Workplace of Public Affairs | Excessive-Rating Members of Sinaloa Cartel Charged with Materials Assist of a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Narcoterrorism

In a superseding indictment unsealed right this moment, high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel are dealing with federal fees for his or her alleged involvement in trafficking tons of of kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine into southern Illinois and laundering the proceeds to Mexico.

“The Sinaloa Cartel relies on drug trafficking to finance its terrorism against the American people while spreading poison in our communities,” mentioned Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Today’s indictment is a significant blow against this terrorist organization’s infrastructure as we carry out President Trump’s mission of dismantling and destroying the cartels.”

“The Sinaloa Cartel is a vicious international criminal organization that spreads terror through intimidation, torture, and murder. The entire enterprise is financed through a drug distribution network that includes southern Illinois,” mentioned U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft for the Southern District of Illinois. “Today’s superseding indictment targets some of the highest level of Sinaloa leadership demonstrating our commitment to use every possible tool to crush this cartel, dismantling its operations, and protecting our community from its narcoterrorism.”

“Today’s announcement in the Southern District of Illinois is monumental in our fight to eliminate the Sinaloa Cartel,” mentioned Administrator Terrance Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “The extraordinary work of the St. Louis Field Division and their partners resulted in the seizure of more than 800 pounds of fentanyl and exposed a money laundering network that pushed millions in cartel profits through U.S. banks. This is not a street-corner operation — it is a cartel pipeline that has flooded the Midwest with significant amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine. We continue the fight, using all the resources of the United States government, to destroy the Sinaloa Cartel.”

The indictment alleges that the Sinaloa Cartel is a Mexican-based transnational drug trafficking group that makes use of premeditated violence to manage territory and undermine governmental authority. The Cartel sustains its enterprise by trafficking narcotics into the United States and funneling the earnings again into Mexico.

Over roughly one week, the DEA, together with legislation enforcement companions, arrested 15 of the charged defendants in a nationwide operation involving Sinaloa Cartel associates. These indictments and arrests are the results of a years-long operation involving the elimination of greater than 400 kilograms of fentanyl, practically 80 kilograms of methamphetamine and 50 kilograms of cocaine from communities in and round Southern Illinois.

President Donald J. Trump designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The designation included the Sinaloa Cartel amongst eight legal organizations categorized as FTOs and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) beneath Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1189) and Executive Order 13224.

Narcoterrorism is a federal crime that gives enhanced penalties to punish drug trafficking that helps terrorist organizations. The crime of offering materials assist applies when an individual offers assets to a company realizing that it has been designated as a international terrorist group.

A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment alleging that 26 defendants participated in a Sinaloa Cartel sourced drug distribution pipeline originating in Mexico that included the Southern District of Illinois, together with the next:

According to courtroom paperwork, the charged conduct occurred between January 2020 and July 2025. The conspiracy is accused of distributing greater than 50 or extra grams of methamphetamine, 400 or extra grams of fentanyl, and 5 kilograms or extra of cocaine.

This case is a part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the total assets of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of unlawful immigration, obtain the entire elimination of cartels and transnational legal organizations, and shield our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and assets from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

DEA St. Louis, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. HSI’s Parole and Law Enforcement Programs Unit supplied essential assist.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karelia Rajagopal, Laura Reppert, and Thomas Leggans for the Southern District of Illinois are prosecuting the case.

In March 2023, the unique indictment charged Earl Frank and 10 others with varied federal offenses associated to the drug trafficking conspiracy:

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed harmless till confirmed responsible past an inexpensive doubt in a courtroom of legislation.