Two brothers face decades in prison after massive drug seizures

More than 1 million fentanyl pills. More than 140 pounds of meth. Nearly $2 million in cash. The bust at a South Valley home in 2022 netted the largest fentanyl seizure in FBI history and led to a 30-year federal prison sentence for Albuquerque-area drug trafficker Jesse “Lobo” Young in August.

His older brother, Manuel “Ike” Young, who reportedly took over a portion of his brother’s lucrative trafficking business after the raid, was sentenced to 25 years on Oct. 16 for some of the same crimes.

The sentences imposed on the brothers are some of the stiffest handed down in the past decade by judges in the U.S. District of New Mexico, according to data from a defense motion. Only 10 of 4,950 individuals convicted of drug trafficking and firearms charges in that time period were sentenced to 25 years or more in federal prison.

Federal authorities portrayed Jesse Young, 43, as a major Albuquerque-area trafficker with ties to the Sureños gang, sourced by the Sinaloa cartel.

His criminal history included being charged in a 2012 double homicide in which he and others were alleged to have kidnapped and killed two people, burning their bodies inside a vehicle. Those charges were later dismissed because of flaws in the local law enforcement investigation.

Jesse Young, whose sentence includes time for an assault on a correctional officer, never denied that the drugs, cash and 28 firearms and body armor found at his home on Atrisco SW were his. Federal authorities contended Young was “prepared to distribute a massive amount of drugs — fentanyl and methamphetamine” and was armed to protect himself, his product and his proceeds while drug dealing.

“The huge volume of drugs, gun and cash demonstrate that this was no isolated incident,” said the government in Jesse Young’s sentencing memo. “The major role Young played in pumping these horrible drugs into the community, and the many people who worked under him to help that process along. Astronomical as the amounts of drugs seized in this case may seem, this is but one point in time in Young’s drug trafficking history.”

Jesse Young’s criminal history began in 1997 with a juvenile charge for bringing a gun to school in Albuquerque. That same year he was charged with two counts of attempted homicide, two counts of aggravated battery, conspiracy, and unlawful possession of a handgun by a person under 19.

“In September 2022, when Young was arrested, fentanyl was a relatively recent arrival to our streets,” wrote assistant U.S. Attorney Nora Wilson in a sentencing memorandum. “Statistics showed that fentanyl was responsible for exponentially increasing overdose deaths each year.”

His defense attorney, Nicholas Hart, declined to comment on the case Friday.

Meanwhile, Jesse Young’s older brother, Manuel Young, 46, had been homeless and living in his car between 2020 and 2022.

Though his younger brother Jesse had “built up a sizable drug trafficking operation in the Albuquerque area... (Manuel) Young had not been involved in it,” stated a sentencing memorandum filed by the older brother’s attorney Greg Acton. Acton couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday.

“Mr. (Manuel) Young’s life has been profoundly shaped by poverty, exposure to pervasive violence, significant trauma and emotional adversity,” stated Acton’s filing. “... he resided in a high crime neighborhood, plagued with pervasive drug and gang violence. It was the norm to see shootings, stabbings, ‘junkies all over our neighborhood passed out on the streets.’”

Manuel Young said he was shot at for the first time at the age of 13 or 14, and reported seeing his first dead body at the age of 15, the uncle of a family friend who died after a stabbing, Acton stated. He attended two elementary schools, Ernie Pyle Middle School and Rio Grande High School, obtaining his GED at age 16 while committed to the Youth Development and Diagnostic Center for juvenile offenders.

Manuel Young, according to a confidential informant working with the FBI, resumed his brother’s business selling methamphetamine and fentanyl to local street gangs that included Los Padillas, Burqueños and members of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico.

He and his girlfriend and another individual were arrested after a Feb. 2, 2023 search of several residences and a storage unit turned up drugs, firearms and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. Manuel Young pleaded guilty to all charges against him in January.

The two brothers, whose children are living with their mother Bertha, grew up in the shadow of their older brother, Robert Trujillo Young, 49. The eldest brother is serving life in prison, plus 24 years, on a state conviction for stabbing to death a correctional officer at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in 1999.