https://www.timesunion.com/news/crime/article/Alleged-top-Mexican-drug-cartel-leader-to-be-12983223.php
Extradited from Mexico, cartel leader gets nearly 50 years
Updated 1:15 pm, Monday, June 11, 2018
Dead, arrested, or on the run, 19 cartel leaders sit at the head of a handful of criminal groups bringing drugs into the U.S., according to a new federal Drug Enforcement Agency report. Click through the slideshow to see the cartel leaders.
lessDead, arrested, or on the run, 19 cartel leaders sit at the head of a handful of criminal groups bringing drugs into the U.S., according to a new federal Drug Enforcement Agency report. Click through the
... moreRafael Caro-Quintero
The Sinaloa Cartel
Rafael Caro-Quintero
The Sinaloa Cartel
Julio Cesar Olivas-Torres aka "Sexto"
The Juarez Cartel
Julio Cesar Olivas-Torres aka "Sexto"
The Juarez Cartel
Jose Luis Ruelas-Torres
The Beltran-Leyva Organization
Jose Luis Ruelas-Torres
The Beltran-Leyva Organization
Juan Francisco Patron-Sanchez aka "H2"
The Beltran-Leyva Organization
Status: Deceased
Juan Francisco Patron-Sanchez aka "H2"
The Beltran-Leyva Organization
Status: Deceased
Juan Francisco Trevino-Chavez
Los Zetas Cartel
Status: Arrested
Juan Francisco Trevino-Chavez
Los Zetas Cartel
Status: Arrested
Juan Gerardo Trevino-Chavez aka "Huevo"
Los Zetas Cartel
Juan Gerardo Trevino-Chavez aka "Huevo"
Los Zetas Cartel
Juan Manuel Loza-Salinas aka "El Toro"
The Gulf Cartel
Juan Manuel Loza-Salinas aka "El Toro"
The Gulf Cartel
Carlos Arturo Quintana-Quintana aka "Ochenta"
The Juarez Cartel
Status: Deceased
Carlos Arturo Quintana-Quintana aka "Ochenta"
The Juarez Cartel
Status: Deceased
Abigael Gonzalez-Velencia aka "El Cuini"
Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion
Status: Arrested
Abigael Gonzalez-Velencia aka "El Cuini"
Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion
Status: Arrested
Jose Alfredo Cardenas-Martinez aka "Contador"
The Gulf Cartel
Jose Alfredo Cardenas-Martinez aka "Contador"
The Gulf Cartel
Jorge Luis Mendoza-Cardenas aka "La Garra"
Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion
Jorge Luis Mendoza-Cardenas aka "La Garra"
Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion
Jose Antonio Romo-Lopez aka "Don Chucho"
The Gulf Cartel
Jose Antonio Romo-Lopez aka "Don Chucho"
The Gulf Cartel
ATLANTA (AP) — A judge in Atlanta on Monday sentenced a former Texas high school football player who rose through a bloody power struggle for control of a Mexican drug cartel to serve nearly 50 years in federal prison.
Edgar Valdez Villarreal, also known as "La Barbie" for his light eyes and complexion, also was ordered to forfeit $192 million.
Valdez, 44, was accused of bringing trucks full of cocaine from Mexico to the eastern United States and shipping millions of dollars in cash back to Mexico.
He was arrested in Mexico in 2010 and was among 13 people extradited to the U.S. from Mexico in September 2015 to face charges. He pleaded guilty in January 2016 to charges of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, and conspiring to launder money.
Valdez was born in Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border. His father was a nightclub and bar owner, and they lived in a middle-class subdivision populated by border patrol agents, police officers and firefighters.
He became a street dealer as a teen when he was still a linebacker on the football team at Laredo United High School, and then climbed the ranks to become a high-ranking member of the Beltran Leyva gang during the era when the gang's leaders were associated with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel, prosecutors have said.
He lived a flashy lifestyle, dressing in nice suits and going to clubs, and owning homes in the most expensive parts of Mexico City. But his luxurious life was threatened after Mexican marines killed its leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva, during a gun battle in Cuernavaca in December 2009.
Valdez and Beltran Leyva's brother, Hector, began a bloody fight for control that left dismembered and decapitated bodies in the streets and often hanging from bridges in Cuernavaca and Acapulco, along with threatening messages.
An elite U.S.-trained Mexican federal police squad acting on tips arrested Valdez and four others at a woody vacation home outside Mexico City in August 2010. At the time, then-Mexican President Felipe Calderon called Valdez "one of the most-wanted criminals in Mexico and abroad."
An alleged Valdez associate, Carlos Montemayor Gonzalez, was extradited along with him and also faces charges. He has pleaded not guilty, and his case is pending.
