Mexican cartel leader pleads guilty to U.S. smuggling charges

SAN DIEGO — The highest-ranking member of a Mexican cartel to ever surrender to U.S. authorities has pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges, acknowledging he orchestrated the shipments of thousands of pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin to the United States.

Damaso Lopez Serrano, 29, entered his plea Wednesday in federal court in San Diego, nearly six months after turning himself over to U.S. authorities at California's border with Mexico, the highest-ranking Mexican cartel leader to do so, the U.S. attorney's office said.

His father, Damaso Lopez Nunez, was arrested in Mexico City in May and had been battling for control of the Sinaloa cartel following the 2016 arrest of billionaire kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Mexican officials have blamed Lopez Nunez for instigating violence in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa and the peninsula of Baja California, including a string of killings around Cabo San Lucas.

U.S. authorities are seeking Lopez Nunez's extradition. Guzman was sent to the United States last year to face drug charges. Fantasy 5: Thursday — 6, 13, 18, 24, 26. Daily 4: Thursday — 5, 4, 1, 7.

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