La Unión Tepito

La Unión Tepito is a criminal network made up of cells operating in Mexico City., taking its name from Tepito, one of the capital’s best-known neighborhoods. It is one of the city’s dominant criminal structures, active in small-scale drug trafficking, human trafficking, human smuggling, contraband, and extortion.

What Is La Unión Tepito’s Story?

From 1990 until the early 2010s, it was the Tepito Cartel that was the dominant criminal organization in Mexico City. It consolidated power using its links to the  Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO) and its then-leader, Édgar Valdés Villarreal, alias “La Barbie”. But when the BLO collapsed in the late 2000s, the Tepito Cartel lost its status, opening the door for rival groups, such as La Unión Tepito.

La Unión Tepito was formed between 2009 and 2012 by defectors from the BLO and Familia Michoacana, possibly at the initiative of Valdés Villarreal. The organization soon challenged the Tepito Cartel for control of the neighborhood and large areas of Mexico City, using targeted acts of violence to reaffirm its dominance and expel other groups, including cells from large national organizations such as the Zetas  and the Sinaloa Cartel.

In October 2012, six local drug distributors believed to be working for the Sinaloa Cartel were executed in the street. In May 2013, 12 people were kidnapped from a bar in Mexico City’s Zona Rosa, including relatives of Tepito Cartel leaders. La Unión Tepito was linked to both attacks. By the time the gang war triggered by that episode was over, La Unión Tepito had become Mexico City’s dominant criminal force.

In addition to taking over drug selling points in Mexico City, including in Tepito itself, La Unión Tepito began extorting local businesses. This was often done through the “gota a gota,” or “drop-by-drop,” loan sharking system, in which high-interest loans are offered to small business owners and street vendors, followed by threats of physical violence if they cannot pay.

Taking control of the city center meant gaining access not only to businesses and street vendors, but also to bars and nightclubs. Extortion of these businesses was particularly profitable, and it allowed drug dealers to operate inside them and forcibly recruit employees as distributors and lookouts. La Unión Tepito also developed links with local police, giving the group a degree of impunity and an early-warning system about approaching law enforcement operations.

By 2017, however, a rival criminal group known as the Fuerza Anti-Unión had emerged to challenge La Unión Tepito’s dominance. There are two theories about the origins of the Fuerza Anti-Unión: The first is that it emerged as a vigilante group created by business owners to fight La Unión Tepito’s extortion. The second is that it began as a dissident faction of La Unión Tepito.

Either way, the Fuerza Anti-Unión did not act very differently from its supposed enemy. It allegedly built close relationships with high-ranking Mexico City police officials while violently competing for control of the city’s small-scale drug trafficking and extortion economies, particularly in the boroughs of Álvaro Obregón, Tlalpan, and Cuauhtémoc.

In June 2018, two dismembered bodies were found on Mexico City’s busy Avenida Insurgentes, alongside a message from La Unión Tepito threatening the head of the Fuerza Anti-Unión. This was the most visible sign of the escalating violence, which then-Mexico City Mayor José Ramón Amieva said was the result of clashes between the two groups.

Still, La Unión Tepito remained stronger than its rivals, expanding its extortion into wealthier parts of the city, where it could demand larger sums, sometimes up to 50,000 Mexican pesos per week (about $2,400). In April 2019, hundreds of local small business owners signed a letter asking Mexico City authorities to take action against La Unión Tepito. The head of the association warned that merchants would form a  self-defense group if nothing was done. A week later, he was gunned down  by armed men, shot seven times.

In October 2019,  a police raid  led to the capture of 31 La Unión Tepito members and the discovery of two synthetic drug laboratories. The operation followed allegations of collusion between members of the criminal group and city authorities. Then-Mexico City Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said he had a list of around 120 police officers who may have collaborated with La Unión Tepito. Although 27 of those captured were later released, this marked a turning point for the group.

Since then, La Unión Tepito has had to compete with the growing presence of the country’s two largest criminal groups: the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel, in Mexico City, which operate through allied local gangs.

The group has also faced increasing pressure from the state. Since the start of the 2020s, local authorities have rolled out a strategy against the group,freezing some $5.2 million across 1,500 bank accounts linked to the group and arresting hundreds of its members.

In February 2022, Omar García Harfuch, Mexico City’s head of security said La Unión Tepito had been irreparably fragmented by his government crackdown and the capture of its leader, Óscar Andrés Flores Ramírez, alias “El Lunares,” in early 2020.

Who Are La Unión Tepito’s Leaders?

La Unión Tepito’s structure has been marked by a constant turnover in leadership, driven by police blows and internal disputes.

Francisco Javier Hernández Gómez, alias “Pancho Cayagua,” is considered La Unión Tepito’s first leader. His reign ended in 2017, when he was killed in the Gustavo A. Madero neighborhood. He was succeeded by Roberto Moyado Esparza, alias “El Betito,” who led the organization until his arrest in 2018.

Óscar Andrés Flores Ramírez, alias “El Lunares,” later became head of the group until his arrest in January 2020. His immediate successor was his brother, “El Junior,” who was briefly in charge until his capture in May 2020.

In November 2020, Raúl Rojas Molina, alias “Mi Jefe,” had reportedly taken over the organization’s leadership. He had been arrested in 2010 for armed robbery and drug-related offenses, but after his release, he began rising through the criminal group’s hierarchy thanks to his importance as one of El Betito’s lieutenants. He was captured in May 2022.

Following the arrest of Mi Jefe, Eduardo Ramírez Tiburcio became La Unión Tepito’s main operator and one of Mexico City’s most wanted criminals, with a reward of 5 million pesos (US $300,000) on his head. Authorities also linked him to youth recruitment into the gang, kidnapping, homicide, and femicide. He was captured during an operation in March 2024.

Constant police pressure and the successive arrests of its leaders ultimately fragmented La Unión Tepito. The organization splintered into different factions and cells that now operate semiautonomously under their own leadership structures.

Where Does La Unión Tepito Operate?

La Unión Tepito is a highly localized criminal group whose power stems from the social and family ties it shares with some communities in Mexico City. In addition to its base in the Tepito neighborhood,  it maintains some presence in the city’s other 16 boroughs, with a greater presence in Cuauhtémoc, Gustavo A. Madero, Iztapalapa, Benito Juárez, Miguel Hidalgo, and Venustiano Carranza.

Outside the capital, the group maintains smaller-scale drug trafficking and extortion operations in neighboring states, including Morelos, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Veracruz, and the State of Mexico.

Who Are La Unión Tepito’s Allies and Enemies?

Despite being formed by members of several fading organizations, La Unión Tepito has many enemies and few allies. For a long time, it has  pushed back competition from smaller Mexico City gangs, such as the Tláhuac Cartel, Los Rodolfos, and Los Tanzanios, which seek a larger share of the city’s small-scale drug trafficking and extortion economies. It also maintains a rivalry with the Fuerza Anti-Unión.

By 2020, several reports suggested that the CJNG was sending armed gangs to challenge La Unión Tepito’s territory in Mexico City.

That same year, several drug tunnels were found beneath the Central de Abastos, Mexico’s largest wholesale market, allegedly operated by the Fuerza Anti-Unión with support from the CJNG. The Fuerza Anti-Unión reportedly placed 50 members in the market to control drug selling points and extortion networks, challenging La Unión Tepito’s control over the economic and criminal hub.

Reports also indicated that the CJNG was arming not only the Fuerza Anti-Unión but also some of the city’s gangs in its war against La Unión Tepito, mainly the Tláhuac Cartel. This came alongside signs of a possible increase in the longstanding presence of Sinaloa Cartel cells in Mexico City.

In January 2026, the city’s Security Chief Harfuch said there were links between La Unión Tepito and Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan-born criminal organization. The link is believed to be connected to an agreement over control of sexual exploitation on Mexico City’s streets.

What Is the Outlook for La Unión Tepito?

La Unión Tepito faces an uncertain future and is likely to continue fragmenting.

For now, it remains in a dominant position in Mexico City’s underworld, but it may struggle to confront other groups trying to establish themselves in the capital, especially if they receive support from major criminal organizations such as the CJNG. La Unión Tepito members will have ample opportunities to switch sides or join other criminal structures, posing a threat to La Unión Tepito’s existence as a group.

This is compounded by growing law enforcement pressure against La Unión Tepito, which has led to hundreds of arrests of key figures and asset freezes.