Federal prosecutors in Houston have unsealed sweeping terrorism and drug-trafficking charges against senior leaders of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang recently designated a foreign terrorist organization.
A second superseding indictment in the Southern District of Texas charges four Venezuelan nationals, including two of the gang’s top three commanders:
- Yohan Jose Romero (aka “Johan Petrica”), 48
- Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez (aka “Juancho”), 44
- Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano (aka “El Viejo”), 37
- Jose Enrique Martinez Flores (aka “Chuqui”), 24
All four are accused of conspiring to provide, and providing, material support to Tren de Aragua as a designated foreign terrorist organization. Martinez Flores and Mosquera Serrano also face additional counts for international cocaine distribution and conspiracy involving more than five kilograms of cocaine intended for shipment into the United States.
According to court records, Romero and Mosquera Serrano are alleged to be two of the top three leaders of Tren de Aragua worldwide.
Romero is described as a founding figure who exercises “command and control” over all of the organization’s criminal operations, including illegal gold and narcotics smuggling, extortion, and murder, while Mosquera Serrano allegedly oversees operations across Colombia, Central America, and the United States.
Rivas Nunez and Martinez Flores are also identified as high‑ranking leaders directing gold smuggling, drug exports, and violent crime out of multiple South American countries.
U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei framed the case as part of a broader effort to treat cartel‑style gangs as terrorist threats, not just drug traffickers.
“Tren de Aragua poses a direct threat to our national security, to our communities, and to our American way of life,” Ganjei said. “These defendants allegedly conspired to support a highly‑structured foreign terrorist organization by smuggling bulk quantities of cocaine across our southern border and funneling the proceeds back to their fellow terrorists in Venezuela. The Southern District of Texas will scour the Earth to find and prosecute narco‑terrorists, wherever they may hide.”
Officials say Romero has for years exercised authority over Tren de Aragua’s expansion across the Western Hemisphere, with members and associates accused of extortion, kidnappings, murders, drug and gun trafficking, prostitution and sex trafficking, robberies, bank burglaries, and money laundering.
Leaders allegedly imposed a “causa” or fee on lower‑ranking members and others who wanted to operate in their areas of control, enforcing those payments with beatings and murders. From Venezuela, Romero is accused of ordering, directing, or facilitating acts of violence and terrorism against victims both inside and outside the United States.
The indictment alleges that Tren de Aragua has evolved from a prison gang into a transnational criminal and terrorist organization whose operations are funded through gold smuggling, drug trafficking, extortion, and other violent rackets.
Mosquera Serrano and Martinez Flores are specifically accused of causing the delivery of more than five kilograms of cocaine for international distribution, with proceeds used to advance the gang’s criminal and terrorist goals.
Christopher Eason, co‑director of Joint Task Force Vulcan, which was originally created to target MS‑13 and has now been expanded to include Tren de Aragua, said the case fits squarely within their mission.
He noted that TdA’s gold and drug operations, along with its violence and extortion, are being treated as part of its terrorist activity, and said the charges against some of the organization’s highest leaders reflect a “whole of government” effort to destroy the group.
The State Department designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist earlier this year, enabling terrorism charges and sanctions. Colombian authorities arrested Martinez Flores in March pursuant to a U.S. provisional arrest warrant; he remains in custody there pending further proceedings.
Mosquera Serrano is currently on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, while Romero and Rivas Nunez are also fugitives.
The State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program is offering up to $4 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Romero and up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Mosquera Serrano
Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI via WhatsApp or Telegram at 281‑787‑9939, through a local FBI office or U.S. embassy or consulate, or online at tips.fbi.gov.
The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative that seeks to “repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”
All four defendants face one count each of conspiring to provide material support to Tren de Aragua and one count of providing material support, with Martinez Flores and Mosquera Serrano facing additional counts for international cocaine trafficking.
If convicted on all charges, they face up to life in prison and fines of up to $10 million.
