The Treasury Department sanctioned 21 individuals and 25 entities tied to the Sinaloa Cartel's Los Mayos faction, targeting fentanyl trafficking, money laundering and corruption that reaches into Baja California's state government.
The Treasury Department moved Tuesday to take apart one of the Sinaloa Cartel's most powerful factions, slapping sanctions on 21 individuals and 25 entities tied to the Los Mayos network and its alleged web of fentanyl trafficking, money laundering and official corruption stretching from Mexico into Southern California.
The sweeping package, prepared by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), targets the cartel's hold on two key smuggling corridors along the U.S. border and lays out what officials describe as deep cartel penetration of state government in Baja California.
At the center of the action is Ismael Zambada Sicairos, known as "Mayito Flaco," whom Treasury describes as the "undisputed head" of Los Mayos. The 44-year-old was born in Anaheim, California, and later filed a U.S. name change to Fernando Sicairos Aispuro.
He rose to lead the faction after the July 2024 arrest of his father, longtime Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia. He was federally indicted in California in 2014 on drug trafficking and money laundering charges and remains a fugitive in Mexico.
Treasury says Mayito Flaco now commands Los Mayos' drug trafficking, murder, extortion, corruption and kidnapping operations. The designations cut him and his network off from the U.S. financial system, freezing any assets under American jurisdiction and barring U.S. persons from doing business with them.
The sanctions expose what Treasury calls narco-corruption at the highest levels of Baja California's state government. Officials allege that Carlos Torres Torres, the former husband of Gov. Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda, used his political influence to protect cartel operations.
Treasury says the State Department revoked Torres' U.S. visa in May 2025 over his cartel affiliation and work on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel. Officials revoked Avila's visa around the same time but did not publicly explain the move.
The action also targets Torres' brother, Luis Alfonso Torres Torres, accused of collecting bribes and laundering illicit funds through companies and political campaigns. Separately, former Mexicali public security director Pedro Ariel Mendivil Garcia is sanctioned for allegedly accepting bribes from Juan Jose Ponce Felix, known as "El Ruso," in exchange for letting the cartel control municipal police, move drugs and carry out enforcement operations.
Treasury says the network's reach extended directly into California. Lorenzo Castillo Maldonado, an associate in Mayito Flaco's orbit, allegedly hired hitmen on the cartel leader's orders to kill rival cartel members in Southern California.
Another arm of the network allegedly worked with complicit Southern California money exchanges to collect bulk cash from U.S. drug sales and funnel the proceeds back to Mexico. The cartel's aggressive push across the border has drawn growing American military attention, including a wave of cartel drone flights over the southern border that U.S. forces have been knocking down.
The designations are aimed at disrupting Los Mayos' grip on the Tijuana and Mexicali plazas -- the strategic corridors Treasury says the cartel uses to push fentanyl and other narcotics into the United States.
The move lands amid a costly internal war between Los Mayos and Los Chapitos, the faction led by sons of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Since El Mayo's arrest, Treasury says, the two sides have been locked in a violent struggle that has forced both to rebuild leadership and alliances.
El Mayo himself was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay $15 billion in drug trafficking profits.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the action as a warning to cartels and the officials who shield them. "Today's action underscores that no cartel kingpin, corrupt Mexican government official, or financial facilitator is beyond the reach of Treasury's authorities," Bessent said. "Our message is clear: the Trump Administration will identify and disrupt any cartel actor who threatens our security or the integrity of our financial system."
Beyond the asset freezes, the designations carry secondary risk. Foreign financial institutions that knowingly handle significant transactions for the sanctioned figures can themselves face U.S. penalties, a lever that pressures banks and businesses to cut ties fast.
The 46 targets now join a growing list of cartel figures and networks hit by Washington as it presses Mexico to confront the trafficking operations that move fentanyl into American communities. With Mayito Flaco still at large in Mexico and the Los Mayos-Los Chapitos feud unresolved, the coming months will test whether sanctions alone can loosen the cartel's grip on the border -- or whether Treasury's newest designations are only the opening move.
The Treasury Department sanctioned 21 individuals and 25 entities tied to the Sinaloa Cartel's Los Mayos faction, targeting fentanyl trafficking, money laundering and corruption that reaches into Baja California's state government.
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