Cartel-linked brothers sentenced to 70 years for meth trafficking in Dallas area

Two brothers linked to a notorious Mexican cartel have been sentenced to a combined 70 years in federal prison for methamphetamine and money laundering offenses in North Texas, according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Pedro Hernandez Zarate, a 45 year-old Mexican national in the U.S. illegally, was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in November to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

His brother Ricardo Hernandez Zarate, a 33-year-old legal resident, was sentenced to 40 years on conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and 20 years for money laundering. He pleaded guilty to those charges in February 2022 and the sentences will be served concurrently.

Agents said they linked the brothers to the Cartel de Jalisco Nuevo Generación (CJNG) Transnational Criminal Organization, one of the two largest and most dangerous drug cartels in Mexico.

Pedro Zarate helped coordinate the transfer of approximately 112 liquid gallons of methamphetamine — a quantity with a street value of more than $9.9 million — to co-defendants who planned to transport it from Texas to Oklahoma.

The liquid meth — which arrived in Dallas in the diesel tank of a tractor trailer before being transferred into a holding tank and then given over to Pedro Zarate’s co-defendants — was seized by law enforcement in Gainesville, according to federal court documents.

Meanwhile, Roberto Zarate acted as a Dallas-area cell head, sourcing his methamphetamine from two suppliers in Mexico and selling kilogram quantities of meth, which he called “shaved ice,” to customers.

He also instructed people to deliver methamphetamine in other parts of Texas.

“The FBI in collaboration with our law enforcement partners was able to successfully disrupt the illegal activities of individuals affiliated with Cartel de Jalisco Nuevo Generación (CJNG). This removal of large amounts of methamphetamine from our streets makes our communities safer from deadly narcotics,” said FBI Dallas Acting Special Agent in Charge James J. Dwyer. “We will continue to work collaboratively to prosecute and dismantle the individuals and organizations that traffic and distribute narcotics into our communities.”

Co-defendant Elmer Gardea Tello was previously sentenced to a term of 55 months confinement for his involvement in drug trafficking.

Eight additional defendants — Benito Diaz Hernandez, Marcos Garcia Reyes, Rafael Diaz, Jose Alberto Plascencia Torres, Heleodoro Rosales Ramirez, Salvador Antonio Martinez, Walter Daniel Chapa Marty, and Uriel Marin Gaona — have entered guilty pleas in the case and await sentencing.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office, with special assistance provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Gainesville Police Department, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Dallas Police Department, the Fort Worth Police Department, the Williamson County, Texas Sheriff’s Department, the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee, the FBI’s Knoxville Field Office (Tennessee Resident Agency Office), and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Strike Force 1.