One of the top leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel fled to California to turn himself into U.S. authorities in an attempt to escape certain death at the hand of his rivals.

Damaso “Mini Lic” Lopez Serrano crossed the border from Baja California, Mexico, to California to turn himself into U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, Mexico’s Excelsior reported quoting Mexican law enforcement sources. The drug lord turned himself into authorities seeking the protection U.S. law enforcement officials.

In recent months, Damaso Lopez’ father Damaso Lopez Nuñez also known as “El Licenciado” or “The Attorney,” made a move to take over the Sinaloa Cartel. Mexican authorities arrested Lopez before he accomplished the takeover, Breitbart Texas reported.

The elder Lopez jumped into the narco-scene in 2001 when then Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin El Chapo Guzman’s arrest and incarceration at the Puente Grande maximum-security prison. Lopez served as the chief warden of the prison and, according to Mexican authorities, played a key role in helping El Chapo escape from the prison using a laundry cart.

Because of the escape, Damaso Lopez and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman became close friends, with the Sinaloa cartel boss becoming the younger Damaso’s godfather. Lopez was able to climb his way to a key leadership position in the Sinaloa Cartel. After Guzman’s most recent capture and eventual extradition to the U.S., the elder Lopez made a move to take over the cartel and started fighting with Guzman’s sons and their allies.

The failure of the takeover appears to be the reason for the younger Damaso fleeing to California. Officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration declined to comment on the case.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.