Dámaso López Serrano "El Mini Lic" is Being Released from US Prison After 5 Years

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

"El Mini Lic" spent 72 months in prison, and according to the US government he has already completed his sentence.

Dámaso López Serrano "El Mini Lic," identified by the Special Prosecutor for Attention to Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) of the FGR, as the intellectual author of the murder of journalist Javier Valdez, will be released in the coming days after a US Federal Court in Southern California determined that he has cooperated and has already served his sentence in a maximum security prison in the United States. El Mini Lic has spent 72 months in prison.

“I want to apologize to all the people I have harmed and who have been harmed by my actions; I was wrong to take the path I chose,” Dámaso told Judge Dana M. Sabraw.

According to experts, it will be a matter of days, perhaps a week, for the son of Dámaso López Núñez, to gain his freedom. It is speculated that he will continue to collaborate with US prosecutors by revealing names, addresses, and details about drug trafficking operations directed by the different factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. López Serrano would be integrated into the witness protecteion program, which would give him a new identity, address, and social security number so he can work in the United States and not be deported to Mexico.

The Attorney General's Office (FGR), recalled that there is a request to extradite and try in Mexico who they consider being the intellectual author of the death of Javier Valdez Cárdenas and that they will insist on the ultimate consequences, because it is not enough for a criminal who is required in Mexico to join the protected witness program, and simply disappear from the map.

"Without a doubt, we will demand, although we trust that the United States government respects the agreement between the two countries and extradite this person," said Ricardo Sánchez Pérez del Pozo, head of FEADLE.

Mini Lic went into hiding and eventually surrendered to US authorities after his father had been arrested.

2017 Surrender to the US & Cooperation

Damaso Lopez-Nunez, Mini Lic's father, had taken over the portion of the Sinaloa Cartel led "El Chapo" after his capture. But Chapo's children, Los Chapitos demanded that they be handed over the leadership leading to a disagreement and war between the two factions with Los Chapitos gaining the upper hand. When "El Licenciado" was arrested in May of 2017, his son went on the run.

Mini Lic had been hiding in Mexicali, his surrender may have been recommended by his father as the only way to save his son's life. His one-time friends and compadres, Ivan and Alfredo, after securing El Dorado, and the rest of Los Damaso's territory, would have killed him eventually.

Damaso Lopez-Serrano, aka Mini Lic, 29, is believed to be the highest-ranking Mexican cartel leader ever to self-surrender in the U.S. Lopez-Serrano was arraigned on an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in San Diego on Aug. 19, 2016, charging him and five of his close associates, including Nahum Sicairos-Montalvo, aka Kinceanero, with Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances Intended for Importation and Conspiracy to Import Controlled Substances. U.S. District Court Judge Dana M. Sabraw arraigned Lopez-Serrano on these charges and unsealed the indictment against these two defendants. The cell leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel was arraigned in federal court following his self-surrender to U.S. law enforcement authorities at the Calexico West Port of Entry in California, on July 27.

Lopez-Serrano pled guilty in 2018, and accepted responsibility for his role as a leader within the Sinaloa Cartel, acknowledging that he organized the transportation and distribution of thousands of kilograms of controlled substances, including methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, for importation from Mexico into the United States. Lopez-Serrano also admitted to possessing firearms for the purpose of promoting the Sinaloa Cartel’s narcotics trafficking activities.

Judge Dana M. Sabraw recognized the advances of the Mini Licenciado and believed in his sincerity out of regret, due to the fact that he worked to compensate for the damage he caused in the Sinaloa Cartel. He must hand over a million dollars as forfeiture of proceeds from the sale of narcotics. He had also testified against his godfather, "El Chapo" Guzmán at the New York trial in 2019.

“He has reported extensively. The level of cooperation is extraordinary. He put himself in danger,” admitted the San Diego judge, who has brought other proceedings against members of the transnational crime group. Threats against his life after testifying prompted his transfer to a prison in Oklahoma for his safety.

An arrest warrant in Mexico for "El Mini Lic" was issued in 2020 for the assassination of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas.

Murder of Riodoce Journalist

Javier Valdez was assassinated as he left the Ríodoce offices on May 15, 2017, in Culiacán. Heriberto Picos Barraza, El Koala, who was sentenced to 14 years and eight months in prison on February 27, 2020, and Juan Francisco Picos Barrueto, El Quillo, sentenced to 32 years on June 17, was arrested for his crime. of 2021.

The third involved as the material author of the murder of the journalist from Ríodoce, Luis Ildefonso Sánchez, El Diablo, was murdered and burned in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, in 2017. During the trial, it was established that Quillo and Diablo were the ones who shot Javier and Koala was the one who was driving the car in which the assassins were traveling.

The Prosecutor's Office presented various testimonials, including that of a context analyst, who after reviewing Ríodoce's publications of February 2017, established that Javier's murder was due to the Dámaso note titled "Dámaso and the School of the Great Giver."

In that note, Javier describes Mini Lic as a prop gunman, narco of corridos by order, and without the leadership capacity that his father Dámaso López Núñez, El Licenciado. The note was published when Los Chapitos were fighting against Los Dámaso after the arrest of El Licenciado.

One of the witnesses said that Quillo confessed to him that they had murdered the journalist and showed him a pistol that he received as payment, which had the images of the lawyer and Mini Lic on the handles. To that person, with a reserved identity, Quillo told him that the journalist had been murdered because he published a note that they did not like. Two people also testified that the Mini Lic offered them money, weapons, and a higher rank in the organization for murdering Javier, but both refused and then he told them that he would ask Quillo.

In January 2020, after the judge issued the arrest warrant, through his lawyer, Mini Lic sent a statement in which he assures that he had no participation in the murder. “These accusations are baseless and reckless. I had no participation or role in the death of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas. I am sure that I can prove my innocence, however, I am afraid that this accusation is totally manipulated to affect me and try to extradite me to Mexico,” he pointed out.

The Prosecutor's Office has asked the US for the extradition of López Serrano, but so far this has not taken place.

Sources Riodoce, Infobae, DOJ, DOJ, Borderland Beat, Riodoce