Erick Valencia-Salazar, Cocaine Trafficking, California 2025

Erick Valencia-Salazar, a 49-year-old resident of Santa Clara, California, has pleaded guilty to federal narcotics charges related to his involvement with the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization.

According to court documents, Valencia-Salazar, also known as ‘El 85,’ is a co-founder of CJNG, which the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025. As a leader of CJNG, Valencia-Salazar recruited new members, used information about rival cartels to locate and kill CJNG’s enemies, and gained control of drug trafficking operations in certain territories in Mexico.

Valencia-Salazar also conspired to send thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the United States for CJNG. Prior to forming CJNG, he was a member of the Milenio Cartel, where he regularly distributed pistols and rifles to the cartel’s gunmen, also known as ‘sicarios,’ to use in battles with rival cartels.

‘Erick Valencia-Salazar co-founded the CJNG, one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations in Mexico, which shipped tons of cocaine into the United States and inflicted immeasurable damage on our country,’ said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva. ‘Valencia-Salazar was also responsible for furthering the rampant violence in Mexico, at the expense of people’s lives and the safety of communities, that helped destabilize the region and allow crime to flourish.’

Valencia-Salazar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine for unlawful importation into the United States. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31 and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit Los Angeles is investigating the case, with the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs providing valuable assistance in Valencia-Salazar’s transfer from Mexico to the United States. Trial Attorneys Kaitlin Sahni, Lernik Begian, Douglas Meisel, and Nicole Lockhart of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section are prosecuting the case.

The case highlights the ongoing efforts of law enforcement agencies to disrupt and dismantle transnational drug trafficking organizations that harm the American people.

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