WASHINGTON – Just days into his new role, DEA Administrator Terrance Cole met with a law enforcement delegation from Italy, signifying the agency’s renewed focus on working with foreign law enforcement to meet the evolving threats of the global drug crisis. On July 24, DEA Administrator Cole, DEA Deputy Chief...

WASHINGTON – Terrance C. “Terry” Cole was sworn in as DEA Administrator on July 23, 2025, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Mr. Cole is a distinguished public servant who has spent more than 31 years in law enforcement, 22 of which were at DEA fighting the drug cartels...

BROOKLYN, NY – José Adolfo Macías Villamar, aka "Fito,” a citizen of Ecuador, was arraigned in federal court in the Eastern District of New York on Monday for crimes allegedly committed as the leader of the Los Choneros Transnational Criminal Organization. Based in Ecuador, Los Choneros is believed to be...

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles County man was found guilty of distributing fentanyl to a Metro light-rail passenger, who collapsed on the floor of the Azusa Downtown Station after ingesting the synthetic opioid, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division announced today. On Monday, at the conclusion...

RIVERSIDE, CA – A Riverside County man was sentenced today to 228 months in federal prison for distributing fentanyl to a 17-year-old boy in May 2023, which resulted in the boy’s fatal overdose of the powerful synthetic opioid, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division announced today. Kyler...

LOS ANGELES – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced today the arrest of four Los Angeles County men, on a seven-count federal indictment alleging they trafficked vast quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl powder, and counterfeit fentanyl pills and stored the narcotics at a safehouse in Compton. According to the DEA’s...

LOS ANGELES – A commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) foreign terrorist organization and his associate have been charged in a six-count superseding indictment alleging they are senior members of a large cocaine-manufacturing ring that trades cocaine to buy firearms to engage in terrorist...

LOS ANGELES – Law enforcement officials today announced the filing of 20 criminal cases so far this year targeting fentanyl dealers who are charged with selling fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills that directly resulted in the death of at least one victim. The cases being announced today are a result of...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration today announced the release of the 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), DEA’s comprehensive review of the threats posed to the United States by deadly illicit drugs and the violent domestic and international drug trafficking organizations responsible for producing and trafficking the drugs...

LOS ANGELES – A South Bay man pleaded guilty today to selling dozens of fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills to a drug dealer who later sold them to a victim who soon afterward suffered a fatal overdose in January 2020. Marcus Michael Takaya Poydras, 36, of Redondo Beach, pleaded guilty to...