught off guard and some inside a U.S. federal agency close to the operation assure he was betrayed by his own people. 

“From a while back we had information that Iván Archivaldo (Guzmán) and Alfredito (two of the three sons of El Chapo still at large in Mexico) wanted to remove their support for ‘El Nini’ because of all the heat he was bringing to the organization,” the source said. 

According to his intelligence, ‘Los Chapitos’ were not looking to hand over ‘El Nini’ but would rather leave him alone to be either captured or killed. 

But a member of Guzmán's family who reached out to me months ago had a different version: “He wanted to be left alone,” the man said. 

This is the first time a source vetted as an active member of ‘Los Chapitos’ family speaks out. 

“We had a small reunion about three weeks ago and that night we all got fucked up drunk. There was a heated discussion between El Piyi and Nestor (El Nini) and they couldn’t reach an agreement. On that party was Ivan (Guzmán) and he told both that they needed to fix their problems or they would end up like the Arellano’s (Felix organization), but Nestor just for his nuts went back to one of the ranches he used back then, that’s when the government almost capture him and seized his pets, the tigers and his cars” the source said. 

“Nestor blamed El Piyi for that and he was so angry at Ivan because he didn’t let him do his will that he decided to go back to Culiacán to one of his houses where they arrested him. We warned him that things were hot in Culiacán and that they (government) were after him, but he said he didn’t need protection and that he was safe there.” 

The source also shared a private comms chat where Los Chapitos henchmen warned about the “presence of ‘Fuerzas Elite’ (Elite forces, in reference to the Mexican military special operations) and that they knew they were there to grab ‘El Nini’. The message was sent on Tuesday 21 at 12:00 pm. 

“It all happened really fast, we couldn’t even send help. We had enough back up but we didn’t start shooting to avoid harming the community again as we did before, that was by orders of Ivan and Alfredito,” the source said. 

It is plausible that the two versions are true: ‘Los Chapitos’ decided to remove their support for Nini at the same time that he felt betrayed and decided to part his way. What is clear is that there is an internal destabilization of the family making them vulnerable to get nabbed by authorities. 

‘El Nini’ is currently under arrest at Centro de Readaptación Social #1 (CEFERESO 1) one of Mexico’s toughest prisons known as ‘El Altiplano’, the same prison where ‘El Chapo’ escaped a second time in 2015. 

Authorities in Mexico said they are now going through a legal battle to avoid his expedited extradition since ‘El Nini’s’ legal defense could set him free alleging the use of excessive force during his arrest as shots were fired against an unarmed man.