Phoenix Man Who Served as Enforcer for Transnational Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Phoenix, Arizona, has been sentenced in federal court to 420 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, on his conviction of violating federal narcotics laws in relation to a transnational criminal organization (TCO) as part of a Homeland Security Task Force prosecution, United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today. The defendant was among 35 individuals charged through 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 the Second Superseding Indictment news release here).

United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan imposed the sentence on Carlos Zamora, 30. Zamora was one of two defendants convicted by a jury in the case following a two-and-a-half-week trial in September 2025 (read the verdict news release here), with the other defendant-Bryce Hill of Seattle, Washington-having been sentenced in February 2026 to 35 years in prison. Zamora is the 33rd defendant sentenced in the case.

Evidence presented during the trial established that Zamora was a significant and longstanding participant in the Phoenix-based Monarrez Drug Trafficking Organization-a transnational criminal organization responsible for the distribution of millions of fentanyl pills, hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, and dozens of kilograms of cocaine from August 2021 to June 2023. The Monarrez TCO provided the drugs to a network of subordinate dealers who redistributed the narcotics throughout the country, including into western Pennsylvania. Zamora was intercepted over a federal wiretap obtaining hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills and kilograms of fentanyl powder for redistribution.

Additional evidence presented at trial included testimony regarding the execution of a search warrant on January 11, 2023, during which law enforcement seized 27 kilograms of fentanyl pills, multiple firearms, and $387,000 cash from Hill's apartment; an intercepted call from January 9, 2023, in which Zamora discussed with one of the organization's leaders a drive-by shooting he had carried out the previous day in Phoenix; and the seizure of 28 kilograms of fentanyl pills, 7.5 kilograms of fentanyl powder, three kilograms of cocaine, 48 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 20 firearms (pictured below) from a short-term rental property in Scottsdale, Arizona, on December 25, 2022.

Jurors learned that Zamora fired more than three dozen gunshots at a man (later discovered to be a different individual from the one Zamora was targeting) during the January 8, 2023, drive-by shooting in Phoenix. Shell casings test-fired from a Glock switch-equipped semiautomatic rifle seized from Zamora's residence a few days later matched the shells recovered from the scene of the shooting. In addition to his enforcer or "muscle" role for the criminal organization, Zamora was also responsible for distributing substantial quantities of drugs, including 29 kilograms of fentanyl and 82.5 kilograms of methamphetamine.

Zamora had previously served prison sentences on convictions of armed robbery and aggravated assault on a correctional employee, and is one of 10 individuals indicted in July 2025 for their alleged participation in a racketeer-influenced corruption organization conspiracy related to the bribery of prison employees to smuggle contraband into the Cambria County Prison (read the Indictment news release here).

Assistant United States Attorneys Arnold P. Bernard Jr. and Katherine C. Jordan prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

This prosecution was 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 toward identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations that 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. The Western District of Pennsylvania is part of the Philadelphia HSTF, which comprises agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the United States Department of State-Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), and state and local law enforcement partners, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.