One of ICE’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives Extradited to Brooklyn

One of ICE’S 10 most wanted fugitives has been arrested and extradited from Mexico to Brooklyn.

In a statement released today, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Robert L. Capers announced that Raul Granados-Rendon, 30, was indicted in 2011 for leading a family-run sex trafficking organization based in Tenancingo, Mexico but fled the U.S. prior to his trial. In a joint investigation between ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Mexico City, HSI New York, and the Mexican Federal Police, Granados-Rendon was arrested in Mexico in September 2016. He was arraigned on Saturday, January 21 at Brooklyn Federal Court on a 21-count indictment. Charges include racketeering, sex trafficking of minors, interstate prostitution, alien smuggling and other related offenses.

Documents state that between October 1998 and June 2011, Granados-Rendon, along with other members of the Granados sex trafficking organization, illegally smuggled dozens of young women into the United States from Mexico and forced them into prostitution in Queens and elsewhere in the U.S. If the victims refused, they were beaten or sexually assaulted by members of the organization. Victims have said that the traffickers also threatened to harm their families back in Mexico if they resisted.

Thirteen members of the Granados organization have been indicted on sex trafficking charges with Raul Granados-Rendon being the last fugitive to be arrested and extradited to face charges. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

This is the second high-profile extradition from Mexico to Brooklyn this month — with the notorious Mexican drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, being arraigned on January 20th.