SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — An indictment was unsealed Tuesday morning in the U.S. Attorney’s Southern District of California charging alleged leaders of the Sinaloa cartel with narco-terrorism and material support of terrorism in connection with trafficking massive amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States.
According to the U.S. Attorney, the indictment is “the first in the nation.”
The Sinaloa cartel’s rise to prominence happened under the infamous Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman in the 1990s and 2000s.
Guzman is now serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison.
His accomplice, Ismael Mario Zambada, known as “El Mayo,” has been in U.S. custody since July 2024, but has yet been brought to trial.
Until his arrest, Zambada was said to be the leader of one faction within the Sinaloa cartel; Guzman’s sons, the “Chapitos,” were in charge of another splinter group.
The current leadership of the Sinaloa cartel was named in the indictments including Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel.
Both are charged with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering as key leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), a powerful and violent faction of the Sinaloa cartel that is believed to operate the world’s largest known fentanyl-production network.
The indictment names five other BLO leaders who are charged with drug trafficking and money laundering.
On Feb. 20, the U.S. Department of State declared the Sinaloa cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
“The Sinaloa Cartel is a complex, dangerous terrorist organization and dismantling them demands a novel, powerful legal response,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Their days of brutalizing the American people without consequence are over we will seek life in prison for these terrorists.”
Inzunza Noriega and his son, Inzunza Coronel, are accused of producing and aggressively trafficking fentanyl to the United States, and that together, the father and son led one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world sending tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States.
According to the indictment, the Beltran Leyva faction controls numerous territories and plazas throughout Mexico including Tijuana – and is said to operate “with violent impunity, trafficking in deadly drugs, threatening communities, and targeting key officials, all while making millions of dollars from their criminal activities.”
“Operation Take Back America initiatives reflect the reality that narco-terrorists operate as a cancer within a state,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “They metastasize violence, corruption and fear. If left unchecked, their growth would lead to the death of law and order. This indictment is what justice looks like when the full measure of the Department of Justice along with its law enforcement partners is brought to bear against the Sinaloa Cartel.”
Court documents state the Beltran Leyva faction is considered one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations to operate in Mexico, engaging in shootouts, murders, kidnappings, torture and violent collection of drug debts to sustain its operations.
Other indicted members of the Sinaloa cartel’s BLO network include:.
- Fausto Isidro Meza Flores aka “Chapo Isidro”
- Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe aka “El Musico”
- Pedro Inzunza Noriega a.k.a. “Sagitario.”
The Southern District of California also has indictments pending against other leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, including:
- Ivan Archivaldo Guzman aka “El Chapito”
- Ismael Zambada Sicairos aka “Mayito Flaco”
- Jose Gil Caro Quintero aka “El Chino”
Other defendants also named include:
- David Alejandro Heredia Velazquez, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
- Oscar Rene Gonzalez Menendez, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
- Elias Alberto Quiros Benavides, San Jose, Costa Rica.
- Daniel Eduardo Bojorquez, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico
- Javier Alonso Vazquez Sanchez, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico
According to the U.S. Attorney, all the defendants are facing anywhere from 20 years to life in prison. Officials said they all remain fugitives.
