A years-long investigation that began after a car accident involving two drug dealers in a small Tennessee town has now led to federal charges against five top members of the United Cartels, a violent Mexican criminal network and major methamphetamine producer.
Justice Department indictments unsealed Thursday target three leaders and two high-ranking enforcers of the United Cartels — including its top boss Juan José Farías Álvarez, known as “El Abuelo” — with the U.S. government offering rewards worth millions for information leading to their capture, according to the Associated Press.
“All five are believed to be in Mexico,” authorities said, noting that United Cartels was recently designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration.
“These cases in particular serve as a powerful reminder of the insidious impacts that global cartels can have on our local American communities,” said Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s criminal division. “The chain started with a violent cartel in Mexico and it ended with law enforcement being shot at in a small town.”
The investigation began in 2019 when two dealers, after crashing near Rockwood, Tennessee, threw a protective case filled with meth behind a building before being caught. Wiretaps and surveillance pointed authorities toward Eladio Mendoza, suspected of running a major drug ring in the Atlanta area.
In early 2020, surveillance on Mendoza’s network led police to a hotel near Atlanta, where a suspect left with a Doritos bag later found to contain meth and heroin. When troopers tried stopping him in Tennessee, he fired an AK-style rifle at officers, injuring one, before being shot himself. He was identified as a low-level dealer for Mendoza.
Weeks later, authorities searched Mendoza-linked properties and found messages between him and an associate of “El Abuelo”, tying the drugs directly to Mexico. They also seized 850 kilograms of meth hidden in the floor of a tractor trailer that had just crossed the border, plus more drugs in a bus and home.
Mendoza soon fled to Mexico, where prosecutors say cartel leaders killed him after the U.S. seizures.
The indictments target:
Juan José Farías Álvarez (“El Abuelo”) – United Cartels’ top leader.
Alfonso Fernández Magallón (“Poncho”) – head of a smaller cartel under the UC umbrella.
Nicolás Sierra Santana (“El Gordo”) – another cartel boss within UC.
Edgar Orozco Cabadas (“El Kamoni”) – Mendoza’s contact.
Luis Enrique Barragán Chavaz (“Wicho”) – Magallón’s second-in-command.
The Treasury Department also issued economic sanctions against the defendants, United Cartels, and its affiliate Los Viagras.
“We have to pursue these criminals up and down the chain to make sure that the end result doesn’t result in violence and narcotics distribution on our streets,” Galeotti said.
The case is part of the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on cartels, aided by recent Mexican cooperation. In February, Mexico extradited 29 cartel figures, including Rafael Caro Quintero, and on Tuesday turned over 26 more, among them a suspect in 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 with us in securing the presence of these individuals in United States courtrooms.”
