Convicted drug trafficker Eduardo Escobedo, known as “El Mago” and associated with the son of imprisoned drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was fatally shot in Los Angeles County. The incident occurred on Thanksgiving morning along Towne Avenue in Willowbrook, where Escobedo, 39, and another convicted drug dealer, Guillermo De Los Angeles Jr., 47, were killed at the scene. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of shots fired in the area. A third unidentified man sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to the hospital.
“El Mago,” whose nickname translates to “the magician,” was raised in East Los Angeles and became the primary local marijuana distributor to El Chapo’s eldest son, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar. Escobedo had served nearly five years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute over 22,000 lbs. of marijuana and money laundering. He was released in 2018.
El Chapo, after evading capture for more than a dozen years, was arrested in 2014 in Mazatlan. In 2019, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, with a forfeiture order of $12.6 billion. El Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was released from a California halfway house in September 2023. Aispuro, sentenced in 2021 to three years in prison for aiding her husband’s criminal empire, benefited from a “safety valve” provision due to her lack of a criminal record, non-leadership role, and absence of involvement in violence.