An alleged cartel figure wanted in Chicago on drug trafficking charges was among more than two dozen fugitives sent to the U.S. by Mexico this week as part of a deal with the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on criminal networks smuggling narcotics across the border.
Jose Antonio Vivanco Hernandez was indicted in federal court in Chicago in 2017 on charges he was part of a group of high-level cartel traffickers that smuggled thousands of pounds of cocaine and other drugs across the U.S.-Texas border, disguising it in semi-trucks loaded with laundry detergent, snack foods and furniture.
One of the main suppliers of the group was Martin Villegas, a then-kingpin in the notoriously violent Beltran-Leyva Cartel, records show.
The drugs were moved to warehouses in the Chicago area as well as other U.S. cities, including Atlanta and Houston, for distribution, and, after they were sold, bulk cash in amounts up to $1.5 million was shipped back to warehouses along the border and smuggled back into Mexico, court papers alleged.
Vivanco Hernandez, also known as “Tronco,” or “Trunk,” remained a fugitive after his indictment, court records show. It’s unclear when he was taken into custody in Mexico. No court dates have been set in Chicago as of Wednesday, and there is no lawyer listed for him on the docket.
His co-defendant in the Chicago indictment, Luis Eduardo Gonzalez Garcia, was arrested in 2018 in Guatemala, where his lawyers say he’d traveled to buy calves at auction for his family’s ranch. He voluntarily came back to the U.S. with Drug Enforcement Administration agents, before being told of the pending charges against him, his lawyers wrote in a court filing in 2022.
In their sentencing filing, prosecutors said Gonzalez Garcia was far from a cattle rancher, telling the judge he was captured on wiretaps talking about having a warehouse operator murdered to keep him from talking to authorities. He also had a close relationship with Villegas, who once gifted Gonzalez Garcia a Hublot watch worth $20,000, and later give him a Spanish mare worth approximately $12,000, prosecutors said.
Gonzalez Garcia pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman.
Vivianco Hernandez was the only person wanted in Chicago included in the latest prisoner transfer from Mexico, which follows a similar mass extradition of wanted cartel figures in February.
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Others handed over to U.S. custody on Tuesday include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG. Another defendant, Roberto Salazar, is wanted in connection with the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. Other prominent figures have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and other violent drug trafficking groups.
The transfers are a milestone for the Trump administration, which has made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key Justice Department priority. It is the second time in months that Mexico has expelled cartel figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs onto American streets.
“These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We are grateful to Mexico’s National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”
The cartel figures were put on planes to the U.S. after the Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants or against any cartel leaders and members sent to the U.S. in February. That transfer was of 29 cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985.
The February transfers came as Mexican officials were trying to head off the Trump administration’s threat of imposing tariffs on Mexican imports. Late last month, President Donald Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and agreed to put off threatened 30% tariffs for another 90 days to allow for negotiations.
Vivanco Hernandez is the third Chicago defendant to be part of the historic transfers.
In February, Norberto Valencia González, a financial guru affiliated with the once-powerful and notoriously violent Beltrán-Leyva cartel, and José Ángel Canobbio-Inzunza, an alleged aide and security chief for the Sinaloa cartel once headed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, were each sent here to face separate indictments. They have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
The Associated Press contributed.