Overview

• The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three top Cártel del Noreste figures—Abdon “Cucho” Rodríguez García, Antonio “Romeo” Romero Sánchez and Francisco “Franky” Esqueda Nieto—together with rapper Ricardo Hernández Medrano, also known as El Makabelico.
• Officials accuse El Makabelico of diverting half of his streaming royalties and proceeds from his concerts into the cartel’s money-laundering network.
• Abdon Rodríguez García, identified as the cartel’s second-in-command, faces allegations of drug trafficking, fuel theft, extortion and ordering executions.
• Former Tamaulipas officer Antonio Romero Sánchez is linked to a string of executions, decapitations and an attempted assassination in Nuevo Laredo.
• All U.S. assets and interests of the designated individuals are blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, amplifying financial pressure on the cartel’s operations.