“Operation Showdown” Targeting Violent Crime In Fort Worth Results In 76 Defendants Arrested For Firearms And Drug Offenses

June 18, 2025

FORT WORTH – Following a two-month targeted initiative called “Operation Showdown” to reduce violent crime in Fort Worth, Texas, 76 individuals have been arrested for federal and state firearms and drug offenses.

Wednesday's announcement was made by Nancy E. Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and Bennie Mims, Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives (ATF), who led the investigation.  Other critical partners in this operation include:

•    Eduardo Chavez, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration
•    Keith Brown, Executive Director, Texoma High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
•    Chief of Police Robert Alldredge, Fort Worth Police Department
•    Phil Sorrells, Tarrant County District Attorney
•    Bill Waybourn, Tarrant County Sheriff
•    Marco Villarreal, United States Marshals Service for the Northern District of Texas, represented by Chief Deputy  U.S. Marshal Toby Reed
•    Texas Department of Public Safety
•    U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement – Enforcement and Removal Operations

Federal Defendants:  Fifty-six defendants have been arrested on federal charges.  Offenses with which individuals have been charged include illegal firearms trafficking, unlawful possession and transfer of machineguns, unlawful possession of firearms, using a firearm during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime, and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.  The potential sentences of these federal defendants, if convicted, range from 10 years to up to life in prison.  Reference is made to public records, including related, recently unsealed federal complaints, for additional information.

State Defendants:  Twenty defendants have been charged in Tarrant County District Court with possession of controlled substances, including methamphetamine and fentanyl.  Reference is made to public records for additional information.

Seizures:  In addition to charging 76 defendants, law enforcement recovered the following items:
•    287 firearms, including:
      o  91 Pistols      
      o  6 Revolvers   
      o  17 Rifles       
      o  1 Shotgun      
      o  25 Machineguns, and         
      o  147 Machinegun conversion devices (MCDs)
•    14.8 kilograms of cocaine
•    7.5 kilograms of methamphetamine
•    480 grams of fentanyl
•    13 grams of heroin
•    1.4 kilograms of marijuana

Please note these numbers are the collective recoveries over the course of Operation Showdown and are not attributable to each individual defendant.

Machinegun conversion devices (MCDs), commonly known as “switches” or “auto sears,” unlawfully convert semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic weapons (i.e., machineguns). The possession, manufacturing, and sale of MCDs violates federal law as illegal possession of a machinegun. Those charged with MCD-related offenses face up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Examples of those arrested, as discussed during today’s announcement, include:

•    A complaint charged Darrick Carter, Maya Bradshaw, D’Morion Holleman, Charles Blackshire, and Raul Penalver.  All five are convicted felons.  All are alleged to have participated in trafficking methamphetamine.  Charles Blackshire is also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Criminal histories of these individuals include:
      o    Blackshire has four felony convictions:  3 family violence assaults, the last one in 2019, and unlawfully possessing a firearm.  The complaint charges him with selling a pistol for $850 in May, with his promise of future firearms sales.  
     o    Carter mentioned during one of his drug sales that he was likely going to jail soon for a narcotics offense and that he was currently on parole.  In this case, he is alleged to have brokered methamphetamine transactions and helped facilitate Blackshire’s firearm sale.  
     o    Bradshaw has three felony convictions in Texas; two for possession of a controlled substance, and a robbery in 2016.  She is charged in this case with supplying methamphetamine. 
     o    Holleman has two felony convictions.  One is a state conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and the other is a federal conviction for unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in 2018.
     o    Penalver has a prior state felony conviction for manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance. Bradshaw identified him as her source of supply.

•    Another complaint charged Anthony Wilson, a convicted felon on probation as of January 2025 for second-degree robbery in California.  He is charged with possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.  The complaint alleges that Wilson sold a pistol and ammunition for $850 in May.  He had a child in the backseat of his car during this gun sale.

•    A third complaint charged eight illegal aliens from Venezuela.  They are:  Edixon Urdaneta-Colina, Rodrigo Riquel Cardozo, Carlos Moreno Olivero, Luis Garcia-Zamora, Darwin Ayala-Ochoa, Benito Castro Marrufo, Elwin Manama Rodriguez, and Kenny Manama Perez.  These defendants are charged with trafficking mixtures of powder cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA (commonly known as Ecstasy).  They referred to the narcotics they sold as Tusi, which had a distinct pink color, usually indicative of drugs tied to Venezuela.  Four of these defendants are also alleged to have sold numerous 9-millimeter and .380 caliber handguns at the same time or in the surrounding dates of the controlled drug buys.  On May 21, 2025, all eight defendants showed up that day to provide armed protection for what they believed to be a 50-kilogram methamphetamine transaction, which was actually a ruse arranged by agents. They were charged with firearm possession in furtherance of drug trafficking.  

Moreover, at arrest, agents saw and photographed crown and star tattoos on three of the defendants, Manama Rodriguez, Castro Marrufo, and Urdeneta-Colina.  Members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan transnational criminal organization (TCO) known for violence, often bear these types of tattoos. 

“This operation highlights the tremendous work of our law enforcement partners in dismantling criminal networks—located within and outside our borders—that flood our communities with deadly drugs and tools for violence,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson.  “We are committed to returning safety and order to our neighborhoods through rigorous prosecutions of these types of crimes.  I thank each and every law enforcement officer and agent involved that contributed to the success of this mission.”    

“Every day, someone living throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is affected by gun violence.  And the effects of it are spread throughout the victims’ families and the community,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Bennie Mims. “The tremendous effect that violent crime has on our communities is why coordinated efforts like this Operation Showdown are so important.  ATF is committed to disrupting the violent crime in our communities.  With the help of our partners here today, we were successful.”

“There is no debate that guns and drugs in the hands of criminals is everybody’s problem,” said Eduardo A. Chavez, DEA Special Agent in Charge over operations in Fort Worth. “Since April, through a strategic and targeted approach by our DEA Fort Worth and ATF partners, we have successfully taken kilos of illicit drugs and hundreds of weapons off of Fort Worth neighborhoods while arresting dozens of those victimizing our Tarrant County residents.  We want children to play safely at community parks and ride bikes around neighborhood streets.  This joint operation was a giant, positive step toward that goal this summer.”

“This is about protecting our families and making sure drug dealers know: Tarrant County is not open for business.  We are sending a simple message today: if you choose to poison our streets, you will be met with the full force of the law — no exceptions, no excuses,” said Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells.  “We will continue to work hand-in-hand with our federal partners, with law enforcement at every level, and we will keep doing the job the people entrusted us to do.  My office is firm in our resolve, if you bring this poison into our communities, we will find you, we will prosecute you, and we will put you in prison.”

“The Texoma High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program has two primary, yet simple objectives: facilitate cooperation among law enforcement at all levels and to apply taxpayer funding to law enforcement operations that increase public safety, combat violent crime and saves lives nationwide. When approached by ATF, DEA, and all of our law enforcement partners to support this initiative last year, I jumped at the opportunity. As the saying goes, this wasn't our first rodeo together. Law enforcement has a track record of cooperation and success working together in the North Texas, and this operation is not a finale, it is just the beginning.  As these results show, if you want to live as a gangster, I wouldn’t get too comfortable,” stated Texoma HIDTA Director Keith Brown.

This Operation is the result of collaboration and partnership between ATF, DEA, Fort Worth Police Department, ICE-ERO, Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texoma HIDTA, and U.S. Marshal’s Service.

This investigation is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.  Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's OCDETs and Project Safe Neighborhoods.

The public is reminded these charges are merely allegations, and that each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.