A suspected Sinaloa Cartel leader and assassin was extradited from Mexico to the United States over the weekend to face a slew of charges between indictments in southern New York and Washington, DC.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday that Mexican national Nestor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as “El Nini,” age 32, is charged with conspiracy to traffic narcotics into the United States, use and possession of a machine gun in connection with a drug trafficking conspiracy, conspiracy to traffic fentanyl into the United States, conspiracy to obstruct justice by retaliating against a witness or information with murder, kidnapping resulting in the death of a minor, and money laundering.
“Today, El Nini joins a growing list of cartel leaders and associates who have been extradited to the United States and held accountable in U.S. courts,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “We allege that El Nini was one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s leading assassins and was involved in the murder, torture and kidnapping of rivals and witnesses who threatened the cartel’s criminal drug trafficking operations, including the murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confidential source and the murder of others in retaliation for the confidential source’s cooperation.”
Mexican authorities arrested Pérez Salas on Nov. 22, 2023, and extradited him to the U.S. last week. On Tuesday, Pérez Salas appeared before Judge Ona T. Wang of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
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Nestor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as “El Nini,” has been indicted in both Washington, D.C., and the Southern District of New York and extradited to the United States.
According to the indictment filed in the SDNY, Pérez Salas is one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, and is responsible for the majority of the fentanyl brought into the United States.
For the past few years, the cartel has been led by Joaquin Guzman, also known as “El Chapo,” and his sons, collectively known as the “Chapitos.”
The Justice Department alleges that Pérez Salas was a senior leader in Chapitos’ security team, and that under his command, armed enforcers known as sicarios used violence to protect cartel operations, destroying businesses that did not cooperate, intimidating civilians, attacking and killing resisting law enforcement officers, and occupying disputed territory.
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Former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers during a presentation in Mexico City, January 8, 2016. (Reuters/Thomas Bravo/File Photo)
Under Pérez Salas’s direction, the Sicarios also allegedly use military-grade firearms and explosives to kidnap, torture and kill Chapitos’ opponents.
According to court documents, Pérez Salas is the head of Ninis, Chapitos’ security force.
According to the indictment, between 2012 and 2021, Pérez Salas allegedly conspired to manufacture and distribute cocaine and methamphetamine in the United States, used firearms in drug trafficking-related crimes, and killed, attempted to kill, threatened and inflicted bodily harm on persons in order to intimidate government witnesses and informants.
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The documents also say that in 2018, Pérez Salas and Chapito captured, tortured, interrogated and killed a Mexican law enforcement officer and three members of a rival drug cartel, Los Zetas.
In 2022, he and Sicario allegedly used individuals to test the potency of fentanyl and also allegedly sold fentanyl that was later seized by the DEA in Los Angeles.
Last October, Pérez Salas and the Sicarios allegedly kidnapped 10 victims and one confidential source in Mexico, including a U.S. citizen who Pérez Salas believed worked for or had ties to the confidential source.
Cartel members then allegedly killed eight of the kidnapping victims, including a 13-year-old boy, in retaliation for a confidential source providing information to law enforcement about Pérez Salas and his associates.
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Perez Salas could face life in prison if convicted.
“I thank Mexican government officials for their extraordinary efforts in apprehending and extraditing El Nini,” Garland said. “The Department of Justice will continue to relentlessly pursue the cartels who flood our communities with fentanyl and other narcotics.”
