One led the gunmen; the other handled the money. Julio César Montero Pinzón, alias “El Tarjetas,” and Griselda Margarita Arredondo Pinzón are half-siblings and form one of the most dangerous duos within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) currently being sought by the United States. He is identified as a key operator for the organization’s armed wing and is linked to the attack on Omar García Harfuch; she is identified as a figure within the financial structure that turned timeshare fraud into a multi-million dollar business for the cartel.
Both were born in Puerto Vallarta, and although their roles within the organization differed, they became linked through the same criminal operation. He reportedly led the *Grupo Elite* (Elite Group), one of the CJNG’s most violent armed wings, while she oversaw the receipt and laundering of money obtained from thousands of victims—primarily in the United States—from within the financial structure.
On August 5, the U.S. State Department announced rewards of up to $10 million for Montero Pinzón and $2 million for Arredondo Pinzón. Both remain at large and face charges in the same case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) in September 2025.
The indictment links them to conspiracies to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Montero Pinzón also faces a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization—the CJNG, which was designated as such by the United States on February 20, 2025. If convicted, each could face up to 20 years in prison for each count.
