NEW YORK — The Justice Department announced today the unsealing of charges against, and the arrests of, five Ecuadorian nationals who conspired to import vast quantities of cocaine into the United States for more than a decade. The defendants include a former member of Ecuador’s National Assembly, a former Ecuadorian...

Foreign Terrorist Organization Tren de Aragua (TdA) leaders Yohan José Romero, also known as “Yohan Petrica,” 48; Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, also known as “El Viejo,” 37; and Juan Gabriel Rivas Núñez, also known as “Juancho,” 44, were previously charged in a 2025 six-count second superseding indictment in the Southern...

ALBUQUERQUE - Angel Ramirez, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, faces federal drug trafficking and firearm offenses following her arrest during a DEA-led Homeland Security Task Force investigation. "During this operation, DEA agents working alongside our Homeland Security Task Force partners seized more than 40 kilograms of fentanyl powder, representing over 3...

WASHINGTON – On October 24, 2026, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and more than 4,200 law enforcement partners collected 645,636 pounds of unused medications as part of ongoing efforts to prevent drug misuse. This event marked DEA’s 31st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day with 4,212 collection sites nationwide, including...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On October 24, 2026, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and more than 4,200 law enforcement partners collected 645,636 pounds of unused medications as part of ongoing efforts to prevent drug misuse. This event marked DEA’s 31st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day with 4,212 collection sites nationwide...

Francisco Manuel Bermúdez Cagua, also known as “Churrón,” will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo on a superseding indictment charging him with international cocaine distribution conspiracy, international cocaine distribution, and use of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. Bermúdez Cagua...

ALBUQUERQUE – An Albuquerque drug trafficker who amassed an arsenal of firearms, including machinegun conversion devices, and hundreds of grams of methamphetamine and fentanyl has been sentenced to nearly 29 years in federal prison. According to court documents, on July 6, 2024, Deundalas Gales, 37, was driving at a high...

On October 27, 2026, Donelfert Monterroso Vasquez, 51, a Guatemalan national, pleaded guilty to conspiring to import more than 450 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. According to court documents, Monterroso Vasquez coordinated the movement of multi-hundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine from Colombia through his location in Guatemala and on...

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment today charging Ivan Cazarin Molina, 42, a Mexican national, with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States and possessing a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking offense. According to court documents, Cazarin...

LONDON, Ky. – On Monday, October 19th, 2026, a Statesville, NC, man, Luis Ruiz-Mejia, 48, was sentenced to 156 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Robert E. Wier for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. According to his plea agreement, from on or about September 30...