Source: United States Attorneys General
“Today’s charges are designed to dismantle the United Cartels and bring their leaders to justice for unleashing death and destruction on American citizens,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Working closely with our partners throughout President Trump’s Administration, we will continue our historic effort to destroy foreign terror organizations and prosecute terrorists wherever they may hide.”
Good morning.
Thank you all for joining us. My name is Matthew Galeotti, and I am the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Today, I am pleased to announce the indictments of five top leaders of the United Cartels – a lethal association of Mexico-based cartels that have allied to poison our streets with methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine, and ruthlessly rule their territories in Mexico, armed with military-grade weapons.
In February 2025, the United Cartels were one of eight groups designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, underscoring the threat that they pose to our national security.
These defendants have been charged with trafficking tonnage quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine from Mexico into the United States. And three of the defendants are also charged with firearms-related charges, including semi-automatic weapons, machine guns and destructive devices.
The charges we are announcing today represent the Department’s latest efforts to achieve the total elimination of drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations. The Criminal Division is on the frontlines of this fight, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and law enforcement partners to dismantle narco-terrorist networks using all available tools.
But this battle requires a whole-of-government approach. Today, I will describe three measures we are taking to curb the United Cartels and their reign of terror, violence, and poisonous drugs.
First, as I mentioned, the Department has criminally charged five top leaders of the United Cartels with crimes carrying sentences of up to life imprisonment.
Second, together with the State Department, we are expanding the awards program available to brave witnesses willing to come forward with information regarding the United Cartels and these leaders specifically.
And third, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control, is imposing economic sanctions against the United Cartels’ leadership.
Let’s start with the criminal charges.
The story of the United Cartels begins in the Mexican state of Michoacán, an area about the size of West Virginia, with mountains, beaches, and avocado farms. For years, the United Cartels have ruled most of Michoacán with terror and corruption.
In Michoacán, the United Cartels’ leaders operate large scale drug manufacturing facilities, including methamphetamine mega-labs capable of producing thousands of kilograms a month.
They control landing strips used by planes bringing cocaine from Colombia.
They run fentanyl pill labs that prepare the product for export.
The United Cartels generate extraordinary profits by manufacturing, shipping, and distributing these dangerous drugs throughout the United States, relying on particularly strong networks in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Denver.
With their drug trafficking proceeds, United Cartel leaders purchase weapons and hire mercenaries to control their territory in Michoacán, particularly against rival cartel Cartel Jalisco Nuevo Generacion, or CJNG. And by weapons, I mean Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), fully automatic weapons, drones, .50 caliber rifles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), armor piercing munitions, and improvised tanks.
To put it simply, these cartel leaders are narco-terrorists, operating a narco-terrorist organization.
The five indicted defendants are:
Juan Jose Farias Alvarez. Alvarez goes by the name “Abuelo” and is the alleged overall leader of the United Cartels.
Edgar Orozco Cabadas. Cabadas uses the alias “El Kamoni” and is allegedly a high-level enforcer and trafficker in the United Cartels. El Kamoni leads a group of armed fighters, known as the “Kamonis,” to enforce cartel control.
Alfonso Fernandez Magallon. Magallon goes by the alias “Poncho” and is the alleged leader of Los Reyes Cartel, a sub-cartel under the United Cartels umbrella. Poncho uses armed groups to enforce his orders, and ensure he is paid a tax on drugs produced and shipped to the United States from his territory.
Luis Enrique Barragan Chavez. Chavez goes by the name “Wicho” and is allegedly the second-in-command of Los Reyes Cartel and an enforcer for the United Cartels. Wicho leads an armed group known as the “R5s” to maintain the United Cartels territorial control over Michoacán.
Nicolas Sierra Santana. Santana goes by the name “El Gordo” and is the alleged leader of Los Viagras cartel, a sub-cartel that, until recently, operated under the United Cartels umbrella. El Gordo and his cartel are notoriously violent and prolific methamphetamine producers, who ship the methamphetamine they produce to the United States.
As outlined in their indictments, these five defendants are all alleged to have participated in conspiracies to manufacture and distribute controlled substances, including methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine to be unlawfully imported into the United States, for over a decade.
In addition, “Abuelo,” “Poncho,” and “Wicho” are alleged to have carried, brandished, or discharged firearms during and in relation to the charged drug trafficking crimes.
Our global investigation against these men kicked off in December 2019 in Rockwood, Tennessee, a little town outside of Knoxville. Two methamphetamine distributors were involved in a car accident and fled the scene, where law enforcement found an active conversion lab, 39 kilograms of methamphetamine and seven kilograms of heroin.
Inside the stash house, law enforcement found 52 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 200 grams of fentanyl pills, and $180,000 of hidden cash.
In total, law enforcement seized approximately 950 kilos of meth from this network.
They also seized 15 phones, uncovering messages revealing the network’s connection to the United Cartels in Michoacán, Mexico.
Indeed, El Kamoni had been in touch with the network’s leader just days before agents executed the search warrants.
In messages to the network’s leader, El Kamoni spoke of sending kilos of meth and fentanyl pills to the network to be sold and distributed in the United States.
El Kamoni even encouraged the network leader to sell the meth quickly, so that El Kamoni can ship more from Mexico to Atlanta.
From a mountaintop mega lab in Michoacán to the hills of Georgia and Tennessee – this investigation illustrates the United Cartels’ deadly grip on the American heartland.
The drugs that these cartels send into our country make our communities more violent, more dangerous, and threaten the lives of everyday Americans. We are therefore committed to their total elimination.
The criminal charges that I am announcing today are the result of the hard work of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the dedicated special agents of Homeland Security Investigations and local law enforcement. We are intent on building on their investigation to bring the defendants to justice.
Now, the second measure that we are announcing – the use of the Narcotics Rewards Program.
We are committed to using all statutory bases to safeguard the United States and bring to justice those organizations seeking to wreak havoc on us at home and abroad.
Today, the Department of Justice, in coordination with the Department of State, is announcing reward offers for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the United Cartels defendants whose indictments I discussed earlier. Those rewards are as follows:
$10 million for Juan Farias Alvarez, also known as “Abuelo”;
$5 million for Alfonso Fernandez Magallon, also known as “Poncho”;
$5 million for Nicolas Sierra Santana, also known as “El Gordo”;
$3 million for Luis Enrique Barragan Chavez, also known as “Wicho”; and
$3 million for Edgar Orozco Cabadas, also known as “El Kamoni”
For over 35 years, the State Department-led Narcotics Reward Program has helped bring more than 75 cartel leaders and drug traffickers to justice, with over $135 million paid in rewards. It remains one of the most effective tools the U.S. government has to disrupt international drug trafficking and narco-terrorist organizations with urgency in light of these extreme danger these groups pose to our country.
These five defendants are believed to be located in Mexico, and the Justice Department is working tirelessly with its law enforcement partners to bring these individuals to face justice in the United States.
We are asking the public — in the U.S. and worldwide — to step forward. If you have information about the United Cartels leaders we’ve announced today, you may be eligible for one of these multimillion-dollar rewards.
In the U.S., contact Homeland Security Investigations. If you are located abroad, reach out to the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, or respond directly to reward posters that will be published online. If you know where one of these United Cartels leaders is hiding, if you have information that could stop the next shipment of poison into our communities — we want to hear from you. The U.S. government will act, and we will reward your courage.
Lastly, our third measure, sanctions – I will turn it over to Brad Smith of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to announce our third critical step in eliminating the United Cartels by deploying yet another powerful tool in the U.S. Government’s arsenal against narco-terrorist organizations: economic sanctions.
Before I close, I want to also thank our foreign law enforcement counterparts, including Mexican law enforcement, for their assistance with this investigation. We will continue working together to bring these defendants to justice.