24-04-2025
Drug cartel leader's operations included Triad, US says
TRIAD — A Mexican national and high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel was arrested Wednesday in Nogales, Arizona, after being indicted last fall on federal charges accusing him of helping lead a large drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy that operated in Guilford County and other parts of the region.
Emmanuel Martimiano Leon-Soto, 42, of Naco, Mexico, is the last person arrested of 38 total individuals charged in November 2024 by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of North Carolina with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine hydrochloride. He is one of 10 of the defendants also charged with conspiracy to launder the proceeds of the drug trafficking scheme.
Among those previously arrested were Crandall Ortais 'Turk' Ingram, 32, Anthony Okurtis Rashad 'Ant' Lloyd, 29, and Nikonda Taye 'Slatt' or 'Big Boy' Ingram, 31, all of High Point, and Michael William Curtis, 49, of Archdale.
The indictment specifically mentions Guilford County as a place that the drug ring operated but includes no other details other than the drugs involved, but among the law enforcement agencies listed in a U.S. Justice Department press release as cooperating are the Forsyth County Drug Task Force, Surry County Sheriff's Office, Davie County Sheriff's Office, Moore County Sheriff's Office, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, Stanly County Sheriff's Office and Candor Police Department.
