Alleged Sinaloa Cartel associates charged with hiring teen hitmen

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - Three alleged Sinaloa Cartel associates have been arrested and indicted for allegedly coordinating an attempted murder perpetrated in Chula Vista by two teenagers, whom the defendants are accused of hiring because they thought the boys were too young to face criminal charges.

An indictment unsealed Thursday accuses Poly Antunez, Antonio Quinones, and Jovanny Enriquez of conspiring to have a man murdered by a pair of 15-year-old boys.

The teens attempted to kill the man twice in the span of five hours in March of 2024, leaving the victim and a friend of his wounded by gunfire, and an associate of the teens fatally shot.

The teens -- Andrew Nunez and Johncarlo Quintero -- pleaded guilty in December to federal charges and are slated to be sentenced next month.   

Prosecutors say the attempted slaying arose out of a cartel war in Tijuana that led to retaliatory murders and a stolen drug load that prompted the cartel to place ``hits'' on people they believed responsible, including the victim. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the cartel previously attempted to kill the victim in Tijuana before using contacts in San Diego to stalk and attempt to kill him again.  

The defendants drove from Wilmington, in Los Angeles County, to a Chili's restaurant in Chula Vista, where their target was eating with his family, prosecutors said.

As the victim's family was leaving the restaurant, Quintero and Nunez drove behind them in the parking lot and Quintero fired one shot that struck the victim in his legs, prosecutors said. Quintero could not fire again because his gun jammed, so the defendants fled, but not before Nunez attempted to strike the victim with their vehicle.   

Later that night, the defendants and an accomplice, 28-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, showed up at the victim's home in another attempt to kill him.   

The U.S. Attorney's Office said their target was at a hospital for his injuries from the restaurant shooting, but the victim's family and a friend of his was at the residence.

When the friend opened the front door, Quintero and Nunez opened fire, striking him in the hand, arm and face, prosecutors said. The victim's friend returned fire with his own gun, killing Sanchez.  

Nunez and Quintero fled the scene, but were arrested later by Chula Vista police.

The U.S. Attorney's Office described Antunez, Quinones and Enriquez as ``critical points of contact between the hitmen, the cartel, and Mexican Mafia'' and said they ``coordinated with the hitmen as they attempted to kill the victim'' on the first attempt and ``regrouped with Nunez and Quintero before sending them on the second attempt.''

Quinones and Enriquez were arrested by FBI agents this week, while Antunez was already in custody in a separate federal case in San Diego.   

The men made their initial appearances in San Diego federal court on Thursday.