SAN DIEG O - Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan, aka Gato, an Ecuadorian national and alleged drug trafficker, made his first appearance in federal court today following his extradition to the United States from Colombia yesterday. At the hearing, Sanchez Farfan entered a not guilty plea. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara L...

NEWARK, N.J. – A citizen of Mexico who was extradited to the United States on narcotics trafficking charges had her initial appearance in New Jersey federal court, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) New Jersey Field Division Cheryl Ortiz, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug...

NEW YORK CITY - An indictment filed in Manhattan Supreme Court charges Jonathan Huertas, aka “El Don,” with Operating as a Major Trafficker and with orchestrating two kidnappings and assaults that allegedly occurred in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in early 2022. The indictment also alleges plans for...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Martin Leonel Perez Castro, also known as “Richard,” pleaded guilty today in federal court in Brooklyn to conspiracy to distribute cocaine internationally, intending and knowing that the cocaine would be illegally imported into the United States. The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Brian M...

Louisville, Ky. – The Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of Fentanyl powder last year. The DEA Laboratory estimates that these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl. 184,382 of those pills and 316 pounds of...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that Luis Carlos Vásquez-Barragán, 51, of Nicolás Bravo, Chihuahua, Mexico, was sentenced to prison for possession with intent to distribute at least 50 kilograms but less than 100 kilograms of marijuana. Vásquez-Barragán was arrested...

El Paso - The Barrio Azteca gunmen directly responsible for the March 2010 murders in Juarez, Mexico of a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband, and the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee were sentenced to life in prison today. “The gunmen who viciously shot and killed Leslie Enriquez, Arthur Redelfs...

NEW YORK - An accused major trafficker was extradited from Colombia to face charges associated with smuggling and selling multi-kilogram quantities of heroin in New York City and for coordinating an international money-laundering scheme. Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New...

Greenbelt, Md – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Darick Knighton, age 44, of Alexandria, Virginia, to five years in federal prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance. The sentence...

MIAMI – Adalberto Fructuoso Comparan-Rodriguez, a/k/a “Fruto,” the former mayor of Aguililla, Mexico and, according to the allegations, a leader of the United Cartels in Michoacán, Mexico, made his initial appearance in federal court in Miami, Florida today after his extradition from Guatemala. A South Florida grand jury returned an...