The investigation started years ago after two drug dealers got into a car accident in a small town in Tennessee. What happened next included secret wiretaps, a shootout with police, and the discovery of drugs hidden in a tractor-trailer. These events eventually led federal investigators to cartel leaders in Mexico.
The investigation ended Thursday with Justice Department indictments against three leaders and two top enforcers of the United Cartels, a rival of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The U.S. government is offering up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of United Cartels’ top leader, Juan José Farías Álvarez — called “El Abuelo,” or the grandfather — along with multimillion-dollar rewards for the other four. All five are believed to be in Mexico.
Court documents show how drugs made by violent cartels in large labs in Mexico move across the U.S. border and reach American streets. They also show the violent effects drug trafficking can have on communities, from Mexico to small U.S. towns.
“These cases in particular serve as a powerful reminder of the insidious impacts that global cartels can have on our local American communities,” Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s criminal division, told The Associated Press. “The chain started with a violent cartel in Mexico and ended with law enforcement being shot at in a small town.”
United Cartels is a group of smaller cartels that have worked for different organizations over time. It controls the western Mexican state of Michoacan, an area important to the U.S. because of its avocado exports.
United Cartels is less known than Jalisco New Generation, but as a major methamphetamine producer, it has become a top target for U.S. law enforcement. It was one of eight groups recently named foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.
A car crash and an abandoned case
The case started in 2019 when two dealers had a car accident near Rockwood, Tennessee, outside Knoxville, according to a search warrant affidavit. While trying to escape, they threw a protective case full of meth behind a building before being caught by police.
Authorities launched an investigation using wiretaps, search warrants, and surveillance to identify a man believed to lead a major drug ring in Atlanta: Eladio Mendoza.
In early 2020, law enforcement tracked Mendoza’s suspected operation to a hotel near Atlanta. Officers saw a man leaving with a large Doritos bag. When troopers tried to stop him as he drove from Georgia into Tennessee, he fired an AK-style rifle at officers, injuring one before being shot himself. Inside the bag, police found meth and heroin. The man was a low-level dealer in Mendoza’s drug ring.
Weeks later, investigators searched Mendoza’s properties and seized phones. They found messages showing the drugs were coming from Mexico, including communications with a close associate of “El Abuelo.” At one property, they discovered a tractor-trailer that had crossed from Mexico a few days earlier. Authorities seized 850 kilograms of meth hidden in the truck floor and found more drugs inside a bus and home on the property.
Mendoza later fled to Mexico and was killed by cartel leaders angry that U.S. authorities had taken their cash and drugs, according to prosecutors.
Cartels targeted with terrorist designations
This case shows the Trump administration’s effort to pressure cartels not only by indicting leaders but also through financial sanctions. The Treasury Department is imposing sanctions against the five defendants, United Cartels as a group, and a cartel under its umbrella, Los Viagras.
“We have to pursue these criminals up and down the chain to make sure the end result doesn’t result in violence and narcotics distribution on our streets,” Galeotti said.
In addition to “El Abuelo,” those indicted include Alfonso Fernández Magallón (“Poncho”) and Nicolás Sierra Santana (“El Gordo”), who lead smaller cartels under United Cartels. The other defendants are Edgar Orozco Cabadas (“El Kamoni”), who communicated with Mendoza, and Luis Enrique Barragán Chavaz (“Wicho”), second-in-command to Magallón.
The Trump administration has worked closely with Mexico to arrest cartel leaders wanted in the U.S.
In February, Mexico sent 29 cartel figures, including Rafael Caro Quintero, who was linked to the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985, to the U.S. On Tuesday, Mexican authorities transferred 26 more cartel leaders and members to American custody, including a man charged in connection to the killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.
“We’re working with the Mexican authorities to pursue these individuals,” Galeotti said. “We continue to work proactively with them, and we expect that they’ll be helpful in securing the presence of these individuals in U.S. courtrooms.”
