Jaime Alvarado, Mexican Mafia Racketeering, California 2024

43 Mexican Mafia Gangsters Arrested on Indictments Alleging Racketeering, Drug Trafficking, Kidnapping, Assault, and Murder

In a major crackdown, 43 members and associates of the Mexican Mafia prison gang were arrested on federal indictments charging them with scores of crimes in Orange County, including kidnapping, extortion, trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine, running illegal gambling businesses, and murdering a victim last year at a gang-controlled Anaheim motel.

The defendants arrested this morning include Jaime Alvarado, 42, a.k.a. ‘Junior’ and ‘Brian Barbas,’ of Lake Elsinore; Karina Cesena, 32, also of Lake Elsinore; and Mario Flores, 40, a.k.a. ‘Happy,’ of Anaheim.

Senior gang members already in state custody who are expected to make their initial appearances and be arraigned in the coming weeks include Luis Cardenas, 48, a.k.a. ‘Gangster,’ ‘Pops’ and ‘Tio,’ an inmate at Ironwood State Prison; Jose Antonio Ochoa Madrigal, 41, a.k.a. ‘Sparky,’ of Santa Ana, who incarcerated in an Orange County jail.

According to the indictment, from June 2024 to April 2026, Cardenas oversaw the Mexican Mafia’s criminal activities in Orange County and within Orange County jail and prison facilities. Alvarado, Cesena, Madrigal, and Flores held positions of authority within the gang.

The indictment charges 40 defendants with a series of felonies, including racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, trafficking narcotics such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine, and using firearms during a crime of violence.

Law enforcement has seized four kilograms (8.8 pounds) of fentanyl, 54.4 kilograms (120 pounds) of methamphetamine, 0.9 kilogram (two pounds) of heroin, three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of cocaine, 25 firearms, and more than $30,000 in cash.

Jaime Alvarado, Karina Cesena, and Mario Flores, are expected to make their initial appearances and be arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court in Santa Ana.

The Mexican Mafia, a.k.a. ‘La Eme,’ is a U.S.-based prison gang that has immense control over Hispanic street gangs in Southern California, directing illegal activities from prisons and collecting a portion of the proceeds from drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and other crimes committed on the streets.

The case’s main indictment charges 40 defendants with a series of felonies, including racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, trafficking narcotics such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine, and using firearms during a crime of violence.

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