Twelve CJNG Cartel Members Sentenced for Drug Trafficking

Twelve drug traffickers tied to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel have been sentenced to between four and a half and 40 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Francisco Javier Rodriguez Arreola, a top source of supply charged in the case, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Mr. Rodriguez Arreola, a 45-year-old Mexican citizen born in Michoacan, was arrested in 2021 in Del Rio, Texas while illegally reentering the United States from Mexico after having been previously deported.

In plea papers, the defendant admitted that he helped coordinate the shipment of a load of 199.97 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine - with a street value of up to $9.9 million - from Mexico to Dallas concealed inside the diesel tank of a red semi-truck.

During the course of the investigation, court-authorized wiretaps caught Mr. Rodriguez Arreola, who went by the street names "Taquito" and "Viejo" ("Old"), communicating with codefendants in code about the movement and sale of controlled substances.

Courtroom testimony revealed that Mr. Rodriguez Arreola had previously served time in federal prison and that he was deported to Mexico in April of 2020. Less than a month after being deported, he was back in the drug trade when, in May of 2020, he and a codefendant discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic was slowing down the movement and sale of controlled substances. The defendant stated the pandemic was causing the price of methamphetamine to increase and he was heard saying he hoped the price of a kilogram of methamphetamine would go up, as it had once sold for $14,000.

At Tuesday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors introduced evidence that showed that Mr. Rodriguez Arreola coordinated multiple deliveries of methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States on behalf of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico's most violent and powerful drug cartels. During the hearing, Mr. Rodriguez Arreola was identified as a person who had access to the higher echelons of the CJNG because he associated with individuals who reported directly to the cartel's leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. El Mencho.

Agent testimony revealed that the defendant served the CJNG as a broker of methamphetamine and that he had significant ties to Plaza Bosses who had access to cartel leadership. Mr. Rodriguez-Arreola's role included finding drivers and people who could transport and distribute methamphetamine, planning routes, confirming delivery, loss prevention, and finding locations to receive, store, and transfer methamphetamine shipments.

Tuesday's sentencing hearing further revealed the defendant had access to counterintelligence information provided by the CJNG because, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Rodriguez Arreola told a codefendant that they needed drivers that were United States residents to transport methamphetamine [loads], because no drivers with visas could make it through [the border crossings with their loads of methamphetamine].

Other defendants sentenced include:

• Ricardo Hernandez Zarate, sentenced to 480 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and 240 months in prison for money laundering (concurrent sentences)

• Pedro Hernandez Zarate, sentenced to 360 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance

• Uriel Marin Gaona, sentenced to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance

• Benito Diaz Hernandez, sentenced to 210 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance

• Marcos Garcia Reyes, sentenced to 87 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled

• Heleodoro Rosales Ramirez, sentenced to 168 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance

• Rafael Diaz, sentenced to 60 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance

• Jose Alberto Plascencia Torres, sentenced to 292 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance

• Elmer Gardea Tello, sentenced to 55 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled (cocaine)

• Walter Daniel Chapa Marty, sentenced to 121 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance

• Salvador Antonio Martinez, sentenced to 151 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance

Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized approximately 650 kilograms of methamphetamine drugs, 17 guns, $220,922 in U.S. currency, and $12,200 in real and personal property.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Dallas Field Office, with special assistance provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Gainesville Police Department, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Dallas Police Department, the Fort Worth Police Department, the Williamson County, Texas Sheriff's Department, the Hawkins County Sheriff's Department in Tennessee, the FBI's Knoxville Field Office (Tennessee Resident Agency Office), and the Drug Enforcement Administration's Dallas Strike Force 1. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Leal prosecuted the case.

The case is an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) case. The OCDETF program was established in 1982 in order to attack and reduce the supply of illegal drugs entering the United States and to diminish violence and other criminal activity associated with the drug trade. The OCDETF program leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers and drug trafficking networks using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf.