A Mexican national who led a major cocaine trafficking ring has been sentenced to 232 months in prison for orchestrating an international drug trafficking conspiracy.
According to court documents, Jorge Humberto Perez Cazares, also known as “Cadete,” 41, from Sinaloa, Mexico, served as a key leader of a transnational drug trafficking organization. He helped transport multiple tons of cocaine from Central America to Mexico, then moved the drugs into the United States—particularly Los Angeles. Perez Cazares used violence to secure his drug shipments and worked closely with a top associate of the Sinaloa Cartel’s co-leader.
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“Jorge Humberto Perez Cazares was a major Mexican narcotrafficker responsible for shipping multiple tons of cocaine from Central America into Mexico for distribution in Los Angeles,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Drug traffickers like Perez Cazares use violence to profit off bringing poisonous drugs into the United States with no regard for the welfare of our citizens. Today’s sentence demonstrates that the Department of Justice will not rest in bringing drug trafficking leaders to justice.”
“This sentence marks the downfall of a trafficker who fueled violence and addiction on both sides of the border,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to target the command structure of these cartels and dismantle their operations.”
“Jorge ‘Cadete’ Perez Cazares wasn’t just moving multi-ton quantities of cocaine — he was fueling a criminal empire. Perez Cazares funneled substantial amounts of narcotics into the United States and profited off the pain of addiction,” said Acting Administrator Robert Murphy of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “The government proved he was no middleman — he was a leader. And now, justice is delivering a sentence worthy of the destruction he caused.”
In February 2014, U.S. authorities cracked down on Perez Cazares’s Los Angeles distribution network, raiding three stash houses and seizing $1.4 million in cash along with more than 70 kilograms of cocaine. Around that time, Perez Cazares personally arranged a cocaine deal worth over $23 million with a Guatemalan trafficker. Days later, Guatemalan authorities arrested him as he traveled in a truck carrying 514 kilograms of cocaine. In June 2016, Mexican officials arrested him again under a U.S. provisional arrest warrant. He was extradited to the United States on July 30, 2021.
Just before his trial in April 2024, Perez Cazares pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office led the investigation, with vital support from the DEA’s Miami Office and its Guatemala Country Office. His arrest and extradition were made possible through strong international cooperation among the Government of Guatemala, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Trial Attorney Douglas Meisel from the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section is handling the prosecution.
This case falls under Operation Take Back America, a national initiative that unites the Justice Department’s full force to combat illegal immigration, dismantle transnational criminal organizations like drug cartels, and shield communities from violent crime. The operation integrates resources from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
