Gilberto Barragán Balderas (born 19 May 1970) is a Mexican suspected drug lord and high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. He joined the cartel in the late 1990s and was a trusted enforcer of kingpin Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez. Barragán Balderas was the regional boss of Miguel Alemán and helped coordinate international drug trafficking shipments from South and Central America to Mexico and the U.S. His role in the cartel also included providing them with information on the movement and location of Mexican security forces to ensure safe passage of their cocaine and marijuana shipments. In 2008, an indictment issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia detailing his criminal activities was unsealed in court.
In 2009, the U.S. Department of State and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a US$5 million bounty for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction. In 2010, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Barragán Balderas under the Kingpin Act. Barragán Balderas was arrested by the Mexican Federal Police at a ranch in Reynosa in 2011 while he celebrated his birthday. He was imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1, a maximum-security prison in the State of Mexico. In 2020, he was extradited to the U.S. for his outstanding drug trafficking charges.
Early life and background
Gilberto Barragán Balderas was born in Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on 19 May 1970. He is related to Manuel Balderas Ramírez, who served as the mayor of Miguel Alemán Municipality from 1990 to 1992. According to information from the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP), Barragán Balderas joined the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico, in the late 1990s when former kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén became its leader. In the cartel he was the regional boss of Miguel Alemán, which is across the U.S.-Mexico border from Roma, Texas, located in an area known as La Frontera Chica. He coordinated international drug trafficking shipments for the cartel from there. He was a close collaborator of former kingpin Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez. In the Gulf Cartel, he worked under a faction known as Los Metros. His code name was "Metro 18" ("M-18"). Like Barragán Balderas, Los Metros were loyalist to Costilla Sánchez.
According to his U.S. Department of State (DOS) criminal profile, Barragán Balderas goes by his aliases "Heriberto" and "Tocayo", is tall and weighs . He has black hair and brown-colored eyes. The DOS's Narcotics Rewards Program is offering up to US$5 million for information that leads to his arrest and/or conviction. In conjunction with the DOS, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) listed him among the top ten most-wanted Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas members in 2009. This list was made up with information compiled from the DEA's Dallas jurisdiction. The total reward for Barragán Balderas and his collaborators was up to US$50 million. He was later moved to the most-wanted fugitives list of the DEA's Houston jurisdiction.
Career and indictments
According to a sealed indictment sworn in by a grand jury of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (D.D.C.) on 15 November 2007, on or around June 2006, Barragán Balderas and other members of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas conspired with intent to distribute at least of cocaine and of marijuana from Mexico, Colombia and elsewhere into the U.S. In addition, the D.D.C. stated that in November 2007, Barragán Balderas was charged with conspiring with intent to distribute at least of cocaine. For these two counts, Barragán Balderas was ordered to forfeit all money and properties derived from the sale of these drugs, as well as any properties used to facilitate his operations. If such properties could not be located, were sold or transferred to a third-party, and/or largely diminished in value, Barragán Balderas was ordered to forfeit other assets to make up for the total amount of said property. This indictment was unsealed in court on 12 March 2008.