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Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, AKA El Nini, an alleged senior leader and lead assassin for the Sinaloa Cartel, has been extradited from Mexico to the United States on a plethora of charges.
He now faces numerous charges contained in two indictments, including cocaine and methamphetamine importation, firearms offenses, conspiracy to obstruct justice through murder, leadership of a continuing criminal enterprise resulting in the deaths of numerous victims including a confidential source for the DEA, fentanyl importation and trafficking, obstruction of justice by murdering an informant, kidnapping resulting in the deaths of eight people including a minor boy, and money laundering.
“Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas was known as the primary enforcer of the Sinaloa Cartel’s ruthless security apparatus,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
“In addition to his alleged role in importing massive quantities of lethal narcotics into the United States, he is accused of leading a group of enforcers who committed brutal acts of violence to maintain control and protect the cartel’s leadership and operations, including the murder of law enforcement officers, a witness and informant, and even a 13 year-old boy.”
Court documents state the Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for manufacturing and importing a large portion of the fentanyl distributed in the United States.
The Sinaloa Cartel is run by the sons of the its former leader “El Chapo” – a group known as the “Chapitos.”
These Chapitos, according to a United States Department of Justice press release, “have allegedly used rampant violence to protect the Chapitos’ operations and to demolish unsupportive businesses, capture contested territory, intimidate civilians, and attack and murder law enforcement members who resist their efforts.
“In part under the direction of Perez Salas, the sicarios allegedly regularly used military-grade firearms and explosives, including machine guns and rocket launchers, to kidnap, torture, and kill anyone who opposed the Chapitos.”
Perez Salas is also allegedly a commander in a group that provides security for the Chapitos. In that capacity, the DOJ accuses him of having “killed, attempted to kill, threatened, and caused bodily injury to another to intimidate a government witness and informant.”
He also, with the help of the Chapitos, allegedly captured, tortured, interrogated, and killed two Mexican federal law enforcement officers; allegedly captured three members of a rival drug cartel, torturing them before interrogating and killing them; conspired to kill and retaliate against a witness and informant; allegedly kidnapped a confidential source and 10 other victims in Mexico — including a U.S. citizen — then killed eight of the kidnapped victims, including the confidential source and a 13-year-old boy; and allegedly tested the potency of their fentanyl on individuals.
If convicted of all of the charges against him, Nestor Isidro Perez Salas will be sentenced to decades in prison. Three of the charges carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, another carries a minimum of 20 years in prison, while two others have a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years.