Former Leader of a Violent Transnational Criminal Organization Pleads Guilty to Engaging in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise as Part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF)[...]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - On April 14, 2026, José Julio Rodríguez-Cumba, a.k.a. "Chambi/Chembi/Josué/Chambo/Patrón," pleaded guilty to running a continuing criminal enterprise. Rodríguez-Cumba was charged by way of information. The Information charged the defendant with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise from 2011 through May 2024. Rodríguez-Cumba was arrested in the District of Puerto Rico on October 4, 2021. When sentenced, he will face a mandatory minimum term of 20 years in prison and up to life in prison.

According to court documents, Rodríguez-Cumba directed a large-scale drug trafficking organization (the Enterprise), that utilized land and sea transportation assets to import and distribute multi-hundred-kilogram shipments of cocaine from South America into Puerto Rico and the continental United States. The defendant admitted that he was responsible that more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine that were going to be unlawfully imported into the United States and distributed as part of the Enterprise.

Rodríguez-Cumba made millions of dollars in profit from drug trafficking. This defendant directed members of the enterprise to use violence, possess firearms, including machine guns for protection and in furtherance of the Enterprise.

From on or about July 2023 and continuing up to and until May 22, 2024, while in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Guaynabo, Rodríguez-Cumba caused other individuals to introduce buprenorphine into MDC.

As part of the plea agreement, Rodríguez-Cumba agreed to forfeiture of various properties, including a luxury yacht - "El Ancla", a 2014 Pershing, 62-foot vessel, and other assets including cash, real property, and personal property, as well as firearms. This investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG), United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Pedro A. Delgado-Hernández.

Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Ryan R. McCabe of the Asset Recovery, Money Laundering and Transnational Organized Crime Section is prosecuting the case.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

HSTF San Juan comprises agents and officers from the following federal partners: FBI, ICE-HSI, CBP (OFO, AMO and Border Patrol), the U.S. Marshals Service for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, DEA, ATF, IRS, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Department of State, and the U.S. Secret Service, the Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands HIDTA, TSA, FAA, and the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Districts of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The HSTF also has the following state and local law enforcement partners as participating agencies: the Puerto Rico Police Department; the San Juan, Carolina, Guaynabo, Barceloneta, and Ponce Municipal Police Departments, the Puerto Rico National Guard - Counter Drug Program; the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Service (Hacienda); the Puerto Rico Port Authority; and the Virgin Islands Police Department.

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