DENVER,  (Reuters) – The kingpin of a violent Mexican  drug smuggling clan has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and  racketeering charges, authorities said yesterday.  

Miguel Angel Caro Quintero, 46, pleaded guilty at the U.S.  federal court in Denver to one count of racketeering in  Colorado and one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana in  Arizona, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.  

Caro Quintero, a leader of the Sonora Cartel, faces up to  20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Feb 4.  

He admitted to trafficking more than 100 tons of marijuana  between 1985 and 1988, and sending more than $100 million in  proceeds back to Mexico. 

The Caro Quintero family is one of the most violent and  storied in the history of Mexican drug trafficking.  

Rafael Caro Quintero — the elder brother of Miguel Angel  — was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Drug  Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique “Kiki”  Camarena in 1985. He is serving a 40-year prison sentence in  Mexico.  

U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe  Calderon have vowed cooperation to fight Mexican drug gangs.  More than 14,500 people have died in drug-related violence in  Mexico since Calderon launched an army-led assault on drug  cartels soon after taking office in 2006.  

On Thursday, U.S. law enforcement agencies announced they  had arrested 303 people in an operation spanning 19 states to  strike at Mexico’s La Familia Michoacana cartel.