San Diego, California – Federal prosecutors in Southern California have unsealed the nation’s first-ever narco-terrorism indictment targeting alleged leaders of the powerful and violent Sinaloa Cartel. The charges accuse key members of the cartel’s Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) of flooding the United States with fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin while using terror tactics to maintain power.
Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, are among those charged with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering. The indictment is part of Operation Take Back America and follows President Trump’s Executive Order 14157, which designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The charges also include five other senior BLO members.
“The Sinaloa Cartel is a complex, dangerous terrorist organization,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “We will seek life in prison for these terrorists whose days of brutalizing the American people are over.”
According to court documents, authorities believe that Noriega and his son lead one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks. On December 3, 2024, Mexican law enforcement seized over 1,500 kilograms of fentanyl in raids targeting BLO operations—marking the most significant such seizure in global history.
“These indictments reflect the full weight of U.S. law enforcement bearing down on transnational criminal networks,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon of the Southern District of California. “This is what justice looks like.”
The BLO, which operates as a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, is known for extreme violence including shootouts, murders, kidnappings, and torture. The group controls trafficking routes across Mexico—particularly through Tijuana—and allegedly operates with impunity.
HSI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Shawn Gibson emphasized the cartel’s ongoing threat: “These organizations are poisoning our communities with fentanyl. We will not let them operate without consequences.”
The case is the first from the newly formed Narco-Terrorism Unit under U.S. Attorney Gordon. It builds on the district’s long-standing efforts to dismantle Mexican cartels, from the Arellano Felix Organization to the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG.
Indictments are also pending against other cartel leaders including Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar (“El Chapito”), Ismael Zambada Sicairos (“Mayito Flaco”), and Jose Gil Caro Quintero (“El Chino”).
The prosecution is part of a broader strategy led by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which coordinates federal, state, and local efforts to disrupt major criminal networks.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Mellor and Matthew Sutton are leading the case for the Southern District of California.
