Two High Ranking Members of the United Cartels Charged with Drug Trafficking, Providing Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment yesterday against Juan Jose “Juanjo” Farias Mendoza, 31, and Israel “Papo” Vega Farias, 37, both of Tepalcatepec, Michoacan, Mexico, and high-ranking members of the United Cartels. The Michoacan-based United Cartels is one of the world’s most significant methamphetamine producers, capable of manufacturing multiple tons every month. The organization controls a distribution network that spans the United States, with hubs in Dallas; Houston; Atlanta; Kansas City, Missouri; Sacramento, California; Los Angeles; Denver; and Chicago; and extends to Europe, Australia, and other regions. On Feb. 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of State designated the United Cartels (also known as Cárteles Unidos), as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and Executive Order 13224, as amended. In August 2025, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges by the Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) against several command-and-control elements of the United Cartels, including Juan Jose Farias Alvarez, also known as “Abuelo,” the cartel’s top leader, as part of a multi-agency effort to dismantle the United Cartels.“Juan Jose Farias Mendoza and Israel Vega Farias are charged with trafficking immense amounts of methamphetamine into the United States and supporting a foreign terrorist organization,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The two defendants indicted yesterday are close relatives of the United Cartels’ top leader Juan Jose Farias Alvarez, who was charged by the Criminal Division in 2024. This indictment demonstrates the systematic and focused effort of the Criminal Division to dismantle Mexican cartels by targeting their command-and-control elements, including those within cartel leaders’ closest circles.”“The investigation into the United Cartels began in the Eastern District of Tennessee, with a seizure of methamphetamine in a small town outside Knoxville, and a larger interdiction of over 950 kilograms of methamphetamine and fentanyl outside of Atlanta,” said U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III for the Eastern District of Tennessee. “From Tennessee to Mexico, a whole-of-government investigation followed that partnered multiple federal law enforcement agencies with their critically important state and local counterparts, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the 9th Judicial Task Force, and resulted in last August’s and today’s announcements of criminal charges against this Foreign Terrorist Organization’s leadership structure. With our Criminal Division partners, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee remains unwavering in its commitment to eliminate the cartels and prosecute their leaders, members, and supporters who endanger our communities with dangerous drugs and violence.” “This indictment is a testament to the relentless efforts of Homeland Security Investigations to dismantle the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations,” said Acting Executive Associate Director John Condon of HSI. “The United Cartels have fueled violence, addiction, and instability both in the United States and abroad. Through the Homeland Security Task Force’s whole-of-government approach, HSI is committed to identifying and investigating cartel leadership and their networks, wherever they operate. We will continue to leverage every available tool to protect our communities, disrupt transnational criminal enterprises, and ensure those who threaten our nation’s safety and security are brought to justice.”Farias Mendoza and Vega Farias are, respectively, Abuelo’s son and nephew. Both defendants are charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine for importation into the United States, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and using, carrying and possessing firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices, during and in relation to the alleged drug trafficking crime charged in their indictment. If convicted, both defendants face maximum penalties of life in prison.HSI is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Kirk Handrich and Roger Polack of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Quencer for the Eastern District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.MNF’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.MNF’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit investigates and prosecutes the top command and control elements of international drug cartels, drug trafficking organizations and related transnational criminal organizations.This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
