Adam Gordon

DOJ Announcement on Sinaloa Cartel Leaders Charged with Narco-Terrorism

delivered 13 May 2025, San Diego, California

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio]

I'm United States Attorney Adam Gordon.

Joining me are the lead prosecutors on this case, Joshua Miller and Matthew Sutton; along with FBI San Diego Acting Special Agent in Charge Huan Moshrefi, HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] San Diego Special Agent in Charge Shawn Gibson, and Executive Assistant United States Attorney Victor White.

At the end of the statement, we will provide an opportunity for questions related to this case.

Let me be direct: To the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters. You are the hunted.

You will be betrayed by your friends.

You will be hounded by your enemies.

And you will ultimately find yourself and your fates here, in a courtroom, in the Southern District of California.

An indictment which our office unsealed today is the first in the nation to charge multiple alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel with narco-terrorism and material support of terrorism charges in connection with trafficking massive amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin.

The indictment was made possible by President Trump's Executive Order 14157, which designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization; and the Secretary of State's subsequent designation of the same on February 20th, 2025.

On April 11th, 2025, I was sworn in as the United States attorney. That same day, I created a narco-terrorism unit within our new organized crime section. This decision reflects our office's commitment to the Department of Justice's take back America priorities in targeting the leadership of these foreign terrorist organizations.

Focusing on this indictment, the notorious Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, are charged with terrorism and drug trafficking charges. They're described in court documents as leaders of one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world on behalf of the Beltran Leyva faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Since its inception, the Beltran Label Organization has been considered one of the most violent drug trafficking operations in Mexico, engaging in shootouts, murders, kidnapping, torture, and violent collection of drug debts to sustain its operation. Our lead defendant, Pedro Nzusa Noriega, is well known to law enforcement. His nickname is El De La Silla, which means "The Man in the Chair" -- because he was partially paralyzed in a shooting by a rival cartel.

Since the early 2000s, Nzusa Noriega has been one of the top distributors of cocaine, and now fentanyl, into the United States. To be more specific, over the past several years father and son have trafficked tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States. For example, on December 3rd, 2024, Mexican law enforcement raided multiple locations in Sinaloa that are controlled and managed by the father and son, and seized 1500 kilograms. That's more than 1.65 tons of fentanyl, the largest known fentanyl seizure in the world.

The current indictments reflect this U.S. attorney's office pursuit of the Sinaloa Cartel as we now have indictments pending against all alleged leaders of the Beltran Leva faction, including Chapo Isidro, "El Musico," and the previously described Nzusa Noriega, aka Sagitaria.

These indictments join those our offices separately secured against another three leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel: El Chapito, Mayito Flaco, and El Chino.

You may ask why we are bringing these narco-terrorism and material support charges now. It is the acknowledgement through Operation Take Back America that narco-terrorists operate as a cancer within a state. They metastasize violence, corruption, and fear; and 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 our law enforcement partners, is brought to bear against the Sinaloa Cartel. If you act like a terrorist, you shouldn't be surprised if you are charged as one.

I'd like to specifically thank our law enforcement partners -- in particular Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their tireless efforts to bring these defendants to face justice here before American juries and jurists.

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