And merchant of armas of the state of Arizona is formally accused in the United States of conspiring to supply weapons to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and to Sinaloa Cartel (CDS), organizations that the president Donald Trump designated foreign terrorists at the beginning of his second term.
The new charges include “material support for terrorism”, a high-impact legal figure that significantly expands the criminal exposure of the accused, according to a statement from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office of Arizona.
The accusation identifies Laurence Graycompany owner Grips By Larry and former holder of a federal weapons license, as the person allegedly responsible for trying to provide weapons to the CJNG in May 2025 and conspiring to supply both cartels during that same year.
Gray already had previous charges for illegal arms trafficking, purchases through intermediaries – known as straw purchases, a mechanism by which one person acquires a weapon on behalf of another to hide their identity – and false statements on official forms required for the acquisition of weapons, crimes that he shared with another person involved in the case, Barrett Weinberger.
These modalities identified by federal authorities as recurring ways to divert weapons from the legal market to criminal organizations.
Operation Take Back America
The case falls within the Operation Take Back Americaan initiative of the Department of Justice aimed at combating transnational criminal organizations through instruments of anti-terrorist legislation. This approach expands investigative powers and can facilitate confiscations, financial sanctions and enhanced judicial cooperation schemes.
The appointment of both cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, issued in February 2025, marked a turning point in US policy against Mexican organized crime: not only are direct operators being persecuted, but also those who provide them with strategic resources such as weapons.
Bilateral context
He office hours opens a new chapter in bilateral tensions regarding illicit arms trafficking. In 2021, the Mexican government sued US manufacturers for business practices that facilitate criminal organizations’ access to high-powered weapons. Federal investigations have also documented networks of intermediary buyers who legally acquire weapons in border states to later transfer them to cartels.
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