A high-ranking member of the brutal Los Zetas cartel has been sentenced to 31 years in prison.
Eleazar Medina-Rojas, 53, was a Los Zetas boss known as “El Chelelo,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice. He oversaw several drug routes along the Texas-Mexico border, and imported 90,000 kg of marijuana and 450 kg of cocaine – enough to kill 375,000 people.
The cartel leader was sentenced to prison on September 8 and ordered to pay $26.5 million in forfeited assets.
“Medina-Rojas used extreme violence to rise through the ranks of Los Zetas, and, as a plaza boss, ensured that the cartel maintained control over key drug trafficking routes used to direct cocaine and marijuana into the United States,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti in the release.
Los Zetas was a dangerous cartel, composed of former Mexican military officers that began as a wing of the Gulf Cartel. It was active across the country, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
The group formed an alliance with the Gulf Cartel and called it “The Company,” according to the release. Medina-Rojas was responsible for enforcement and protecting drug trafficking routes, using violence, threats, and weapons to that end.
“Medina-Rojas participated in acts of violence against rival drug trafficking groups during conflicts for control over drug plazas and trafficking routes,” the release reads.
He rose through the ranks of “The Company,” holding important leadership roles – facilitating cocaine and marijuana trafficking into America. Medina-Rojas was a regional leader, or “plaza boss,” in Monterrey, Mexico, from 2006 to 2007 – commanding dozens of members in drug trafficking and violence.
The boss controlled several drug routes, smuggling more than 3,000 tons of narcotics across the Mexico-Texas border, according to DEA-Houston Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen.
“Medina-Rojas controlled the routes leading to Brownsville, Laredo, and McAllen, eliminating anyone who stood in the way of his profit,” Pullen said. “DEA Houston agents’ relentless work disrupted his drug trafficking routes, which eventually led to his capture, weakening the ruthless Los Zetas drug trafficking organization.”
Mexican and American police arrested prominent leaders of Los Zetas from 2012 to 2015, and remaining members splintered off in the Cartel del Noreste, according to a press release. The State Department labeled CDN a foreign terrorist group in February 2025.
The DOJ’s Office of International Affairs worked with Mexican police to arrest Medina-Rojas and to extradite him in July 2023, according to the release.
DEA-Houston investigated the case, and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division prosecuted in court.
This case was part of Operation Take Back America. As part of this mission, federal agents busted 78 criminal illegal aliens in the Rio Grande Valley in late August, The Dallas Express previously reported. Also in late August, the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel – “El Mayo” – pleaded guilty and faces a life sentence.