An indictment has been unsealed, the first in the nation, to charge 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.
Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, are charged with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering as key leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organisation (BLO), a powerful and violent faction of the Sinaloa Cartel that is believed to be the world’s largest known fentanyl production network.
Five other BLO leaders are charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. The indictment is a direct result of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14157, which designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and the Secretary of State’s subsequent designation of the same on February 20, 2025.
“The Sinaloa Cartel is a complex, dangerous terrorist organisation and dismantling them demands a novel, powerful legal response,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Their days of brutalising the American people without consequence are over — we will seek life in prison for these terrorists.”
According to court documents, since its inception, the Beltran Leyva faction has been considered one of the most violent drug trafficking organisations to operate in Mexico, engaging in shootouts, murders, kidnappings, torture and violent collection of drug debts to sustain its operations.
The Beltran Leyva faction controls numerous territories and plazas throughout Mexico, including Tijuana, and operates with violent impunity, trafficking in deadly drugs, threatening communities, and targeting key officials, all while making millions of dollars from their criminal activities.
Noriega works closely with his son, Coronel, to produce and aggressively traffic fentanyl to the United States, the government has alleged.
Court documents indicate that together, the father and son lead one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world.
Over the past several years, they have trafficked tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States.
On December 3, 2024, Mexican law enforcement raided multiple locations in Sinaloa that are controlled and managed by the father and son and seized 1,500 kilograms (more than 1.65 tons) of fentanyl – the largest seizure of fentanyl in the world.
These indictments follow a notable tradition in the Southern District of California for targeting leadership and operations of powerful Mexican cartels – from the dismantling of the Arellano Felix Cartel to major strikes against today’s most dangerous, powerful and violent cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), and now the Beltran Leyva Organization.
It is the first indictment from the newly formed Narco-Terrorism Unit in the Southern District of California, which was established upon the swearing in of U.S. Attorney Gordon on April 11.
The indictment of Noriega reflects the Southern District of California’s pursuit of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Federal drug trafficking indictments are pending against all alleged leaders of its Beltran Leyva faction, including Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, aka ‘Chapo Isidro’, Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe, aka ‘El Musico’ and Pedro Inzunza Noriega, aka ‘Sagitario’.
The Southern District of California also has indictments pending against other leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, including Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, aka ‘El Chapito’, Ismael Zambada Sicairos, aka ‘Mayito Flaco’, and Jose Gil Caro Quintero, aka ‘El Chino’.
