The Justice Department and State Department just announced rewards of up to $50 million combined for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of Tren de Aragua's three top leaders, according to a Justice Department release. The Venezuelan prison gang is designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is paying the rewards under its Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, for information "in any country." Yohan José Romero, 48, known as "Yohan Petrica," goes from up to $4 million to up to $20 million. Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, 37, known as "El Viejo," goes from up to $5 million to up to $15 million. Juan Gabriel Rivas Núñez, 44, known as "Juancho," is a new offer of up to $15 million.
All three were charged in a 2025 six-count second superseding indictment in the Southern District of Texas with conspiring to provide, and providing, material support to the gang. A nine-count third superseding indictment was returned in July 2026 and unsealed this week. Mosquera Serrano is also charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine and international cocaine distribution. An indictment is an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Mosquera Serrano is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List. Romero and Rivas Núñez are also fugitives.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said that since President Trump returned to office, the department "has charged more than 350 members and associates of Tren de Aragua, including Yohan Petrica, El Viejo, and Juancho." He asked anyone who knows where the three are to "help save lives by notifying the FBI."
U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz of the Southern District of Texas, whose office is prosecuting the case, called the three "monsters" and said they were indicted as such. Reitz added, "I'm confident the enhanced bounties will incentivize these terrorists' return to my district, where we will bring them to justice."
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said the announcement shows "what can be achieved through unprecedented coordination and intelligence sharing across federal law enforcement." Under Secretary of State Thomas G. DiNanno said Secretary Rubio "has repeatedly stated" that groups like Tren de Aragua "are the most urgent security threat in our hemisphere."
The bounties follow a string of moves against the gang. In June, as we reported, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said a U.S. strike on a compound in Venezuela had killed the gang's founder, Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as "Niño Guerrero," for whom U.S. authorities had offered $5 million. In October, as we noted, the Department of Homeland Security said agents arrested 131 people with alleged gang ties from Oct. 4 to Oct. 10, 13 of them linked to Tren de Aragua.
The Justice Department says the gang began as a prison gang in Venezuela in the mid-2000s and has since spread across the Western Hemisphere and into the United States. Its alleged activities range from drug and firearms trafficking to sex trafficking, kidnapping, robbery, fraud and extortion. It also steals from banks: the investigation found the conspiracy targeted or carried out ATM jackpotting attacks in 47 states, the District of Columbia and several foreign nations, stealing millions of dollars in cash, according to the release.
The FBI and DEA are running the investigation with the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshals Service, Colombian National Police and Colombia's Attorney General's Office. It is part of Joint Task Force Vulcan, created in 2019 to go after MS-13 and since expanded to Tren de Aragua, and of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative.