‘Narco' Consultant, a Former DEA Agent, Thinks El Chapo's Son Will Be Extradited to U.S.

Last week, Ovidio Guzmán, the son of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín"El chapo" Guzmán, was arrested by Mexican officials in a pre-dawn raid.

Ovidio, nicknamed “the Mouse,” wasn't one of the former Sinaloa cartel boss's better-known sons until an aborted operation to capture him three years ago. That attempt similarly set off violence in Culiacan that ultimately led Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to order the military to let him go.

On Monday, NBC 7 spoke to Javier Peña, a retired DEA agent who helped play a key role in the search and capture of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Peña said that Guzman's capture was an important but likely temporary effort at stopping drugs from getting smuggled into the U.S.

Peña's work at the the drug agency was the basis for a character based on him in the Netflix series "Narcos," a program he served on as a consultant. He spent 30 years as a special agent and an agent-in-charge.

"I started off as a basic narcotics agent, where I did a lot of undercover, surveillances, then moved up the ranks," Peña said. "In my later years ... in the DEA, I was a special-agent-in-charge, which I ran divisions, I ran the San Francisco division, and then I ran the Puerto Rico division and, finally, I ran the Houston division, which covers the Southwest border…. I also did nine years in Colombia, where I chased the famous drug lord Pablo Escobar, the head of the Medellin cartel."

That's where, Peña said, he learned that major traffickers do not care how many people get killed, "as long as they're able to get their dope" across the border and into the United States.

There was one thing, though, that not a lot of people knew that Escobar feared, Peña said: Extradition.

Escobar's saying was, " 'I prefer a tomb in Colombia than a jail cell in the United States,' " Peña told NBC 7.

Peña said the arrest of Guzmán the son was very significant because of the simple fact that Mexico arrested him.

"You know, Mexico gets accused of, you know, the corruption, gets accused of not doing anything," Peña said. "They have shown — they have shown — in the past, some of those famous operationd they are doing.... They even lost — some of their manpower were killed."

Some estimates put the death toll of military and law enforcement officers as high as 11. Nineteen suspeted cartel members died as well, officials said.

"They [Mexican authorities] are putting their blood out there, too," Peña said, "but the significance is that Ovidio was responsible for a lot of fentanyl that was coming to the U.S., and we know the fentanyl, we know the scourge, we know the diabolical consequences of fentanyl."

Diabolical though he may be, it's possible Guzmán may not be able to evade extradition to America.

"Me, personally, I hope he gets extradited as soon as possible because we know that: Extradition, there could be money being out there, there could be people trying to, uh, corrupt people into maybe, 'Hey, the paperwork is wrong, you've got to let him go,' " Peña said.

Peña said he didn't believe Guzmán would elude the justice system, however, because "a lot people are watching what's happening to El Chapo's son."

"So there's a lot pressure on Mexico," Peña said, adding that "once all the roads have been taken on the extradition process, all the, you know, T's crossed, I's dotted, then it's time to extradite him. Personally, I hope it happens sooner rather than later."

If Guzmán were to remain in Mexico, however, Peña believes, it's "back to the game of drug trafficking."

"He can regroup," Peña said. "He's got the money, he's got the manpower. The legal system — he can manipulate that, so the longer he stays, the more powerful he is going to get. Right now, he's in disarray."

Sadly, Peña does not believe that Guzmán's arrest will stem the flood of fentanyl onto this side of the border.

"I hope that it does slow down, but, after awhile, what have we seen with all the other examples?" Peña said. "Organizations are going to be taken over, and they're gonna start all over again."

Guzmán is a leader of a Sinaloa faction he called “los menores” or “the juniors,” who are also known as “los Chapitos,” the sons of El Chapo. Other “little Chapos” include two of his brothers — Iván Archivaldo Guzmán and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán — who are believed to have been running cartel operations together with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

The Chapitos are believed to have been taking greater control in the cartel because Zambada was in poor health and isolated in the mountains.

Guzmán's capture came just days before López Obrador hosted U.S. President Joe Biden for bilateral talks followed by their North American Leaders’ Summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Drug trafficking, along with immigration, is expected to be a top talking point.

For his part, Mexican President López Obrador said the extradition process could take time since the rule of law has to be respected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report — Ed.