Fed sting operation uncovers cartel gun trafficking ring in Cleveland

A pair of Cleveland men are facing charges for attempting to sell dozens of AR-15-style firearms to drug cartel members in Mexico, federal authorities announced this week.

Yarquimedes Rodriguez Hilario, 32, and Adison Lopez-Ramirez, 34, sold and attempted to sell 90 rifles and one machine gun to undercover federal agents posing as cartel members, said prosecutors out of the Middle District of Florida.

The case against the would-be arms traffickers comes amid an unprecedented push by Mexican authorities to keep U.S. guns out of the country. President Claudia Sheinbaum early this month stressed that to stop the flow of drugs into the United States, the U.S. must address gun smuggling. A lawsuit brought by Mexico against U.S. gun manufacturers over the avalanche of U.S. guns into the country is currently before the Supreme Court. 

“Guns trafficked from the United States are the lifeblood of the cartels,” Jonathan Lowy, an attorney for Mexico in its cases over U.S. guns in the country, told USA TODAY. “If you want to stop the cartels and you want to stop the trafficking of fentanyl and the violence that’s causing migration to the U.S., you need to stop the pipeline of guns trafficked across the border.”

Leaked Mexican military intelligence shows smugglers have flooded the country with tens of thousands of U.S. guns. American firearms are ultimately part of the cycle of Latin-American narcotics headed north. Violence in Central America fueled in part by guns has also contributed to the migration crisis at the U.S. border.

The Cleveland men are charged with conspiracy to traffic firearms and money laundering, according to court filings. They ran the gun trafficking scheme from 2021 to early 2023, officials said. 

They are charged in Florida because that is where they sold and attempted to sell firearms to undercover agents, according to a federal indictment. They face up to 35 years in federal prison.

Two others were sentenced to federal prison last year for their involvement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Yuendry Rodriguez Hilario, brother of Yarquimedes Rodriguez Hilario, received over 13 years for his role acquiring and assembling the firearms bought by undercover agents. Saleh Yusuf Saleh received nearly six years on similar charges. 

Attorneys for the Cleveland men declined to comment.

The case is among the latest from the federal government's Panama Express Strike Force which aims to disrupt and dismantle international criminal organizations. The task force consists of several federal law enforcement agencies, including the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI. Other recent cases include going after ex-Colombian Navy men for spying on law enforcement for drug traffickers.

Federal sting operation

Law enforcement arrested the Cleveland men for selling and attempting to sell firearms to undercover agents posing as cartel members, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. 

Officials at the federal district declined to comment on the case, citing that it was ongoing. Court filings in the case against Rodriguez Hilario’s brother detail how agents pulled off the sting operation. 

An undercover Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent established contact with the trafficking group via text message; soon they were sharing pictures of AR-15-style rifles; and eventually the agent met them in Cleveland, the affidavit says. They agreed to do a deal in Florida.

Lopez-Ramirez delivered rifles from Ohio to agents in Florida for $16,000. He deposited $9,000 shortly after the sale into Rodriguez Hilario’s account at a PNC Bank in St. Petersburg, an affidavit says.

When agents told the traffickers that their associates in Mexico were “battling and losing,” the group responded by arranging the sale of 40 AR-15 style weapons, prosecutors said.

The operation unraveled when ATF agents arrested Saleh and Rodriguez Hilario’s brother on March 2, 2023 in the parking lot of a Five Guys in Cleveland as they were doing the AR-15-style rifles deal.

‘Tubo’ RPGs and other guns they allegedly dealt

The conspiracy of gun traffickers had promised undercover agents a range and quantity of weapons fit to make an arsenal, according to court filings.

They told agents they could get them a “tubo” — rocket propelled grenade launcher; substantial amounts of cocaine; and previously dealt AR-15s and AK-47s to El Salvadorans, an arrest affidavit says.

Lopez-Ramirez personally delivered nine .223 caliber rifles and one 9mm rifle, according to court filings.

Agents shut down the trafficking operation when they were in the middle of a deal involving 40 AR-15-style rifles, according to authorities.

In total, they sold or made deals to sell 90 rifles and one Mac-10-type machine gun with a silencer, prosecutors said.

Rodriguez Hilario’s brother told investigators he first met Saleh - who sourced the firearms - on Armslist, an online firearms market.

How many U.S. guns are in Mexico?

The sting operation comes amid a concerted push from the government of Mexico to keep U.S. guns out of the country. 

Some 90 firearms however is just a drop in the American “iron river” flooding Mexico. ATF trace data between 2018 and 2022 linked 78,000 guns recovered in Mexico back to U.S. gun shops.

Weapons enter Mexico through trafficking networks that purchase weapons from gun stores or at gun shows in the U.S. and then move the weapons, parts and ammunition across the border. Trafficking weapons to cartels is a federal offense punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

Mexican troops deployed to the border this year as part of that country’s "Operación Frontera Norte" - an attempt to stave off President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs by improving border security - seized 1,192 weapons and 143,734 bullets of different calibers just between Feb. 4 and March 9. 

U.S. citizens and Mexicans were also arrested trafficking guns then. Among them was Roland Alberto Munoz, a 44-year-old from Dallas, Texas. He was arrested in Mexico on March 4 and handed over to U.S. Marshals to stand trial in Wisconsin for trafficking high-powered rifles purchased in the northern state to cartels in Mexico.

Mexico’s efforts to thwart trafficking have highlighted the issue but it’s not new. U.S. officials have known for decades. A General Accounting Office report in 2009 found that over 90% of the weapons used by criminal groups in Mexico had come from the United States.

Civilians can buy guns in Mexico but it’s significantly more difficult than in the U.S. and there are just two stores in the entire country.

Mexico takes aim at US guns

Mexico is trying to stop the flood of American guns into the country by suing gun manufacturers and dealers.

The country’s case against gun manufacturers aims to hold them responsible for the violence cartels inflict using American guns. The Supreme Court is considering the case. Lowy, an attorney with Global Action on Gun Violence who represents Mexico, said he expects a ruling by June.

Mexico’s case against gun dealers aims to hold several gun stores in Arizona accountable for selling guns to traffickers. The case is in pre-trial proceedings, Lowy said.

Lowy applauded undercover agents for busting gun trafficking rings but described it as ultimately a “whack-a-mole strategy.”

“While it’s important to apprehend and stop individual straw buyers and traffickers, the only way to effectively stop the gushing flow of guns across the border is to stop them at their source— the U.S. gun industry,” Lowy said. “Simply trying to stop the endless rotating supply of people willing to traffic guns for money is not going to solve the problem.”

Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Michael Loria is a national reporter on the USA TODAY breaking news desk. Contact him at mloria@usatoday.com, @mchael_mchael or on Signal at (202) 290-4585.