U.S. Charges Sinaloa Cartel Leaders With Narco-Terrorism After Record Fentanyl Seizure

SAN DIEGO — In a sweeping escalation of America’s war on cartel-driven drug violence, U.S. authorities have unsealed the nation’s first-ever narco-terrorism indictment against alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel—following the world’s largest fentanyl seizure late last year in Mexico.

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California announced charges Tuesday against Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, accusing the pair of operating one of the world’s most prolific and violent fentanyl trafficking operations under the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), an ultra-violent faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. The charges include narco-terrorism, material support of terrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering.

The historic indictment stems directly from President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14157, which designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The designation was formalized by the Secretary of State on February 20, 2025.

According to court filings, Mexican law enforcement, acting in coordination with U.S. agencies, raided multiple BLO-run fentanyl superlabs in Sinaloa on December 3, 2024, seizing 1,500 kilograms—over 1.65 tons—of fentanyl, a volume U.S. officials say constitutes the largest single fentanyl seizure in the world to date.

Among the narcotics seized were rainbow-colored fentanyl pills—of the type Drug Enforcement Administration sources say are deliberately marketed to young people—as well as fentanyl bricks stamped with “Louis Vuitton” and “Rolls Royce” brand marks.

The designation of these narco cells as terrorists is more than legal jargon to senior U.S. officials. Tom Homan, President Trump’s appointed border czar, has called for aggressive, coordinated action against Mexican cartels. He argues that the United States should conduct military-style operations in partnership with Mexican authorities to dismantle these groups, which he says are fueling destabilizing violence, including the murders of thousands of journalists, public officials, and civilians, while corrupting entire tiers of government through terror and coercion.

“We need to play the away game, play where they're at,” Homan said in a recent interview. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL and Texas congressman, shared the clip, adding, “Homan gets it.”

This alignment between Homan and Crenshaw underscores a growing consensus among some U.S. officials that cartels should be confronted with the same urgency—and the same operational tactics—that U.S. Special Forces have used against terrorist networks in Middle Eastern war zones.

“This is what justice looks like when the full measure of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners is brought to bear,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon of the Southern District of California. “Narco-terrorists operate as a cancer within a state. If left unchecked, their growth would lead to the death of law and order.”

Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the Inzunzas, whose organization operates with violent impunity across key trafficking corridors like Tijuana, have brutalized the American people without consequence for too long.

“We will seek life in prison for these terrorists,” Bondi stated.

The charges are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect U.S. communities from violent crime. The operation streamlines enforcement across the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.

Five other BLO figures—described as high-ranking cartel leaders—were also charged with trafficking and laundering profits from heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl in the United States. All are accused of helping sustain an empire of murders, kidnappings, torture, and violent collection of drug debts to finance their global operations.

“This group is responsible for some of the largest-ever seizures of fentanyl and cocaine targeting the U.S.,” said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Houtan Moshrefi. “Their drugs destroy lives and communities, but they also threaten our national security.”

The indictment marks the first case brought by the Southern District of California’s newly established Narco-Terrorism Unit, launched last month following Gordon’s appointment. It signals a strategic shift in U.S. prosecutions of cartel activity—treating such groups as transnational insurgents rather than traditional criminal enterprises.

In addition to the Inzunzas, federal prosecutors confirmed that long-standing indictments remain active against several top-tier Sinaloa and BLO leaders:

Fausto Isidro Meza Flores aka “Chapo Isidro”
Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe aka “El Musico”
Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar aka “El Chapito”
Ismael Zambada Sicairos aka “Mayito Flaco”
Jose Gil Caro Quintero aka “El Chino”

Together, these men represent what prosecutors described as the military-grade leadership of a cartel apparatus now formally treated as a terrorist threat to the United States.

“Cartel-driven drug trafficking is not just criminal—it’s insurgent,” said Special Agent Shawn Gibson of Homeland Security Investigations San Diego. “We are lasered in on dismantling every node of these terror networks.”