Former DEA Official Charged in Cartel Narcoterrorism Plot

A former high-ranking Drug Enforcement Administration official and his associate were arrested Thursday on federal charges accusing them of conspiring to launder millions of dollars and facilitate cocaine trafficking for a notorious Mexican cartel designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

Paul Campo, 61, of Oakton, Virginia, who retired from the DEA in 2016 after a 25-year career that culminated in his role as deputy chief of the Office of Financial Operations, faces four felony counts: conspiring to commit narcoterrorism, conspiring to distribute and possess cocaine with intent to distribute, conspiring to provide material support to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and conspiring to commit money laundering. Robert Sensi, 75, of Boca Raton, Florida, faces the same charges. The indictment was unsealed Friday in federal court in Manhattan, and both men were scheduled to appear there later that day.

According to prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, the scheme began in late 2024 when Sensi introduced Campo to a confidential source working undercover as a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as CJNG. The cartel, led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes,...