Idalia Ramos Rangel

Idalia Ramos Rangel (born 20 May 1955) is a Mexican business owner and suspected drug lord.

According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), she is a high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

In the cartel, Ramos Rangel is known by her aliases Big Momma and La Tía (The Aunt).

Idalia Ramos Rangel was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on 20 May 1955.

She has naturally black hair and brown eyes and is of Hispanic descent.

She has reportedly been responsible for coordinating international drug trafficking shipments from Mexico to the United States since the mid-1980s.

Her role in organized crime is unusual, as a woman active in the male-dominated Mexican drug trafficking industry over several decades.

Ramos Rangel is wanted in the U.S. states of Texas and Arkansas for her alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

According to multiple federal indictments, Ramos Rangel has employed family members to distribute cocaine in the United States on her behalf.

She has also employed inmates from U.S. federal facilities to help her distribute drugs after their release from prison.

Investigators believe she is hiding in Matamoros, her hometown and center of operations.

The FBI is offering a US$25,000 bounty to anyone providing information that leads to her arrest and conviction.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Ramos Rangel has been responsible for coordinating international drug trafficking activities from Mexico to the United States since the mid-1980s.

She is reportedly a high-ranking member of the Tamaulipas-based Gulf Cartel.

She is a particularly unusual figure in organized crime circles, given her involvement over several decades in the male-dominated Mexican drug trafficking industry.

In her FBI profile, Ramos Rangel is described as being between 5ft 2in and 5ft 3in tall, and weighing between 130 lb and 150 lb. Ramos Rangel has altered her physical appearance multiple times, by dyeing her hair blonde and through plastic surgery.

The FBI suspects that her file pictures may be outdated, and that her appearance may have changed again.

Among other personal details in her FBI profile, she is described as having been a business owner running multiple businesses in Mexico, including a sports bar in Matamoros.

Investigators have stated that Ramos Rangel is a regular Facebook user, and that she travels to Monterrey, Nuevo León for pleasure.

She is a breast cancer survivor.

Ramos Rangel uses multiple identities and aliases, including Big Momma, La Tía (The Aunt), Soria Cano, Idalia Ramos Martinez, Idalia Martinez, Idalia Gonzales Perez, Idalia Ramos, Idelia Ramos Rangel, Idalia Rangel, and Idelia Ramos Ramos.

Her current whereabouts are unknown, but investigators believe she may be hiding in Matamoros, her center of operations.

The FBI is offering a $25,000 bounty for information leading to her arrest and conviction.

She faces federal drug charges in the states of Texas and Arkansas, and has been a fugitive of United States justice since the 1980s.

In the late 1990s, U.S. authorities searched a home in Brownsville, Texas during an anti-marijuana operation.

The agents were investigating a Mexican drug trafficking ring smuggling marijuana through Mexico, South Texas, Houston, and other parts of the United States.

Ramos Rangel was discovered living at the house.

US$15,000 in cash was found in a trash can, with a list of apparent drug transactions.

When questioned, Ramos Rangel refused to cooperate.

She was arrested, not on drug charges but because she was in the country illegally.

She had already served a prison sentence in the United States for a previous drug offense, and had been deported and ordered never to return to the country.

Ramos Rangel was a low-level criminal during that time.

In subsequent years, she rose through the leadership ranks of the Gulf Cartel.

United States officials have issued extradition requests to the Mexican government since her ascent, but acknowledge the legal difficulties of the process.

The FBI-led case against Ramos Rangel began in 2010.

With the joint participation of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the FBI's case has yielded arrests in Arkansas, Brownsville and Austin.

The operation was code-named Operation Dirty Bird.

In April 2011, the Cameron County Sheriff's Office in Brownsville seized 30 kg of cocaine heading to Chicago, Illinois.

According to several witnesses who testified to law enforcement, the cocaine shipment was owned by Ramos Rangel.

A Brownsville drug trafficker, Julio Cesar Cardenas, was involved in the scheme, helping a co-conspirator to move Ramos Rangel's drug load.