CHICAGO (TNND) — The son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera, also infamously known as "El Chapo," pleaded guilty on Friday to drug trafficking charges in a Chicago courtroom.

Prosecutors allege 34-year-old Ovidio Guzman Lopez ran a faction of the Sinaloa cartel. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges connected to his leadership in the cartel.

His brothers, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who were known as "the Chapitos," were also charged in connection to the case, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a news release from 2023, as they allegedly smuggled fentanyl into the U.S.

The sons allegedly assumed their father’s former role as leaders of the cartel, the DOJ said, and eventually "became principal leaders and drug traffickers" of the group.

"El Chapo" was convicted by a jury in 2019 for his role as the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. He is serving a life sentence.

As part of his plea agreement, Guzman Lopez admitted to helping oversee the production and smuggling of large quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and fentanyl into the United States. Terms of the deal, including sentencing recommendations or cooperation agreements, were not immediately disclosed.

He previously pleaded not guilty after being arrested in Mexico in 2023 and extradited to the U.S., according to the DOJ, but changed his mind in recent months.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez and another longtime Sinaloa leader, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, were arrested in July 2024 after landing in a private plane at an airport outside El Paso. Both men pleaded not guilty.