High-Ranking Members of Sinaloa Cartel Charged with Material...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - In a superseding indictment unsealed today, high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel are facing federal charges for their alleged involvement in trafficking hundreds 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," said 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," said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. "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," said DEA Administrator Terrance Cole. "The extraordinary work of the St. Louis Field Division and their partners resulted in the seizure of nearly 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 organization that uses premeditated violence to control territory and undermine governmental authority. The Cartel sustains its enterprise by trafficking narcotics into the United States and funneling the profits back into Mexico.

Over approximately one week, the Drug Enforcement Administration, in conjunction with law enforcement partners, arrested 15 of the charged defendants in a nationwide operation involving Sinaloa Cartel associates. These indictments and arrests are the result of a years-long operation involving the removal of more than 400 kilograms of fentanyl, nearly 80 kilograms of methamphetamine and 50 kilograms of cocaine from communities in and around southern Illinois.

President Donald Trump designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) on February 19, 2025, through a State Department action authorized by Executive Order 14157, signed on January 20, 2025. The designation, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, included the Sinaloa Cartel among eight criminal organizations classified as FTOs and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1189) and Executive Order 13224.

Narcoterrorism is a federal crime that provides enhanced penalties to punish drug trafficking that supports terrorist organizations. The crime of providing material support applies when a person provides resources to an organization knowing that it has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

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, including the following:

According to court documents, the charged conduct occurred between January 2020 and July 2025. The conspiracy is accused of distributing more than 50 or more grams of methamphetamine, 400 or more grams of fentanyl, and five kilograms or more of cocaine.

"Fentanyl is destroying lives and devastating communities across the country. Every pill, every powder, every shipment, every sale of this drug has the potential to take a life," said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale, United States Postal Inspection Service. "Postal inspectors remain committed to working with our law enforcement partners to stop the flow of this deadly drug in our mailstream and hold criminals who profit from poisoning our neighborhoods accountable."

"We will not tolerate drug cartels smuggling their poison into our American communities," said DEA St. Louis Division Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis. "The DEA, in collaboration with our local and foreign partners, works relentlessly to identify and arrest anyone engaging in the manufacturing, distribution, and sales of any illicit drugs making their way into and across this nation."

"Drug traffickers will stop at nothing to continue profiting from the spread of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs throughout our communities. They go to great extremes to cover any links to their illegal acts," said Special Agent in Charge William Steenson of IRS Criminal Investigation's St. Louis Field Office. "IRS-CI's special agents are experts at tracing the funding sources of illegal activity and connecting the criminals involved. We're committed to protecting our communities by investigating anyone involved in these types of illicit activities and working with our federal law enforcement partners to bring them to justice."

"The U.S. Marshals Service, Southern District of Illinois congratulates the DEA, Fairview Heights, Illinois Resident Office, and its investigators on their superseding indictment," said United States Marshal, David C. Davis. "This indictment illustrates the reach of the DEA in combating the distribution of kilogram quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine within the Southern District of Illinois through the Sinaloa Cartel. The USMS, S/IL, are proud to partner with the DEA, Fairview Heights, with all the arrests and fugitive investigations generated by this case."

This case is 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 our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources 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 provided critical support.

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 original indictment charged Earl Frank and ten others with various federal offenses related to the drug trafficking conspiracy:

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.