Mexico drug lord pleads guilty to U.S. trafficking

SAN DIEGO, Calif, (Reuters) – Once powerful Mexican  drug lord Benjamin Arellano Felix pleaded guilty in a U.S.  federal court yesterday to drug trafficking, racketeering and  money laundering charges.

Benjamin Arellano Felix

Arellano Felix, 58, was the head of the feared Tijuana  cartel run by his brothers and operated on the Mexico-U.S.  border near San Diego until his capture in Mexico in early 2002.

He was extradited to the United States last April, and  prosecutors said his guilty plea marked the demise of the  violent cartel that dominated smuggling on the California-Mexico  border in the 1980s and 1990s.

“Arellano Felix led the most violent criminal organization  in this part of the world for two decades. Today’s guilty plea  marks the end of his reign of murder, mayhem and corruption,”  U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said.

“His historic admission of guilt sends a clear message to  the Mexican cartel leaders operating today: The United States  will spare no effort to investigate, extradite and prosecute you  for your criminal activities,” she added.

As part of a 17-page plea agreement, Arellano Felix admitted  smuggling tons of cocaine and marijuana into California and  conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

He also agreed to forfeit $100 million in profits under the  plea deal, which is expected to land him 25 years in federal  prison when he is sentenced on April 2.
“It was a favourable deal to my client who faced a minimum of  40 years and a maximum of 140 years under the extradition  agreement,” defense attorney Anthony Colombo Jr. said.

CARTEL A SHADOW OF
FORMER SELF

President Barack Obama’s administration has worked closely  with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in his army-led battle to  crush warring drug gangs in a conflict that has claimed more  than 46,000 lives since late 2006.

At the height of his power in the 1990s, Arellano Felix  smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars in narcotics through a  100-mile-wide (160-kilometre) corridor stretching from Tijuana,  south of San Diego, to Mexicali, south of Calexico.

But after the death and capture of many of its leaders over  the past decade, including three of Benjamin Arellano Felix’s  brothers, the Tijuana cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix  Organization, is a shadow of its former self.

Arellano Felix’s brother Ramon, the cartel’s flamboyant  enforcer, died in a shoot-out in 2002. Francisco Javier is  serving a life sentence in U.S. federal prison after being  captured on a fishing boat in 2006, and Eduardo is in jail in  Mexico awaiting extradition.

With the downfall of the Arellano Felix brothers, the rival  Sinaloa cartel run by Mexico’s most-wanted man, Joaquin “Shorty”  Guzman, has largely taken over the cartel’s valuable turf in  Tijuana.

Appearing before U.S. District Judge Larry Burns at the  hearing, Arellano Felix was neatly groomed and dressed in an  orange jumpsuit.

He said he took medication for migraine headaches, but when  asked by the judge if it affected his decision to plead, he  replied, “no.”

Among the former kingpins serving time in U.S. jails is  former Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas, who was extradited to  the United States by Mexico in 2007 and is serving a 25-year  sentence in Texas without chance of parole.