WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday blacklisted Mexican national Jose Luis Ruelas Torres for leading what the U.S. Treasury Department said is a family organization that smuggles heroin across the border for sale in cities across the United States.

The U.S. Treasury also blacklisted nine other Mexican men and one Mexican woman it said were associates of Ruelas Torres’ drug trafficking organization. The action means that any assets the people might have in the United States are frozen, and Americans are prohibited from doing business with them.