The Trump administration announced Thursday it is offering up to $10 million for information leading to the arrests or convictions of two brothers alleged to be leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs said it is offering rewards of up to $5 million each for Rene Arzate-Garcia and his brother, Alfonso Arzate-Garcia.
The rewards are being offered in coordination with the Drug Enforcement Administration's San Diego Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
According to the DEA, the brothers have controlled the Tijuana Plaza for the Sinaloa Cartel for the past 15 years, maintaining authority through violence, strategic alliances, and deep local influence, including political and police corruption.
Last year, the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa Cartel a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
In 2014, the Arzate-Garcia brothers were charged in the Southern District of California with drug trafficking offenses in separate indictments. They have been fugitives since.
On Aug. 9, 2023, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated both brothers under Executive Order 14059, which targets foreign persons involved in the global illicit drug trade.
"To the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel who remain at large: Hide. Run. Fight. Flee," Adam Gordon, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, said in a statement.
"The illusion is that you have a choice. The reality is that you can either surrender to justice or you’ll be brought to justice."
Earlier Thursday, the Department of Justice unveiled a superseding indictment against Rene Arzate-Garcia, charging him with narcoterrorism, conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, international drug trafficking conspiracy, and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege he oversaw large-scale shipments of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana into the U.S. and carried out enforcement operations, including kidnappings and executions, on behalf of the cartel.
The narcoterrorism charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison, along with a possible $20 million fine. Additional counts carry mandatory minimum sentences of 10 to 20 years and potential life terms.
If convicted on the most serious charges, he faces the possibility of life in prison.
This indictment supersedes the 2014 indictment, the DOJ said, adding that it "demonstrates that Rene Arzate-Garcia is a key member of the Sinaloa Cartel and controls the Tijuana Plaza that includes the entire state of Baja California."
"He has imported thousands of kilograms of drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana into the Southern District of California and laundered millions of dollars of drug proceeds," the DOJ said.
"In addition to his drug trafficking, the indictment shows his history of corrupting Mexican law enforcement and public officials, extortion of businesses in the Tijuana Plaza, and his reputation for extreme violence, including numerous kidnappings and murders in Tijuana, Mexico on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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