Ten people pleaded guilty this week in Pittsburgh for their roles in a cross-border drug ring that smuggled fentanyl and meth into the U.S. from a Mexican cartel and distributed them throughout the country, including in Western Pennsylvania.
In all, 19 of the 35 people arrested have pleaded guilty in federal court, including James Pinkston, 35, of New Kensington, who served as the local connection to the drug trafficking organization in Phoenix.
Over nearly five years, investigators relied on more than 50 controlled drug buys and wiretaps on dozens of phones to dismantle the criminal organization, which trafficked millions of fentanyl pills and hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine from August 2021 to June 2023.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the organization smuggled the illegal drugs into the United States inside bulk shipping containers and hidden within consumer products, including nutrition supplement tubs checked in commercial airline luggage.
Others then sold the drugs throughout the U.S., including in Phoenix, Seattle, Wichita, Kansas, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Fort Wayne, Indiana and Western Pennsylvania.
The group was importing the drugs from Mexico.
Pinkston, the only defendant from Western Pennsylvania, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 28 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and possession with intent to distribute.
The other defendants are primarily from Arizona, Washington state and Mexico.
According to a search warrant application, between April and August 2022, Pinkston made seven trips from either Pittsburgh or Cleveland to Phoenix.
On July 7, 2022, agents intercepted a parcel being delivered to a home in New Kensington and recovered thousands of blue fentanyl pills weighing more than 1.7 pounds.
Agents seized nearly five additional pounds of pills inside a suitcase of a person traveling with Pinkston at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Aug. 2, 2022, court filings said.
According to a search warrant affidavit in the case, a recording device hidden inside Pinkston’s car captured his frustration over his missing luggage and discussions about whether it was lost by the airline or seized by law enforcement.
On Jan. 11, 2023, during a coordinated operation in the case, nine search warrants were executed in Phoenix, five in Seattle and three in Fort Wayne, court documents said.
In Phoenix, investigators recovered more than $200,000 in cash, 27 kilograms of fentanyl pills, 48 kilograms of methamphetamine, 7 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 3 kilograms of cocaine, 12 firearms and nine vehicles.
In Seattle, investigators seized $395,000, 27 kilograms of suspected fentanyl pills, five vehicles and 13 firearms.
Among those who have already pleaded guilty in the case is Humberto Arredondo-Soto, 25, of Culiacan, Mexico,who has ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, prosecutors said.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy before U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan and will be sentenced Nov. 3.
According to the government, Arredondo-Soto was the supplier for the organization. In addition, numerous military-grade guns were trafficked into Mexico for him as payment for the drugs, prosecutors said.
Arredondo-Soto was arrested in Mexico in August 2023 and extradited to the United States in February 2024.
Two of the defendants believed to be leaders of the drug trafficking organization, Marcos Monarrez-Mendoza and Marco Monarrez Jr., are scheduled for trial in September.
The government alleged Monarrez-Mendoza and Monarrez Jr. paid Arredondo-Soto hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. currency, as well as military-grade firearms, including AK-47s, .50-caliber guns, assault rifles, Glock handguns and vehicles.
Investigators said that Monarrez Jr. also paid another defendant to commit a drive-by shooting.
According to the indictment, Monarrez and others provided 1 million fentanyl pills every few weeks for distribution throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Even while incarcerated at the Cambria County Prison, according to the indictment, Monarrez Jr. used contraband cell phones to continue to run his drug trafficking organization, coordinating the distribution of 500,000 fentanyl pills from inside.