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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Teen hitmen for Sinaloa cartel sentenced to 25 years in prison

2026-03-15

[KRQE] According to admissions in their plea agreements, the defendants knew, if apprehended for this conduct, that they were ineligible to be tried as adults under the California law because they were under the age of 16 at the time of the offense.

“California Senate Bill 1391 made state prosecutions of 14- and 15-year-olds a practical impossibility regardless of the seriousness of the crime,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said. “No to the Sinaloa Cartel recruiting juveniles, no to the Mexican Mafia directing gangland hits in San Diego, no to a lack of consequences for juveniles who would do their bidding.”

Two teenage gang members were sentenced in federal court Friday to 25 years in prison for attempting to murder a target of the Sinaloa cartel, and for the collateral death of a fellow gang member who was fatally shot during the failed murder attempt.

Andrew Nunez and Johncarlo Quintero – who were both 15 at the time of the crimes on March 26 and 27, 2024 – pleaded guilty in December 2025 to murder and attempted murder charges, admitting they were acting as hired hitmen for the Sinaloa cartel when they made two attempts in five hours to kill the cartel’s target.

Both were members of the Mexican Mafia-affiliated Westside Wilmas gang from the greater Los Angeles area.

Court documents showed Nunez and Quintero expected to be paid approximately $50,000 for the murder.

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