SAN DIEGO -- A preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday for one of 13 people arrested in San Diego during a nationwide sweep targeting a fast- moving Mexican drug cartel known for its violence and control over the methamphetamine trade.

Angel Quintero Castillo was arrested last month as part of Project Coronado, an ongoing federal government campaign against La Familia. One local prosecutor described Castillo as a "facilitator."

"Angel was a puppet master who arranged the deals through telephone conversations," Deputy District Attorney Carlos Campbell alleged.

The 28-year-old defendant is charged with conspiring to transport meth, including 2.2 pounds of the drug last month, Campbell said.

A judge will decided after Thursday's hearing whether there is enough evidence to go to trial. If tried and convicted, Quintero Castillo faces three years and eight months in prison.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said more than 3,000 federal, state and local agents participated in the sweep that led to Quintero Castillo's arrest. It was the largest single sweep ever mounted against a Mexican cartel. In addition to San Diego, arrests were made in 37 other cities, from Boston to Seattle.

Over the past 44 months, Project Coronado has netted 1,186 arrests and the seizure of $32.5 million, 2,710 pounds of meth, 4,398 pounds of cocaine, 29 pounds of heroin, 16,390 pounds of marijuana, 389 weapons and 269 vehicles.

La Familia is the newest of Mexico's five major drug cartels. Though it opposes the sale of meth to Mexicans, La Familia is responsible for the vast majority of the drug entering the United States, according to the DEA.

Since April, local officials have seized about 460 pounds of meth brought into the United States from Mexico as part of the cartel's operation, according to authorities.

The new cartel, a breakaway from the Gulf Cartel, first gained attention in 2006 by rolling the severed heads of five men onto a dance floor at a disco in Michoacan, Mexico, along with a note warning off rival traffickers.