The head of a top Honduran drug clan will be extradited to the US, as officials chip away at the leadership of a once-powerful transport group.
Herlinda Bobadilla, considered the principal leader of the longstanding Montes-Bobadilla drug clan, also known as “Los Montes,” was greenlit for extradition to the United States on June 14.
Her May 15 arrest resulted in the death of her son and criminal associate, Tito Montes Bobadilla, shortly after the two had $5 million bounties placed on their heads by the US State Department.
Starting out as a traditional ‘transportista’ group charged with smuggling cocaine from South America through the Central American isthmus and further north on behalf of more powerful Mexican drug cartels, the Montes-Bobadilla had steadily carved out their own empire.
According to the US Justice Department, the group collaborated with other major Honduran criminal groups, such as the Valles and the Cachiros, to import cocaine into Honduras and move it north through Central America, Mexico and the United States. Both of these partner organizations have similarly been greatly weakened, with much of their leadership behind bars.
Such growth put them firmly on the radar of Honduran and US officials.
Based in the Caribbean department of Colón, the clan weathered years of raids from the Honduran government and may have even begun growing coca allegedly to ship their own cocaine to Europe.
InSight Crime Analysis
In a reversal of decades of good fortune, the Montes-Bobadilla Clan seems to finally be crumbling.
Since its founding in the 1980s, the leadership has been arrested, killed or extradited numerous times yet the organization continued to grow. Most recently, in 2019, the former head of the clan, Noe Montes-Bobadilla was sentenced to 37 years in prison in the United States.
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Of the current familial heads, only Juan Carlos remains. The middle sibling of the three brothers who entered into the criminal enterprise, Juan Carlos, alias “Mono”, will now inherit the reins along with the full force of the Honduran government’s attention.
Due to the speed with which his mother was captured after officially being placed between US officials’ crosshairs, he may not be able to remain at large for long.
Indeed, past successes appear to have reached a ceiling. The extradition of Herlinda Bobadilla, along with the death of her son Tito, further shrinks the pool of potential candidates for keeping the organization afloat.