OVERVIEW

La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), the latest iteration of the La Familia Michoacana drug trafficking organization, is a foreign terrorist organization and one of the most powerful drug cartels operating in southern Mexico. The group smuggles cocaine, fentanyl—including “rainbow fentanyl,” marketed to children—heroin, and methamphetamine into the United States. LNFM is led by brothers Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga, a.k.a. El Pez, and Jose Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, a.k.a. La Fresa. The brothers run a clothing line known as “Doble H,” which features images of a fish and a strawberry, representing the brothers’ respective aliases, to help brand the organization.

OPERATING AREAS
Primarily in Michoacan and Guerrero, Mexico; also maintains a presence in Mexico City, Morelos, Puebla, and the State of Mexico

MEMBERS
Approximately 5,000

TACTICS AND TARGETS
LNFM uses commercial trucks and cooperates with other Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs into the United States. The group also engages in migrant smuggling and trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, arms trafficking, and illegal mining and extortion. LNFM’s extortion of avocado and lime farmers in Michoacan is a major source of illicit revenue for the cartel. The group attacks Mexican Government officials and members of rival cartels and sometimes uses drones and explosives in its attacks.

TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The US State Department designated LNFM as a foreign terrorist organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity in February 2025.

KEY LEADERS

NOTABLE ATTACKS