DOJ: U.S. Cartel-Connected U.S. Gangster Used Corrupt Mexican Officials to Protect Olympian Drug Lord

U.S. federal prosecutors announced a series of charges against a Los Angeles-area cartel-connected gang member who has been living in Mexico. Indictments allege he worked closely with Mexican drug cartels and has connections at high levels of the country’s political and law enforcement world that have helped him get access to sensitive police information that has helped his associates avoid capture. This week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a six-count indictment against 51-year-old Robert “Rob Flores, Rooster, or Fatboy” Gomez, a U.S. citizen from South Los Angeles. Gomez is also a member of the 38th Street Gang. According to prosecutors, Gomez fled to Mexico in 2000 to escape authorities after being charged in a California state court with robbery. During his time in Mexico, Gomez established ties with various cartels, including the Cartel Jalisco New Generation and the Sinaloa Cartel. Those relations allowed him to take part in various drug conspiracies that moved drugs from Central and South America by boats and planes to Mexico and then smuggled the drugs by land to the United States, federal prosecutors stated. By 2018, federal prosecutors formally charged him with various drug trafficking charges. Since the indictments, he has been considered a federal fugitive. Using his relations in Mexico, Gomez was able to obtain sensitive police information on investigations, operations, warrants, and cases targeting him or his associates. One of his associates was 45-year-old Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned drug lord Ryan Wedding. Federal prosecutors claim that Gomez provided information to Wedding that allowed him to avoid capture and protect his interests. As Breitbart Texas has reported, Wedding was able to establish a drug empire in Mexico that allowed him to move drugs into the United States and Canada until his capture and extradition to the U.S. earlier this year. Federal prosecutors also revealed information on a second cartel figure who also helped Wedding. That individual died in a shootout with Mexican police last week. Known as “The General” or “Mini,” 42-year-old Edgar Aaron Vasquez Alvarado ran his own smaller cartel known as Cartel Nuevo Imperio. Authorities claim he also worked with Wedding and helped him move large-scale quantities of drugs. Authorities also claim that Vasquez paid off top-level security officials in Mexico to get code words that allowed his drugs to move freely throughout the country. Vasquez also paid off officials to slow investigations, make evidence disappear, and have charges dismissed. Vasquez played a key role in helping Wedding avoid capture from 2024 until his arrest this year. Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.