EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Federal officials are joining forces to go after a Sinaloa cartel boss they believe responsible for sending thousands of pounds of fentanyl into the U.S.

Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, aka “Gio,” runs drug-trafficking operations for the Sinaloa cartel in the Nogales, Mexico/Nogales, Arizona, region, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seize shipments suspected to come from his organizations almost daily, according to Troy A. Miller, acting commissioner of CBP.

 “We are entering the next phase in our fight against fentanyl: one where we are going after the plaza bosses, whose organizations are responsible for virtually everything that is smuggled into the United States,” Miller said at a news conference this week. “Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela is the first plaza boss that we target, but he won’t be the last.”

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram last summer told a House committee that the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are the primary criminal groups manufacturing fentanyl in Mexico and smuggling it into the United States.

“DEA proactively investigates cartel members and associates, like Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, who allegedly oversee the transportation and distribution of these deadly drugs while interagency partners, like U.S. Customs and Border Protection, interdict shipments at the border before they enter our country,” Milgram said in a statement. “These partnerships ensure those responsible face justice for their crimes.”

Cartel leaders appoint hand-picked proxies to run territories known as “plazas.” The plaza can be a major city where drugs are sold at retail or a portion of a state where drugs are grown. They can also be border cities that are a springboard for sending drugs into the U.S.

A federal grand jury in California in April 2018 indicted Valenzuela – who also goes by Gio, Yiyo and Felipe Sosa Canizales – on charges of conspiracy to import and distribute controlled substances. The charges stem from multiple seizures of 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and 5 or more kilos of cocaine. A federal magistrate issued an arrest warrant against “Gio” in 2021 in connection with those charges.

Valenzuela had three previous run-ins with U.S. authorities in 1993, 1996, and 2009. The latter involved an illegal entry near Sasabe, Ariz., which was sanctioned with five days’ time served and deportation to Mexico. Information on the two other two cases was not immediately available.

A DEA wanted poster says he is a fugitive from the law and describes him as 5-foot-10, 250 pounds and between 54 and 55 years old.

The push to get Valenzuela is part of the multi-agency Operation Plaza Spike. It consists of seizing illicit proceeds, scrutinizing businesses on either side of the border that may be linked to the narcotics trade, and publicizing the names of local cartel leaders to put pressure on them.

The plaza bosses nowadays control not just the drug trade in a city, but also all extortion, kidnapping, migrant smuggling and illegal firearm imports, U.S. officials say.

“Over the past few years, we have continued to adapt and evolve our counter-fentanyl strategy to match the sophistication and relentlessness of the criminal organizations,” Miller said. “The cartels are constantly evolving. Change is constant in their business model — one that sells pure evil for profit.