PHOENIX - A father and son with strong ties to the Phoenix area have been sentenced for leading a transnational drug trafficking organization.
What we know:
According to a statement released by the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Dec. 5, Marcos Monarrez Jr. of Phoenix has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Monarrez Jr.'s father, Marcos Monarrez-Mendoza of Mexico, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by deportation to Mexico.
Marcos Monarrez-Mendoza
Both Monarrez Jr. and Monarrez-Mendoza had pleaded guilty to charges of violating the federal "kingpin" statute. Monarrez-Mendoza pleaded guilty in July 2025, while Monarrez Jr. pleaded guilty in August.
"The defendants were among 35 individuals charged in a Second Superseding Indictment unsealed in January 2024 for their participation in a domestic and international narcotics and money laundering conspiracy involving substantial quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine," read a portion of the statement.
Dig deeper:
The two men operated a large-scale criminal enterprise and laundered money in 2022. A federal wiretap revealed they obtained millions of fentanyl pills, hundreds of pounds of meth and kilos of cocaine from a drug supplier in Mexico.
The "Monarrez DTO" re-distributed drugs across the U.S., including in western Pennsylvania, where this case was prosecuted.
Kingpin: Arizona father and son ran large-scale drug trafficking ring, DOJ says
A father and son duo from Phoenix allegedly led the Monarrez Drug Trafficking Organization, moving fentanyl and meth from Mexican suppliers throughout the United States, and are now facing the rare "Kingpin" charge. FOX 10 Investigator Justin Lum reports.
The Source: Information for this article was gathered from a statement released by the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, with supplemental information gathered from previous, relevant FOX 10 news reports.