Two leaders of the La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel, who were indicted in 2017 on charges of conspiring to import and distribute heroin in the United States, face financial sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department as fugitives believed to be living in Mexico, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Rodolfo Maldonado Bustos, 59, also known as Don Jose, and Euclides Camacho Goycochea, 51, also known as El Quiles, were both indicted in 2017 on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and conspiracy to import heroin into the United States, the Department of Justice announced in a press release Thursday.
Camacho Goycochea was also charged with conspiracy to launder currency.
The indictment was returned by a grand jury in 2017 but only recently became unsealed.
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The U.S. Treasury Department announced financial sanctions against two fugitive leaders of the La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel, who were indicted in 2017 on charges related to the importation and distribution of heroin from Mexico to the United States. (Ty Wright for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
On Thursday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced financial sanctions against Camacho Goycochea and Maldonado Bustos.
“These actions demonstrate that in addition to holding drug cartel leaders accountable for their crimes, we are working with our partners at the Treasury Department to hit drug cartels where their criminal activity hurts most: their profits,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “We will continue our whole-of-Administration efforts to disrupt the drug cartels who profit from the narcotics and human trafficking that destroy our communities and endanger our national security.”
According to the indictment, in September 2016, DEA and IRS agents began investigating members of the Mexico-based La Nueva Familia Michoacana Cartel who allegedly were importing heroin, cocaine and marijuana into the United States in the Northern District of Georgia and other locations.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice announced financial sanctions Thursday against two leaders of the La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The investigation determined that Maldonado-Bustos was a “cartel leader” who allegedly coordinated the production of large quantities of heroin in Mexico.
“The investigation revealed that Maldonado Bustos directed the extraction of rubber from opium fields, sourced chemicals to process the rubber into heroin, and supplied heroin to Camacho Goycochea and other Mexican co-conspirators for importation into U.S. cities, including Atlanta and Houston,” the Justice Department alleged. “The investigation further revealed that Camacho Goycochea allegedly coordinated the collection of drug proceeds from the United States and their return to Mexico.”
The Justice Department alleges that agents seized more than $580,000 in drug proceeds from vehicles and homes in the Atlanta area in early 2017, but the funds were intended for use by drug cartels.
Bundles of blue pills containing fentanyl were seized at the southern border. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
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“Defunding drug cartels and the profits they make from distributing their toxic drugs in our communities is a vital tool in DEA’s efforts to combat drug cartels,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Murphy of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta Field Office. “The Atlanta DEA will continue to attack La Nueva Familia Cartel on all fronts by arresting members and seizing drugs and assets.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Fox News on Thursday that the administration had imposed sanctions on eight individuals who are members of the most violent Mexican drug cartels for smuggling fentanyl into the United States.
“Through these measures, we intend to make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for them to do business by cutting them off from the U.S. financial system and the U.S. dollar,” she said. “We implemented the sanctions in collaboration with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta.”
