US Adds Narcoterrorism Charges Against Clan del Golfo Leader 'Chiquito Malo,' First Major Indictment Since Colombia Cartel's FTO Designation

A federal grand jury in Brooklyn returned a fifth superseding indictment against Jobanis de Jesus Avila Villadiego on April 16, adding three narcoterrorism charges to an already sprawling case against the man US prosecutors identify as the principal leader of Colombia's Clan del Golfo cartel.

The new charges -- narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and providing or attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization -- are the first major federal charges of their kind against a top CDG leader since the State Department designated the cartel a Foreign Terrorist Organization on December 17, 2025.

Avila Villadiego, known as "Chiquito" and "Chiquito Malo" ("Little Bad One"), is 49 and remains at large. He is believed to be in the Urabá region of Antioquia, the Caribbean-Pacific hinge of northwest Colombia where the cartel exercises what DOJ describes as "military control" over territory running to the Panamanian border.

What's new in the indictment

The prior four superseding indictments in the 2014 case (E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 14-CR-625) charged Avila Villadiego with operating a continuing criminal enterprise, international cocaine trafficking, and using firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. The fifth superseding indictment does two things:

• Extends the charged timeframe of the continuing criminal enterprise and conspiracies from October 2021 through April 2026 -- covering the entire post-FTO-designation period.
• Adds the terrorism counts tied to the December 2025 FTO designation, alleging Avila Villadiego has continued to lead the cartel and provide it with material support after CDG became a designated terrorist group.

The FTO designation itself was published in the Federal Register on December 17, 2025, alongside a separate Specially Designated Global Terrorist designation under Executive Order 13224. Those designations exposed CDG's leadership and financial apparatus to the material-support statute (18 U.S.C. § 2339B) that Brooklyn prosecutors are now deploying.

"Undeterred by the designation, Avila Villadiego has continued to lead the CDG post-designation, and to carry out criminal acts including the provision of material support to the CDG," the press release from the Eastern District of New York states.

How he got to the top

Avila Villadiego rose to CDG's top slot after the October 2021 arrest of Dairo Antonio Úsuga David -- known as "Otoniel" -- who had led the cartel through the 2010s. Úsuga David was extradited to the Eastern District of New York in May 2022 on the same 2014 indictment, pleaded guilty in January 2023, and is serving a 45-year sentence.

Avila Villadiego had been a senior commander under Úsuga David. The indictment now charges that CDG under his leadership continued to move multi-ton cocaine shipments through Mexico and Central America into the United States, and to extract per-kilogram "taxes" from any trafficker operating through cartel-controlled zones.

Scale of the organization

According to the charging documents, CDG has had up to 6,000 members at its peak and employs military tactics, weapons, and uniforms in clashes with rival traffickers and Colombian security forces. DOJ describes it as "one of the largest distributors of cocaine in the world" and says it uses murders, kidnappings, and assassinations to protect its profits and attack law enforcement.

US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. framed the prosecution as part of a broader counter-FTO posture: "This prosecution is about more than just seizing drugs; it is about destroying terrorist organizations while simultaneously stopping the flow of deadly drugs and associated violence into the United States."

The case is being run by the Eastern District's International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section as part of the Homeland Security Task Force, the interagency body established under Executive Order 14159 ("Protecting the American People Against Invasion") that combines HSI, DEA, FBI, NYPD, IRS-CI, ATF, USMS, USPIS, and Secret Service.

Where it stands

Avila Villadiego has not been arrested. The indictment's charges remain allegations, and he is presumed innocent. No public reward has been posted under the State Department's Narcotics Rewards Program or Rewards for Justice program for his capture as of publication, though Colombian authorities have separately pursued him for years.

The case is assigned to Judge Dora L. Irizarry in the Eastern District of New York.