FRESNO --Federal, state, and local agents arrested eight Nuestra Familia gang members and associates on federal drug trafficking charges and served six federal search warrants in a two-day operation as part of a coordinated law enforcement operation targeting the criminal gang Nuestra Familia, federal officials announced Wednesday.

In addition, six defendants were arrested on state warrants, officials stated.

According to court documents, the defendants are alleged members of the Nuestra Familia prison gang or Norteño gang. Court documents allege that the defendants engaged in a variety of violent crimes in violation of federal and state law including homicide, attempted homicide, home invasion, burglary, and methamphetamine trafficking, federal authorities stated.

SACRAMENTO, CA-- A federal judge sentenced Juan Gallegos, also known as "Wino," to 21 years and 10 months in prison for conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana along with our other drug trafficking felonies, according to law enforcement officials.

Gallegos, a member of Nuestra Familia, a violent Hispanic prison gang based in Northern California, helped transport and distribute large loads of the drugs from Southern California to Northern California, federal officials stated.

During his guilty plea, Gallegos, 36, of Salinas, admitted that he provided security for the 20 kilograms of cocaine as they were transported in furtherance of the overall NF drug trafficking conspiracy, stated FBI and other authorities.

The initial Indictment of 25 defendants in June 2007 led to two successful jury trials, according to officials.

The jury trials resulted in the convictions of five separate defendants on multiple counts of drug trafficking.

In the 2009 trial, one defendant demanded a speedy trial, was convicted, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to U.S. Attorney's Office.

In the 2010 trial, four of the NF's leadership defendants were each convicted on all the counts in the indictment after a contentious four-month jury trial.

Today's sentencing was the latest result of the new indictment that was handed down by a Sacramento Grand Jury in January 2011, officials stated.