The U.S. government is stepping up its war on drug cartels—with a major twist. For the first time, cartel members are facing terrorism-related charges. Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, were hit with narco-terrorism, material support of terrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering charges on May 13. Both are top figures in the Beltran Leyva Organization, a Sinaloa cartel faction.
Five other BLO leaders were also charged with trafficking and laundering money. Former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker told Fox News Digital this move changes the game. “This administration is taking a dramatically different approach,” he said. “These are the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet right now.”
Swecker said the terrorism designation expands the net. “If they give them a paperclip, if they provide financial support, if they work for them, they’re a hit man,” he explained. The charges bring harsher penalties and wider international reach.
The approach boosts tools like RICO and continuing criminal enterprise laws. “All you have to do is be affiliated in any way with a drug cartel, and we can lower a 20-year sentence on you,” Swecker added. It’s a significant escalation in legal firepower.
The Trump administration formally designated the Sinaloa cartel a Foreign Terrorist Organization back in February. Prosecutors say Noriega and his son ran one of the world’s largest fentanyl networks. They trafficked tens of thousands of kilograms into the U.S.
Mexican law enforcement has already raided their fentanyl hubs. Over 1.65 tons of the deadly drug was seized. But the men remain at-large, along with other BLO and cartel leaders.
Indictments are pending for high-ranking members, including Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, and Ismael Zambada Sicairos. U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon had a clear warning. “You are no longer the hunters. You are the hunted.”
“You will be betrayed by your friends,” Gordon said at a press conference. “You will be hounded by your enemies. And you will ultimately find yourself in a courtroom in the Southern District of California.”