Another 29 Mexican ‘Narcos’ in Washington’s Sights

Most of the extradition requests made are motivated by crimes related to organized crime and drug trafficking.

Washington is targeting another 29 drug traffickers who are in Mexican territory and are wanted by the US justice system, including 18 drug lords who are already in the custody of Mexican authorities and could be handed over in an operation similar to the one on February 27.

They are key operators in drug trafficking activities, money laundering and other crimes, who are part of the Sinaloa, Jalisco, Tijuana, Gulf, Beltrán Leyva and Los Zetas cartels, included in a list of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to which MILENIO had access.

The list includes 90 names of criminals wanted by the United States, of which, according to publicly available information, 37 are already facing U.S. justice, including the 29 handed over last month. Another five have already died in U.S. prisons or in armed confrontations in Mexico. And for 12, no information was obtained on their current situation.

From the information obtained, it was possible to verify that at least seven of those included on the list have already served their respective sentences in the United States or have reached a plea agreement that has accelerated their release from prison. This is the case of Eduardo Arellano Félix, Gilberto Higuera Guerrero, Carlos Herrera Ávalos, Juan José Quintero Payán, Armando Valencia Cornelio, Ismael Zambada Imperial, and Víctor Manuel Félix Félix.

Among the 18 criminals imprisoned in Mexico and with outstanding arrest warrants in the United States, Abigael González Valencia, alias El Cuini, stands out. He is the logistics and financial operator of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Despite being identified as the co-founder of Los Cuinis—the operational arm of the Four-Letter Cartel—and being wanted by US justice, González Valencia’s extradition hasn’t been finalized, even though in 2021 he agreed to collaborate with the Truth and Access to Justice Commission in the Ayotzinapa case.

Servando Gómez Martínez, alias La Tuta, joins the list of drug traffickers with outstanding arrest warrants in the United States. The leader of the Knights Templar was arrested in February 2015 and four years later was sentenced to 55 years in prison after being found guilty of kidnapping a businessman in Uruapan, Michoacán.

The brothers Jesus and Luis Ignacio Amezcua Contreras, better known as the Methamphetamine Kings, were identified as leaders of the Colima Cartel. José de Jesús was arrested in 1998 and sentenced to 53 years in prison in 2005. He was held in the Federal Center for Social Readaptation No. 2 in Puente Grande, Jalisco.

Luis Ignacio Amezcua Contreras was sentenced to 49 years in prison, a sentence he is serving at El Altiplano prison in the State of Mexico. The Amezcua brothers were accused of being involved in the murder of the popular television host, Paco Stanley, which occurred in June 1999; however, the investigations into their involvement were inconclusive.

With respect to the Sinaloa Cartel, Arturo Díaz Díaz Rafael, identified as a financial and logistical operator in charge of drug trafficking operations to the United States, is in the custody of Mexican authorities and is awaiting extradition.

Two direct relatives of Emma Coronel Aispuro, Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán’s wife, are being held for similar crimes: Inés Coronel Barrera and Omar Coronel Aispuro. The father and brother of the former beauty queen were arrested in 2013 in Agua Prieta, Sonora and were sentenced to 10 and nine years in prison, respectively.

Martin Gaudencio Avendaño Ojeda, the leader of a criminal cell at the service of the Sinaloa Cartel, is also imprisoned in Mexico and has been indicted in the United States for drug trafficking and money laundering offenses.

Although in 2011 the US government considered the Avendaño Ojeda brothers to be allies of Ismael El Mayo Zambada, today the legacy of the criminal cell calls itself the Avendaño Special Forces and is identified as an armed wing of Los Chapitos in Culiacan.

A long-time operator of Ignacio Nacho Coronel, identified as Francisco Javier Cantabrana Parra, is also among the Sinaloa Cartel figures whose extradition couldn’t be finalized after he was arrested in September 2012 in Tepic, Nayarit.

Although the Beltrán Leyva Cartel no longer has the power it once had, some of its most important leaders, detained in Mexico, are still wanted by US justice. This is the case with Rodolfo López Ibarra and Gerardo Álvarez Vázquez, better known as El Indio.

Rodolfo López Ibarra, alias El Nito, or Amavizca, was arrested in December 2016 in Hermosillo, Sonora, after being identified as a key operator of the criminal organization.

El Indio, for his part, is considered by the US government to be a key coordinator of drug trafficking from Central and South America, as he is a key subordinate of Édgar Valdés Villarreal, known as La Barbie. Unofficially, Gerardo Álvarez Vázquez has been romantically linked to former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

On behalf of the Tijuana Cartel, Mexico remains in custody of Teodoro García Simental, identified as a lieutenant of the Arellano Félix brothers who was arrested on January 12, 2010, in La Paz, Baja California Sur.

El Teo, as he is better known, faces charges related to drug trafficking and violent internal disputes. He is awaiting extradition from the El Altiplano prison in the State of Mexico.

Despite their long-standing presence and extensive criminal history, only two members of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas are currently being held with outstanding arrest warrants in the United States.

Of the former organization, Óscar Malherbe de León stands out, identified as the main link with drug traffickers from the Cali Cartel in Colombia, for which he is currently being held in the El Altiplano prison.

Alfredo Andrade Parra, a former member of Los Zetas, was arrested in April 2013 in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, after being charged with drug trafficking offenses. He is awaiting the outcome of his extradition to the United States from a prison cell in Mexico.

The United States is motivated by crimes related to organized crime and drug trafficking. However, four cases have been identified in which there is no information regarding membership in criminal organizations.

The first is that of Fidel Urbina, who was considered one of the 10 most wanted fugitives by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Mexican authorities arrested him in Chihuahua on charges related to sexual assaults against two women in Chicago.

Adding to these unusual cases is that of Jesús Ramón Núñez Angulo, better known as Panales or R7, about whom the only information available is an injunction he filed to stop his extradition in 2016. The court document indicates that, until then, he was being held at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 8 in Guasave, Sinaloa.

The United States is also seeking the extradition of Óscar Mogollón Restrepo and Rubén Antonio Calderilla Reyes. Although information about both is scarce, it was reported that the former was arrested in 2016 in Guadalupe, Nuevo León, for his probable involvement in the trafficking of heroin and cocaine hidden in laptops. It was revealed that he is a Colombian national.

Regarding Rubén Antonio Calderilla Reyes, the only information known is that he was arrested in 2013 in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, with no further details available regarding his whereabouts or legal status.

Since they are in the custody of Mexican authorities and have outstanding arrest warrants in the neighboring country, the 18 detainees could suffer a similar fate to that of the 29 drug lords handed over to the United States by the federal government at the end of 2025, an operation from which no legal protection could save them.

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Source: Milenio, Cartel Insider