A Phoenix, Arizona resident and a Mexican national living illegally in Phoenix have been sentenced in federal court for operating a continuing criminal enterprise and money laundering. The announcement was made by First Assistant United States Attorney Troy Rivetti. The two men were among 35 individuals charged in January 2024 as part of a domestic and international narcotics and money laundering conspiracy that distributed large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine across the United States, including western Pennsylvania.
United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan sentenced Marcos Monarrez Jr., age 26, to life imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. His father, Marcos Monarrez-Mendoza, age 55, received a sentence of 15 years in prison followed by deportation to Mexico.
Court documents show that from September to November 2022, Monarrez Jr. and his father led the Phoenix-based Monarrez Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO). They obtained hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, millions of fentanyl pills, and kilograms of cocaine from suppliers in Mexico. These drugs were then distributed through subordinate traffickers nationwide. Both men also laundered proceeds from drug sales—Monarrez Jr. provided over $10,000 and Monarrez-Mendoza over $100,000—which were smuggled into Mexico to further their operations.
“The sentencings of the father/son leaders of this transnational criminal organization today, in addition to the earlier sentencings of nearly two dozen of their co-defendants in the case, are reflective of the extremely serious nature of these charges and the magnitude of the destruction such groups inflict upon our communities,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Rivetti. “The Monarrez TCO introduced massive amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into neighborhoods throughout the country, using violence and money laundering to help carry out their drug trafficking. We remain resolute in standing with our law enforcement partners at all levels to investigate and dismantle such networks and protect our communities from these predators.”
“Today’s sentencings send a clear message: the FBI and our partners will not allow organized drug networks to crisscross this continent,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek. “The flow of these deadly poisons across the border ends right here in our communities where families and lives are destroyed. It fuels addiction, overdoses, and violence. Those who think they can peddle these drugs will be put away for a very long time.”
“With Marcos Monarrez Jr. and his father, Marcos Monarrez-Mendoza, heading to federal prison, the dismantling of this father-and-son trafficking enterprise has proven that no one is beyond the reach of justice,” said Special Agent in Charge of HSI Philadelphia Eric McLoughlin. “By working in lockstep with the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and our state and local partners, HSI cut off a pipeline responsible for distributing millions of fentanyl pills, hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, and multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine into communities here in western Pennsylvania and across the nation. Today’s sentencings demonstrate our unwavering commitment to protect the public and to hold transnational criminal networks fully accountable for the devastation they inflict.”
Monarrez Jr.’s sentencing also included charges from Michigan related to conspiracy to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl between February 2019 and December 2021. He also pleaded guilty to racketeering acts involving bribery conspiracy as well as distribution conspiracies while detained at Cambria County Prison between July 2023 and December 2023; during this period he used contraband cell phones to continue coordinating DTO activities—including distributing approximately half a million fentanyl pills nationwide.
So far in this case stemming from a Second Superseding Indictment unsealed earlier this year (see https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/pr/federal-grand-jury-indicts-35-domestic-and-international-narcotics-and-money-laundering), 33 out of 35 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted; 25 have already been sentenced.
Assistant United States Attorneys Arnold P. Bernard Jr. and Katherine C. Jordan prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
The investigation was led by FBI’s Laurel Highlands Resident Agency together with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Other agencies involved included IRS–Criminal Investigation Division; U.S Postal Inspection Service; FBI Safe Streets Task Force; Cambria County District Attorney’s Office; Cambria County Prison; as well as additional local law enforcement agencies.
This prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America—a Department of Justice initiative aimed at eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations while combating illegal immigration.
