President Donald Trump is keeping his promise to bring narco-traffickers to justice.
The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced reward offers under the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP) for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions, in any country, of the following Mexican narcotics traffickers associated with Cárteles Unidos in Mexico: Juan José Farías Álvarez, known as “El Abuelo,” a reward of up to $10 million; Nicolás Sierra Santana, known as “El Gordo” – up to $5 million; Alfonso Fernández Magallón, known as “Poncho” – up to $5 million; Luis Enrique Barragán Chávez, known as “R5,” “Wicho,” and “Güicho” – up to $3 million; and Edgar Orozco Cabadas, known as “El Kamoni” – up to $3 million.
Cárteles Unidos began as an alliance of smaller cartels in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, to prevent the incursion of larger cartels and criminal organizations into Michoacán, including Knights Templar and more recently Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).
Members of the Carteles Unidos, and their associates, are involved in the large-scale production of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the Michoacán territory that they control. Cocaine is acquired from Colombia and then forwarded into the United States using some of the same transportation channels used to ship methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.
On February 20, 2025, the Secretary of State designated Cárteles Unidos as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Terrorist Organization.
The reward offers complement the Department of Justice’s indictments of the rewards targets in the District of Columbia and Eastern District of Tennessee. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also announced sanctions against the rewards targets and seven other Cárteles Unidos members.
For more than 35 years, the Narcotics Rewards Program has been an effective tool to assist the U.S. government in disrupting and dismantling transnational drug trafficking organizations to protect American lives and U.S. national security.
Successes of the program include the arrests of heads of drug trafficking organizations, as well as other criminals whose international drug trafficking activities are integral to their illicit activities.
To date, the Narcotic Rewards Program has helped bring more than 75 foreign major violators of U.S. narcotics laws to justice, and the Department of State has paid over $135 million in rewards to individuals who came forward with information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of these criminals
If you have information on these criminals, please contact Homeland Security Investigations at the following email addresses: AbueloTips@hsi.dhs.gov; GordoTips@.hsi.dhs.gov; PonchoTips@hsi.dhs.gov; R5Tips@hsi.dhs.gov; and KamoniTips@hsi.dhs.gov. Or visit the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.
All identities are kept strictly confidential.
The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced reward offers under the Narcotics Rewards Program for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of a number of Mexican narcotics traffickers associated with Cárteles Unidos in Mexico.