Still a Fugitive, CJNG’s U.S.-Sanctioned ‘El Primito’ Goes to Court to Block Extradition to the U.S. — Treasury Says He Charged Tolls on Stolen Crude Trucked From Tamaulipas Into Texas
César Morfín Morfín, “El Primito,” whom the U.S. Treasury calls the Jalisco cartel’s (CJNG) cell leader in Tamaulipas, has not been caught. He has still gone to a Mexican federal court to try to block his extradition to the United States. El Universal reported the filing on Oct. 17, 2026. It says Washington wants him over drug trafficking and fuel theft along Tamaulipas’s “frontera chica” border strip. The paper also says he has a strong presence in Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas.
What he filed, and where it stands
According to El Universal, Morfín filed for an amparo, a Mexican injunction against government action, on Tuesday, Oct. 13. He filed it with the First District Judge in Tamaulipas, in Ciudad Victoria. He is challenging an arrest order for extradition purposes, and his filing names President Claudia Sheinbaum as the authority behind it. The judge declared that he lacked jurisdiction. The case was sent to the 11th District Judge for Criminal Matters in Mexico City, who had not yet ruled on accepting it when El Universal reported.
El Universal did not publish a U.S. case number or say which U.S. court wants him. The Narco Blog has not found a public U.S. indictment. Our Sept. 27 report said officials had not said whether he faced a warrant. This filing is the first reported sign of an extradition order.
What U.S. officials allege
Treasury sanctioned Morfín on May 1, 2025. It said he once led a Gulf Cartel faction, Los Metros, and turned it into a CJNG faction through his ties to “El Mencho.” It accused him of trafficking fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. and of importing precursor chemicals from China. It also said he charged fees on stolen crude trucked into Texas, because he controlled border bridges between Tamaulipas and Texas.
El Universal also said he has been under scrutiny over the 2025 killing of Ernesto Cuitláhuac Vázquez Reyna, the federal prosecutors’ (FGR) delegate in Tamaulipas. It did not report any charge in that case. For more on the border area where it says he operates, see our Reynosa–McAllen guide.
Allegations, not findings
Sanctions are an administrative measure, not a conviction. No court has ruled on the accusations against Morfín, and he is presumed innocent.
Sources
- El Universal (Manuel Espino), “El Primito, líder del CJNG en Tamaulipas, se ampara contra extradición a EU; sigue prófugo,” Oct. 17, 2026
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Targets Major Mexican Cartel Involved in Fentanyl Trafficking and Fuel Theft,” May 1, 2025
- Photos: U.S. Department of the Treasury (public domain), via the May 1, 2025, press release
Reported Oct. 18, 2026. The details of the court filing come from El Universal, which did not publish the filing itself. El Universal did not report any comment from Morfín’s lawyers, Mexican authorities or U.S. officials, and the Mexico City judge had not ruled on whether to take the case.