Sinaloa Cartel Boss Identified and Located by ODNI’s National Counterterrorism Center, Led to Successful Arrest

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ODNI News Release No. 36-25
October 21, 2025

Sinaloa Cartel Boss Identified and Located by ODNI's National Counterterrorism Center, Led to Successful Arrest

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Office of the Director of National Intelligence's (ODNI) National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) identified and shared actionable intelligence with U.S. and Mexican law enforcement partners that led to the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel Plaza Boss Leonardo Daniel Martinez Vera, also known as "El Pato," in Juarez, Mexico, on October 15, 2025. El Pato is allegedly responsible for leading a wide range of illicit activities, including drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and murder.

NCTC provided timely and accurate location information to Mexican authorities as they raided two houses of interest in search of El Pato. He was later apprehended while attempting to flee the area, alongside three additional cartel money launderers.

"We will not allow cartel gangs who target Americans to roam freely, whether in the U.S. or across the border in Mexico. Our team at NCTC is on the watch preparing for the moment to strike," said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. "For more than two decades, NCTC has led the Intelligence Community in synchronizing information that can be turned into actionable intelligence for operators around the world to act on to go after those who threaten the safety and security of the American people. Now, thanks to President Trump's leadership, we are surging resources against cartels and gang leadership, disrupting their networks, and working alongside our Mexican partners to make communities safer and protect American lives."

After President Trump designated cartels and transnational gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) in January, DNI Gabbard directed resources be dedicated to this target. NCTC is applying two decades of counterterrorism expertise to assist law enforcement partners in targeting FTO-designated cartels, like the Sinaloa Cartel, who use violence and terror to control territory that enables them to engage in profitable and deadly illicit activity.

The takedown of El Pato was the result of a successful, nine-month interagency collaboration between NCTC, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Joint Task Force-North, and the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service. Texas' Department of Public Safety Aircraft Operations Division and the Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations units also provided intelligence support. This arrest was executed by a special unit in the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense's (SEDENA) Group Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales.

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