Mexican drug cartel figure extradited to Chicago

A key member of the Mexican multibillion-dollar drug trafficking cartel that officials say dominates the illegal drug trade in Chicago is in a downtown federal correctional facility.

Jack Riley, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chicago office, said Alfredo Vasquez Hernandez was extradited Thursday from Mexico to Chicago to face drug trafficking charges.

Riley said the 57-year-old Hernandez is a one of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s top lieutenants and is the second high-level member of the cartel taken into custody in Chicago.

Riley said Chicago is a major distribution center for the Sinaloa heroin, cocaine and marijuana operations. He says he believes Guzman, who remains at large in Mexico, is the most dangerous man in the world.