US intensifies crackdown on cartels with sanctions and indictments

A broad U.S.-led crackdown on Mexican drug cartels intensified on multiple fronts this week, with sanctions targeting money-markets tied to a criminal network, and federal indictments accusing five senior figures of the United Cartels of manufacturing and distributing large quantities of meth, fentanyl and cocaine into the United States. The actions, conducted in coordination with Mexican authorities, underscore a sustained effort to disrupt cartels’ leadership, finances and cross-border operations, while drawing attention to the complexities of enforcing sanctions and extraditions across borders.

In one trace of the effort, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned more than a dozen Mexican companies and four individuals connected to a powerful drug trafficking cartel operating near the seaside resort region around Puerto Vallarta. The network is accused of collaborating with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization. Officials say the scheme began in 2012 and involved elaborate rental and resale fraud that defrauded elderly American victims, with documented transfers totaling tens of millions of dollars from U.S. citizens to...