Overview
- Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Tuesday in San Diego charging 30-year-old Carlos Paez Pereda with narcoterrorism, material support to terrorism, large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering.
- Authorities say Pereda led a violent enforcement group called Los Rugrats that used murders, kidnappings and armed fighters to protect cartel operations in Sinaloa and Tijuana.
- Prosecutors allege Pereda imported tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine into the United States and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade.
- The Treasury’s OFAC has designated Pereda as a Drug Kingpin, U.S. agencies released images they say show his weapons, and the FBI has an active arrest warrant describing him as armed and dangerous.
- If convicted on all counts he faces multiple life terms and large fines, and officials say the case is part of a coordinated effort by DOJ, the FBI, DEA and Treasury to disrupt violent Sinaloa factions and the flow of deadly drugs.