High-ranking members of two Mexican cartels appear in the Southern District of Texas on drug trafficking indictments
A Los Zetas plaza boss and a Cartel del Golfo leader both in U.S. custody after transfer from Mexico
HOUSTON / Wednesday, January 21, 2026 – Two members of prolific transnational criminal organizations have appeared in Houston federal court for significant drug trafficking offenses and/or allegedly running a continuing criminal enterprise, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Mexican national Juan Pedro Saldivar-Farias aka “Z-27,” 42, and Ricardo Cortez-Mateos aka “Billeton,” 41, were transferred to U.S. authorities Jan. 20. Saldivar-Farias is set for a detention hearing Friday Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. Cortez-Mateos made his appearance and will be transferred to Brownsville for his arraignment. Both remain in custody pending further criminal proceedings.
The alleged cartel members were indicted in separate cases in 2021.
Saldivar-Farias was allegedly a Los Zetas plaza boss and then regional commander of the northern region of Mexico, while Cortez-Mateos was a high- ranking member of the Cartel del Gulfo (CDG), according to the charges.
Court documents allege the Zetas were a drug trafficking and money laundering organization which imported and distributed marijuana and cocaine from Mexico into the United States and controlled miles of Mexican territory along the border of Mexico and the United States, including the cities of Zapata as well as Nueva Cuidad Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Saldivar-Farias case allegedly oversaw all narcotics moving through the area. Throughout the conspiracy, Saldivar-Farias and other Zetas members and associates, secured, maintained and regulated the transportation routes used to import marijuana from Mexico to the United States across Falcon Lake, according to the allegations. Saldivar-Farias allegedly charged and collected a “piso” or “tax” for permission to store and transport marijuana and other controlled substances through the transportation routes and areas he controlled. The indictment alleges individuals who did not pay the “piso” or “tax” faced a potential consequence and potentially would be threatened, beaten, kidnapped, tortured or murdered.
According to the charges, Saldivar-Farias caused the delivery of more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and five kilograms of cocaine for importation into the United States during the nine-year conspiracy.
Cortez-Mateos was involved in significant drug trafficking between 2015 through 2021, according to his indictment. Those charge also allege CDG is a violent transnational organization based in northeast Mexico involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, human smuggling and other illicit activities. CDG employs violence, including assassinations of civilians and government officials to intimidate the public and control territory.
Saldivar-Farias is charged with conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana and cocaine from Mexico into the United States and importation and distribution of cocaine and marijuana. He faces up to life in prison as does Cortez-Mateos if he is convicted of conspiracy to possesses with intent to distribute and conspiracy to unlawfully import more than 50 grams of meth, more than five kilograms of cocaine and more than 400 grams of fentanyl.
The FBI and Border Patrol conducted the investigation into Saldivar-Farias with the assistance of Drug Enforcement Administration and Texas Department of Public Safety, while DEA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations handled the investigation into Cortez-Mateos. The Department of State, Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and Government of Mexico provided invaluable assistance resulting in their transfers into U.S. custody.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey N. MacDonald and Anibal J. Alaniz are prosecuting the case against Saldivar-Farias while AUSA Lance Watt is handling the Cortez-Mateos matter. Both cases are now part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes these organizations commit, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
The cases are also a part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas
