United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SAN DIEGO – Edgar Herrera Pardo, aka Caiman, an admitted violent cartel enforcer who ordered the killing of a Tijuana police officer, was sentenced in federal court today to 28 years in prison for trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin into the United States. 

Herrera Pardo was indicted in the Southern District of California on April 10, 2019, as a leader of a group known as Los Cabos, which operated in Baja California to secure control of the region for Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, commonly known as CJNG, one of the most violent criminal organizations in the world. Los Cabos employed rampant violence to ensure that CJNG maintained the ability to traffic drugs through Tijuana and into the United States. 

President Trump’s Executive Order 14157 designated CJNG as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and the Secretary of State subsequently designated the same on February 20, 2025. Executive Order 14157 recognized that cartels such as CJNG have “engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere.” Los Cabos had a direct role in that terror, by abducting and killing enemies of CJNG, and then hanging so called “narco banners” bragging about their violence and warning others who would dare to defy the cartel.

Herrera Pardo’s calling card was violence. According to his plea agreement and the government’s sentencing memo, the defendant admitted that: 

• On September 9, 2018, he ordered the murder of a police officer in Tijuana, telling a co-conspirator “I want a dead (body) in the Segunda (street).” He provided the co-conspirator an AR-15 and further assistance.
• On October 5, 2018, Herrera Pardo ordered a co-conspirator to pick up cartel rivals who had provided information about CJNG to law enforcement officials.
• On November 12, 2018, Herrera Pardo told a co-conspirator that he would send a group of enforcers to kidnap and kill rivals.
• On November 20, 2018, Herrera Pardo discussed locating and killing former members of CJNG who had switched allegiances to a rival cartel. In all, investigators intercepted a group chat of Los Cabos – led by Herrera Pardo – wherein they discussed well over 100 murders.

“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message: those who use violence and fear to advance the deadly operations of drug cartels will be held accountable,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian Clark. “Herrera was not just a drug trafficker, he was an enforcer, a key instrument of intimidation and brutality. The DEA remains committed in its mission to dismantle these criminal networks and protect our communities from the violence and addiction they bring.”

“My Day One pledge in creating our office’s Narcoterrorism Unit was to make this the District where cartel members will receive the full measure of justice,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “This cartel sicario ordered brutal killings to instill terror and crush opposition. The cartel he served earned its designation as a foreign terrorist organization for a reason: its reach and ruthlessness rivaled that of any terror group. But today, his reign of terror has come to an end.”

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Martin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Narcoterrorism Unit. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided critical assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Herrera Pardo.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.

INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

U.S. Attorney's Office; Homeland Security Investigations; United States Marshals Service; Department of Justice, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force; Department of Justice, Office of Enforcement Operations; Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs; San Diego Sheriff’s Department