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Published November 17, 2014 1:14pm EST

America's Third War: The U.S. Cut a Deal With the Sinaloa Cartel, Say Court Documents

U.S. federal agents allegedly cut a deal with the Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed it to traffic tons of narcotics across the border, in exchange for information about rival cartels, according to documents filed in federal court.

The allegations are made by Vicente Zambada-Niebla, a top ranking cartel boss extradited to the U.S. last year on drug charges. He is a close associate of Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the son of Ismael "Mayo" Zambada-Garcia.

Both remain fugitives, in part, because of the deal Zambada- Niebla made with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, according to a defense motion filed last Friday in the case.

Alvin Michaelson, the Los Angeles attorney representing Zambada- Niebla who wrote the brief, refused comment.

The deal allegedly began with Humberto Loya-Castro, a Sinaloa cartel lawyer who became an informant for the D.E.A. after a drug case against him was dismissed in 2008.

According to the motion, the deal was part of a 'divide and conquer' strategy, where the U.S. helped finance and arm the Sinaloa cartel, through Operation Fast and Furious, in exchange for information that allowed the D.E.A. and FBI to destroy and dismantle rival Mexican cartels. Operation Fast and Furious is the failed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives anti-gun trafficking program which allowed thousand of guns to cross into Mexico.

"Under that agreement, the Sinaloa Cartel, through Loya, was to provide information accumulated by Mayo, Chapo, and others, against rival Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations to the United States government. In return, the United States government agreed to dismiss the prosecution of the pending case against Loya, not to interfere with his drug trafficking activities and those of the Sinaloa Cartel, to not actively prosecute him, Chapo, Mayo, and the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, and to not apprehend them.”

Zambada- Niebla was arrested in Mexico City in March 2009 and extradited to the U.S. in February to stand trial on narco-trafficking-related charges. The indictment claims he served as the cartel's "logistical coordinator" who oversaw an operation that imported tons of cocaine into the U.S. by jets, buses, rail cars, tractor-trailers, and automobiles. Zambada-Niebla is now being held in solitary confinement in a Chicago jail cell.

The motion claims Mayo, Chapo and Zambada- Niebla routinely passed information through Loya to the D.E.A. that allowed it to make drug busts. In return, the U.S. helped the leaders evade Mexican police.

It says: "In addition, the defense has evidence that from time to time, the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel was informed by agents of the DEA through Loya that United States government agents and/or Mexican authorities were conducting investigations near the home territories of cartel leaders so that the cartel leaders could take appropriate actions to evade investigators- even though the United States government had indictments, extradition requests, and rewards for the apprehension of Mayo, Chapo, and other alleged leaders, as well as Mr. Zambada-Niebla.”

In 2008, "the DEA representative told Mr. Loya-Castro that they wanted to establish a more personal relationship with Mr. Zambada-Niebla so that they could deal with him directly."

In March 17, 2009, Loya set up a meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City with two D.E.A. agents, identified as Manny and David. There, the four men met and Zambada-Niebla claims he received immunity from an indictment out of federal court in Washington D.C.

"There is also evidence that at the hotel, Mr. Zambada-Niebla did accept the agreement and thereafter in reliance on that agreement, provided further information regarding rival drug cartels. Mr. Zambada-Niebla was told that the government agents were satisfied with the information he had provided to them and that arrangements would be made to meet with him again. Mr. Zambada-Niebla then left the meeting. Approximately five hours after the meeting, Mr. Zambada-Niebla was arrested by Mexican authorities. “

Experts who reviewed the document say the U.S. typically has written agreements with paid informants that spell out each other's responsibilities. They doubt Zambada-Niebla had one, although Loya probably did. The defense here is hoping to obtain DEA reports that detail the agencies relationship with the Sinaloa cartel and get the agents on the stand.

In response in court, the U.S. doesn't dispute that Zambada-Niebla may have acted as an informant - only that he did not act with D.E.A. consent.

The D.E.A. and the federal prosecutors in Chicago had no comment.

Former D.E.A. director Karen Tandy told Fox News "I do not have any knowledge of this and it doesn't sound right from my experience.”

https://www.foxnews.com/us/americas-third-war-the-u-s-cut-a-deal-with-the-sinaloa-cartel-say-court-documents

Dozens Of Alleged Members Of Sinaloa Cartel Charged; List Includes Kingpin “El Mayo,” His Sons And Other Top Leaders

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/dozens-alleged-members-sinaloa-cartel-charged-list-includes-kingpin-el-mayo-his-sons

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-sdca/legacy/2015/04/30/ALB_TB_SSIndict_658.pdf

>>18413146

Updated: 5:28 PM MST February 23, 2023

Millions of fentanyl pills off streets after Arizona agencies target Sinaloa Drug Cartel

(9NEWS)

More than 150 people were arrested in relation to the multi-agency effort to target the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, the DEA said.

TEMPE, Ariz. — Millions of pills were on display Thursday afternoon during a news conference with the Tempe Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration of Arizona after a recent drug seizure in the Valley.

The DEA said more than 150 people were arrested in relation to the multi-agency effort to target the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, and the following was seized in the process:

4.5 million fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills

66 kilograms of fentanyl powder

138 kilograms of cocaine

3,100 pounds of methamphetamine

35 kilograms of heroin

49 firearms

$2 million in cash

This investigation was part of the DEA’s work in "defeating the criminal drug cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG), who continue to drive addiction and drug poisonings in communities nationwide, threatening the safety and health of Americans," the DEA said in a news release.

The DEA said the Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for nearly all deadly narcotics flooding into Arizona.

State Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office was part of the investigation, spoke about the impacts of drugs on families in Arizona.

“There are few families in our state and across our country that haven't been touched in some way by the scourge of the opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis," Mayes said.

The DEA said fentanyl is mass-produced in secret laboratories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely by China, and the criminal cartels are making fake pills to look like prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Hydrocodone, Percocet, Xanax, and Adderall.

"The sample you see today is staggering," said Tempe interim Police Chief Josie Montenegro.

Last year the DEA in Arizona seized over $22 million fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills, 500 kilograms of fentanyl powder, over 10,000 pounds of methamphetamine, over 1400 kilograms of cocaine and over 400 pounds of heroin.

More information for parents and families on the dangers of fentanyl and fake pills can be found on DEA’s website at One Pill Can Kill (dea.gov).

https://www.12news.com/article/news/crime/valley-drug-bust-pulls-millions-fentanyl-pills-off-streets/75-ef0cce34-d0af-4292-9640-c7434bc51333

>>18413146

>>18413171

Published February 22, 2023 11:17am EST

foxnews.com

Treasury slaps sanctions on Sinaloa Cartel network involved in fentanyl ‘super labs’

Adam Shaw

The Treasury on Wednesday announced that it is imposing new sanctions on a cartel network involved in the smuggling of fentanyl and methamphetamine into the U.S., as part of the administration’s crackdown against the movement of fentanyl into the U.S.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it is designating six Mexican nationals and Sinaola Cartel members involved in the trade, as well as six related Mexican entities.

The agency said that the network, led by Ludim Zamudio Lerma and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma, is "responsible for diverting illicit precursor chemicals directly into the hands of Sinaloa Cartel members and laboratory operators, further bolstering the Sinaloa Cartel’s role as the preeminent facilitator of illicit fentanyl and other deadly drugs being trafficked into the United States."

The U.S. has been in the throes of an opioid crisis for years, with fentanyl at the heart of the crisis and responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year.

The opioid is deadly in tiny doses and is often mixed into other drugs so that users are unaware that they are ingesting fentanyl. Officials have said that of the 108,000 overdose deaths in 2021, more than 80,000 were linked with opioids like fentanyl.

The drug is primarily created in Mexico using Chinese precursors and then transported across the land border, primarily through ports of entry but also between them as well. The head of Border Patrol recently announced that agents had seized enough fentanyl since October to kill 100 million Americans.

The Treasury says that the brothers supply precursor chemicals to Sinaloa Cartel members, which are then used in "super labs" to create the drugs in large quantities for the cartels.

MEXICO CLAIMS LARGEST SYNTHETIC DRUG LAB BUST TO DATE

The six cartel members are designated for "having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production."

The Treasury also designated businesses linked to the Zamudio family. The sanctions block the U.S.-based assets of those sanctioned and forbids transactions with them by those based within or transiting the U.S.

"Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States that causes the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually, as well as countless non-fatal overdoses," the Treasury said in a statement. "OFAC, in coordination with its U.S. government partners and foreign counterparts, will continue to target and pursue accountability for foreign illicit drug actors."

The Biden administration has come under fire for its handling of the fentanyl crisis. While it has touted the increased seizures of the drug, Republicans have accused the administration of exacerbating a border crisis that allows the drug to get in undetected.

President Biden himself highlighted the crisis during his State of the Union address and called for bipartisan efforts to crack down on the smuggling of the drug – including more funding for technology at ports of entry.

"Fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year. Let’s launch a major surge to stop fentanyl production, sale, and trafficking, with more drug detection machines to inspect cargo and stop pills and powder at the border," Biden said, before calling for cooperation with couriers and increased trafficking penalties.

The mention of fentanyl led to Republicans yelling, "It's your fault" and renewed calls from some Republicans to "secure the border."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/treasury-slaps-sanctions-sinaloa-cartel-network-involved-fentanyl-super-labs

BORDER PATROL SEIZES ENOUGH FENTANYL TO KILL 100 MILLION AMERICANS IN UNDER FIVE MONTHS

Authorities have been tackling an opioid crisis for years that has fentanyl at its core.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/border-patrol-seizes-enough-fentanyl-kill-100-million-americans-under-five-months