Sinaloa Cartel Leaders, Father and Son, Charged with Narco-Terrorism in First U.S. Case of Its Kind
On May 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that an indictment had been unsealed that day in federal court in San Diego, California (the Southern District of California): Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, key leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, were charged with narco-terrorism, providing material support to terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering. It is the first indictment in the nation to charge alleged Sinaloa Cartel leaders with narco-terrorism. Five other leaders of the organization were charged with drug trafficking and money laundering in the same case, No. 25cr1505.
"The Sinaloa Cartel is a complex, dangerous terrorist organization and dismantling them demands a novel, powerful legal response," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "Their days of brutalizing the American people without consequence are over — we will seek life in prison for these terrorists." U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California said the indictment is what justice looks like when the full measure of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners is brought to bear against the Sinaloa Cartel.
Prosecutors say the Beltran Leyva faction has been considered one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations to operate in Mexico, controlling numerous territories including Tijuana and sustaining its operations through shootouts, murders, kidnappings and torture. The father and son allegedly worked together to run one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world, trafficking tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States over the past several years. On December 3, 2024, Mexican law enforcement raided multiple locations in Sinaloa controlled by the pair and seized 1,500 kilograms (more than 1.65 tons) of fentanyl, the largest seizure of fentanyl in the world.
The indictment is a direct result of President Trump's Executive Order 14157, under which the Sinaloa Cartel was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a designation the Secretary of State made on February 20, 2025. It is also the first indictment from the Southern District of California's newly formed Narco-Terrorism Unit, established after U.S. Attorney Gordon was sworn in on April 11. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Mellor and Matthew Sutton and was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.
Under the indictment, narco-terrorism carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a $20 million fine; providing material support to terrorism carries up to 20 years; and the remaining counts, including continuing criminal enterprise, carry up to life in prison. The Justice Department stressed that an indictment is merely an allegation and that both defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于加利福尼亚州圣迭戈市的爱德华·J·施瓦茨联邦大楼入口（880 Front Street），加州南区联邦检察官办公室设于此楼。Another Believer 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Entrance of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in San Diego, California (880 Front Street), home to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California. Photo by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
