A Phoenix man has pled guilty to charges including violating the federal “Kingpin” statute while commanding the Monarrez Drug Trafficking Organization, a large-scale drug organization.
Between September and November 2022, Marcos Monarrez-Mendoza obtained hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, millions of fentanyl tablets, and kilograms of cocaine from a Mexican national drug dealer. The 55-year-old set up a network of distributors that dispersed drugs across the country, including Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, Kansas, Indiana, and Western Pennsylvania, and paid couriers to carry and deliver the shipments.
Investigators believe Monarrez-Mendoza’s son, Monarrez Jr., was a co-leader. He was also charged alongside 35 others in a second superseding indictment, which was unsealed in January 2024. The investigation, which included a federal wiretap, discovered that Monarrez-Mendoza paid more than $100,000 in cocaine sales proceeds to couriers who transferred monies into Mexico to “promote the drug trafficking operation.”
What’s next: Monarrez-Mendoza also pled guilty to running an ongoing criminal enterprise and money laundering. The prosecution against Monarrez-Mendoza was brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania will sentence him on December 5, 2025. He risks a 20-year sentence to life in jail, a $2 million fine, or both.
Dig deeper: Twenty-three of the 35 defendants charged in the second superseding indictment have been convicted of participating in the Monarrez DTO. Six people from the Phoenix region have been sentenced, while ten additional Arizona residents have pleaded guilty.
