From Mexico to Knoxville, five cartel leaders wanted in drugs, weapons conspiracy

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Despite many arguing the border crisis is over because illegal entries at the southwest border have dropped to their lowest level in recorded history, border-related and cartel crime is flourishing throughout the U.S.

Federal, state and local law enforcement task forces are actively working to target and remove criminal actors continuing to profit off of human, drug and weapons trafficking and smuggling, as well as other violent crimes.

“In a landmark operation targeting one of the world’s most dangerous cartels,” U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies helped bring criminal charges against five high-ranking leaders of the Mexico-based Carteles Unidos (United Cartels).

“The United Cartels has flooded every corner of our country with deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine,” U.S. Attorney Francis Hamilton III for the Eastern District of Tennessee said. “What started out as an ordinary drug case in the Eastern District of Tennessee grew into a sprawling multinational investigation that will take down a transnational criminal organization precisely because law enforcement at all levels partnered together enthusiastically with mission-first single-mindedness.”

“This investigation began in a small town in Middle America and led to clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in Michoacán, Mexico,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division said. “It involved extraordinary policework by our partners, some of whom came under fire in a brazen shootout – underscoring the dangers law enforcement faces every day.”

The United Cartels, a transnational criminal and drug trafficking organization, controls large areas of Michoacán, Mexico, law enforcement investigators have found. “Acting as an umbrella organization,” United Cartels “unites several Michoacán-based cartels to acquire, manufacture, and distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine for smuggling into the United States,” the DOJ said. Profits are used “to acquire heavy weaponry, hire mercenaries, bribe local officials, and fund lavish lifestyles for cartel leaders.”

The cartel, one of the most prolific methamphetamine producers in the world, is “capable of manufacturing multiple tons every month,” investigators found. Its distribution network extends nationwide, with hubs in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Kansas City (Mo.), Sacramento, California, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago, extending to Europe, Australia, and other regions, the DOJ says.

In February, the Department of State designated United Cartels as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorists, The Center Square reported.

Five United Cartel leaders have been charged: Juan Jose Farias Alvarez (“El Abuelo); Alfonso Fernandez Magallon (“Poncho”); Luis Enrique Barragan Chavez (“Wicho/R5”); Edgar Orozco Cabadas (“El Kamoni”); and Nicolas Sierra Santana (“El Gordo”), the DOJ announced.

Court filings say that El Abuelo is the top leader of the cartel, personally overseeing and directing large cocaine shipments into the U.S. from Colombia through air and maritime routes. He also imposes a tax on methamphetamine and fentanyl producers operating in his territory, according to the charges.

Under him, other Michoacán, Mexican-based cartels operate, including the Los Reyes Cartel, allegedly led by Poncho, and the Los Viagras Cartel, allegedly led by El Gordo, according to the charges. El Kamoni and Wicho also each lead armed factions of the United Cartels, asserting control using “assault weapons, improvised explosive devices, armed drones, armored vehicles, and foreign mercenaries,” the charges say.

For decades, the five men oversaw the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl, and the smuggling into and trafficking of the drugs throughout the U.S., according to the charges. El Abuelo, Poncho and Wicho also committed firearms offenses, including carrying, brandishing and discharging semi-automatic weapons, machine guns, and destructive devices, according to the charges. If convicted, they face life in prison.

All five men remain at large as fugitives.

The State Department has issued a total of $26 million in award money for any information leading to their arrest and/or conviction. Up to $10 million has been offered for El Abuelo; up to $5 million each for Poncho and El Gordo; and up to $3 million each for Wicho and El Kamoni.

The Treasury Department also imposed economic sanctions against each of the five men, the United Cartels and their associated entities.

The investigation was led by HSI-Knoxville and a Homeland Security Task Force in the area. HSI agents in Mexico and Denver, the DEA, Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, Tennessee 9th Judicial Drug Task Force and HSI agents in Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, California, Missouri and Nevada played key roles in the investigation.

DEA and HSI agents working in Bogota, Colombia, and The Hague, were also involved.

FBI agents in Missouri and California, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and U. S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Western District of Missouri, District of Colorado, Eastern District of California, and Northern District of Georgia were also involved.

The case is being prosecuted in the Eastern District of Tennessee.