General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20266 min read

Organizacion de Narcotraficantes Unidos

La Organización de Narcotraficantes Unidos ("La ONU", United Drug Traffickers Organization) is a Puerto Rican drug-trafficking organization formed around 2004 as an alliance of drug gangs operating in the public housing projects of the San Juan metropolitan area, which distributed cocaine into the continental United States, principally New York City.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Identity	Puerto Rican drug-trafficking alliance based in the San Juan–Bayamón area, distributing cocaine to New York City²^•³
Formation	Around 2004, leaders of nearly all San Juan-area drug gangs formed the alliance to prevent conflict and buy and sell narcotics at favorable prices²
Split	After several conflicts, La ONU broke into two rival factions, La ONU and La Rompe ONU, with the housing-project gangs split roughly evenly²
Violence	The 2012 federal indictment detailed eight murders, three attempted murders, and one shooting directed at Puerto Rico police officers²
Scale	The enterprise distributed thousands of kilograms of cocaine and bribed corrupt Puerto Rico police officers, active from about 2004 to about 2016³
Prosecutions	32 individuals indicted under RICO in 2012; 105 charged in the La Rompe ONU case; leaders convicted in 2013 and 2022, with mandatory life sentences in the 2022 case²^•⁴^•⁵^•³

Origins and history

In the early 2000s, gangs operating in the public housing projects of the San Juan metropolitan area were involved in street-level drug sales and in trafficking large quantities of drugs to the continental United States.¹ Around 2004, the leaders of these gangs agreed to form an alliance whose purpose was to prevent conflict between the drug gangs and to collaborate in purchasing and selling narcotics at the most favorable prices.¹ The FBI account states that leaders of nearly all drug gangs operating in the San Juan area joined, and that they named the alliance "La ONU" to resolve conflicts between rival gangs without attracting law-enforcement attention.² According to the indictment summarized by Vice, the meeting that founded the organization gathered "almost all the drug gangs of San Juan".⁴

The 2007 split. After several conflicts, La ONU broke into two rival factions, La ONU and La Rompe ONU, with the housing-project gangs essentially split evenly between them.² The US indictment places the split of La Rompe ONU from La ONU in 2007.⁴

Founding year. The founding date is disputed. The federal indictment and the FBI place the alliance's formation around 2004.² Prensa Libre, drawing on US law-enforcement descriptions, states that La ONU was established in 1995 with its base in Bayamón, a municipality neighboring San Juan, and that by 2004 it had consolidated enough members to control drug trafficking across Puerto Rico.⁶ The court record's 2004 date for the named alliance is the version used in the prosecutions; the 1995 date appears in press accounts of the group's longer background.

Structure, rules and leadership

The organization operated as an alliance of housing-project gangs rather than a single hierarchy. Drug points in the projects were "owned" by senior gang members and staffed by lower-level drug sellers, and members of each gang maintained contact by short-wave radio.¹

La ONU enforced unwritten rules. Members were to kill La Rompe ONU members on sight, not to kill other La ONU members without leadership authorization, and not to cooperate with law enforcement; violations were punishable by death of the violator and/or family members.²

Named figures in the court record include Julio Marquez-Alejandro, known as "Chino", described by the DEA as one of the founding figures of the enterprise.³ Jean Carlos "Jincho" Ramos Piñeiro was identified as leader of the organization at the time of his 2013 conviction.⁵ José L. Colón de Jesús allegedly led a Bayamón cell for the five years before federal and state agencies dismantled it.⁷ On the rival side, Josué "el Padre" Velázquez-Carrasquillo was named as the alleged leader of La Rompe ONU.⁴

Criminal activity and trafficking routes

The enterprise trafficked cocaine from Puerto Rico to the continental United States. Cocaine supplied by La ONU was distributed in New York City, including out of a children's daycare center in the Bronx.³ Prensa Libre reports that the organization helped transport drug shipments from Colombia, Venezuela, and other Latin American countries as well as from the United States.⁶

Its violence was extensive: the DEA describes an enterprise whose members and associates engaged in dozens of murders and in the bribery of corrupt police officers in Puerto Rico between about 2004 and about 2016.³ Univision has reported allegations that a DEA agent protected the group.⁸

By the numbers

The 2012 indictment, unsealed on March 20, 2012 by a federal grand jury in San Juan, charged 32 individuals in 36 counts with RICO, VICAR, firearms, and drug conspiracy offenses.² It detailed eight murders, three attempted murders, and one shooting directed toward Puerto Rico police officers; 20 of the 32 defendants were charged with capital-eligible offenses, the other 12 faced up to life in prison, and the forfeiture allegation was $10,000,000.² The later La Rompe ONU case charged 105 defendants, from alleged leader Velázquez-Carrasquillo to lower-level traffickers whose nicknames included Pedrito Trauma, Pitbull, Oreo, and Mascare, with offenses including criminal association, drug trafficking, murder, and firearms crimes.⁴

Law-enforcement response and prosecutions

The 2012 RICO investigation was conducted by the FBI together with the Puerto Rico Police Department, the San Juan Municipal Police, the ATF, the DEA, and the US Marshals Service.² In November 2013, leader Jean Carlos "Jincho" Ramos Piñeiro was found guilty of murder, attempted murder, weapons, controlled-substances, and RICO charges.⁵

In August 2015, Jay Frank Quiñonez Carrión was charged with narcotics distribution, sale, and weapons offenses in Operation Street Sweeper, which targeted members of La ONU, described as Puerto Rico's largest drug gang.⁶ He remained on the US Marshals' 10 Most Wanted list in Puerto Rico for ten years until his arrest on December 6, 2023.⁶

The New York trials. The Southern District of New York scheduled the first of two trials against alleged La ONU members concerning a scheme to traffic drugs from Puerto Rico to New York.⁹ In April 2022, after a three-week trial before US District Judge Jesse M. Furman, a unanimous jury convicted Julio Marquez-Alejandro, 52, and Luis Blondet, 47, both of San Juan, of racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, murder while engaged in a drug crime, and murder through use of a firearm, after less than a day of deliberations.³ Marquez-Alejandro was convicted of two counts of murder in aid of racketeering for the murders of Israel Crespo-Cotto and Carlos Barbosa, each carrying a mandatory life sentence; Blondet was convicted of murder in aid of racketeering for the murder of Crystal Martinez-Ramirez, carrying a mandatory life sentence plus a consecutive five-year firearm minimum.³

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026