Juárez Cartel / La Línea Map & Profile 2026: Territory, Leaders, U.S. Charges

What official records and reporting say about the Juárez Cartel / La Línea: who leads it, where it is reported to operate, and how the U.S. has targeted it. Territory and leadership change fast, so each item links to its source and shows dates as reported. Allegations are as stated by the source; people who are charged are presumed innocent until convicted.

All cartel profiles

Names and aliases

• The Juárez Cartel is also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization (VCFO), named after its longtime leader. [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

Origins

• La Línea began as an armed wing of the Juárez Cartel, created to help the organization defend its border territories in and around Ciudad Juárez. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• The Juárez Cartel's origins go back to the 1980s, when the Ciudad Juárez area was under Rafael Aguilar Guajardo's control; he was killed in Cancún in 1993, after which Amado Carrillo Fuentes took over. [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• The La Línea profile dates the group's formation to the early 2000s, when active and former state and local police officers formed it to protect drug trafficking organizations; the same profile dates the Juárez Cartel's beginnings to the 1970s. [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

Leadership

• Josefa Yadira Carrasco Leyva is described by Treasury as a senior member of La Línea involved in narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, and weapons smuggling. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• Jorge Adrián Ortega Gallegos is described as a high-ranking member of La Línea who had previously been indicted in the US District Court for the District of New Mexico on drug conspiracy charges. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• Heber Nieto Fierro is described as a drug trafficker and money launderer for La Línea who owns or controls two companies designated alongside him. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• Jesús Salas Aguayo is described as a La Línea associate who controls a plaza in Chihuahua for the cartel and had previously been indicted in the US District Court for the District of New Mexico on drug conspiracy charges. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• Adrián Aguayo is described as a La Línea associate who controls a plaza in Chihuahua for the cartel. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias "El Señor de los Cielos" ("Lord of the Skies"), assumed control of the Juárez Cartel after Aguilar Guajardo's 1993 killing. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• After fragmentation and the blows of the Calderón years, the identity of the top leadership of La Línea remains unclear, and the Juárez Cartel is far from a coherent whole. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• Among La Línea's key leaders are Josefa Yadira Carrasco Leyva ("La Wera"), Jorge Adrián Ortega Gallegos ("El Naranjas"), and Heber Nieto Fierro ("Ever Nieto"), several of whom have Mexican state-level charges against them. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

Factions and splits

• The Juárez Cartel's two main gangs are La Línea and the Aztecas; La Línea handles street-level enforcement, including street-level drug dealing, executions, kidnappings, and extortion. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• In 2024, La Línea appeared to face internal divisions, with a breakaway faction operating as "La Empresa" and some members announcing themselves as the "Nuevo Cartel de Juárez." (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

Allies and rivals

• La Línea and the CJNG have been working together since September 2023, with the CJNG serving as La Línea's source of supply for cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• In 2002, the Juárez Cartel entered an alliance with several top drug traffickers called The Federation, including El Azul, El Mayo Zambada, the Beltrán Leyva brothers, and El Chapo. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• In recent years, the Sinaloa-linked Los Salazar in Sonora and the Juárez Cartel faction La Línea in Chihuahua have been battling each other heavily. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• The Juárez Cartel turned to the Beltrán Leyva Organization and the Zetas for help against the Sinaloa Cartel, and the group has also made contact with the FARC in Colombia. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• The Nuevo Cartel de Juárez, a Juárez-based group that emerged as the old cartel fragmented, has allegedly allied with the Jalisco Cartel New Generation. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

What it does

• La Línea taxes other Mexican drug trafficking organizations to move their merchandise through the Juárez Valley. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• La Línea generates revenue through synthetic drug trafficking, illegal logging, and car theft in Chihuahua. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• La Línea is the primary enforcer of the ban on fentanyl sales in Ciudad Juárez, where fentanyl remains tightly restricted despite the city being a major trafficking hub for US-bound shipments. [InSight Crime, 2025 · news/research]
• Splinter groups of the Juárez Cartel, including La Línea and La Empresa, along with Barrio Azteca, have long controlled heroin distribution in northern and central Ciudad Juárez, sourcing it from Chihuahua's mountainous regions. [InSight Crime, 2025 · news/research]
• Under Carrillo Fuentes, the organization grew to control at least half of all Mexican drug trafficking and extended operations to Central and South America, including Chile and Argentina. [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• At its peak the Juárez Cartel moved thousands of tons of Colombian cocaine into Mexico by air and then into the United States by land, and built its own US distribution networks. [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

U.S. designations, sanctions and charges

• In 2004, the US President identified the Juárez Cartel as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker under the Kingpin Act. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• On December 15, 2021, OFAC designated the Juárez Cartel under Executive Order 14059, adding La Línea as an alias of the Juárez Cartel. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• On October 31, 2024, OFAC sanctioned five Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities linked to La Línea under Executive Order 14059. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• The Cártel de Juárez was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization on July 16, 2026; U.S. Northern Command celebrated the September 9, 2026 capture of "Pepa" as the first high-profile La Línea arrest since the designation. [Lado.mx, 2026-09-24 · news/research]

Key events

• Treasury stated that in November 2019, La Línea members murdered nine American citizens, including six children, in the state of Sonora. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• In July 2022, a North Dakota federal judge ordered La Línea to pay $4.6 billion in monetary damages to the families of nine Americans killed in an ambush in northern Mexico on November 4, 2019. [SRN News (AP wire), 2024-10-31 · news/research]
• Amado Carrillo Fuentes died in 1997 while undergoing plastic surgery, leaving his brother Vicente Carrillo Fuentes to assume control of the Juárez Cartel. [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• On February 27, 2025, Mexico transferred Vicente Carrillo Fuentes to the United States along with 28 other drug traffickers, in what was described as a sign of improving Mexico-US security cooperation. [InSight Crime, 2026 · news/research]
• On June 24, 2025, a New York federal judge granted a 90-day window for plea negotiations in Vicente Carrillo Fuentes's US case; at the start of 2026, Carrillo Fuentes pleaded not guilty. [InSight Crime, 2026 · news/research]
• On September 8, 2026, Mexican security forces arrested Epifanio N., alias "Pepa," and his son in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, on a provisional warrant for extradition on drug charges; U.S. Northern Command called it the first high-profile takedown of a La Línea leader since the FTO designation. [El Paso Times, 2026-09-09 · news/research]

Where it operates in Mexico

• La Línea operates in Ciudad Juárez, where it has access to drug trafficking and human smuggling routes across the US-Mexico border. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• The Juárez Cartel maintains a firm foothold in Ciudad Juárez and the Valle de Juárez, which is a key corridor for trafficking cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin into the United States. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]
• La Línea's primary base of operations is Ciudad Juárez, though the group has also engaged in violent confrontations with rival factions in Ojinaga, Moris, and Guadalupe y Calvo. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

Reported U.S. footprint

• Treasury stated that associates of La Línea are also involved in human trafficking across the United States. (as of 2024-10) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2024-10-31 · official record]
• The Aztecas, the Juárez Cartel's US-based street gang, manage the organization's US side, with operations in El Paso, Dallas, and Austin, Texas. (as of 2026-06) [InSight Crime, 2026-06 · news/research]

Reported presence by Mexican state

Juárez Cartel / La Línea in the United States

States with specific evidence: New Mexico, Texas.

Cartels in the U.S.: map and state-by-state evidence →

Latest Juárez Cartel / La Línea coverage

• Wanted by the U.S., Caught in Ojinaga: Alleged Border Boss ‘El Tavo’ Arrested With 11 Rifles, $19,400 and a Stolen Raptor After Police Helicopter Attack Sep 22, 2026

Read every Narco Blog story about the Juárez Cartel / La Línea →

Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. Territory, leadership and advisories change; tell us about errors via our corrections page.