Of the five Cárteles Unidos leaders formally charged by the U.S. government in August 2025, only two remain at large. The arrest of Edgar Valeriano Orozco Cabadas, alias “El Kamoni,” on September 23, 2026, leaves Juan José Farías Álvarez (“El Abuelo”) and Nicolás Sierra Santana (“El Gordo”) as the only outstanding targets.
Washington is offering a combined reward of up to $15 million for information leading to their arrests: $10 million for Farías Álvarez and $5 million for Sierra Santana. Both were formally charged in the District of Columbia with drug trafficking conspiracy, according to the Department of Justice.
On August 14, 2025, the Department of Justice filed charges against five Cárteles Unidos leaders: Farías Álvarez, Alfonso Fernández Magallón (“Poncho”), Luis Enrique Barragán Chávez (“R5” or “Wicho”), Orozco Cabadas (“El Kamoni”), and Sierra Santana (“El Gordo”).
That same day, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned all five individuals through the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the State Department announced rewards totaling $26 million.
“The indictments announced today exemplify the great work that can be achieved when federal, state, and local forces partner with one another,” said Prosecutor Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee, where part of the indictment was filed.
