13 of Mexico’s Worst Criminals and Cartel Bosses Extradited to U.S.

Thirteen of Mexico’s worst criminals, including famed cartel bosses La Barbie and Gulf Cartel’s El Coss, have been extradited to the United States. The feds expect to prosecute them.

The move took place under much secrecy on Wednesday. Mexican authorities shipped 13 high-profile criminals to the United States, where the U.S. Marshals Service took custody of them.

The move comes just months after Mexico’s most famous criminal, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, escaped from that country’s most secure prison. Prior to his escape, Mexican officials had been reluctant to extradite Guzman, raising questions about the capo’s reach as far as corrupting officials.

In regard to Wednesday’s extradition, the U.S. Department of Justice praised the move through a prepared statement heralding a new era of collaboration that began on June 16, when Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with her Mexican counterpart Arely Gomez.

The Department of Justice stated that the following 12 defendants were placed in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service late this afternoon.  An additional defendant was also extradited. U.S. authorities did not release his name, however, Mexican authorities confirmed the identity of the 13th man.

• Luis Umberto Hernandez Celis, aka Pack; Alberto Nunez-Payan, aka Fresa, Fresco and 97; and Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, aka Chino, are alleged members of the Barrio Azteca gang and were charged on March 9, 2011, in Western District of Texas with participating in the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez, Mexico, of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs, and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. Consulate employee.

• Jorge Costilla-Sanchez, aka El Cos, an alleged former leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, was charged on April 10, 2002 in the Southern District of Texas with cocaine and marijuana importation and distribution, money laundering, and threatening federal law enforcement officers with assault, kidnapping, or murder. Costilla-Sanchez was among the FBI’s most wanted until his arrest by Mexican authorities on Sept. 12, 2012.

• Edgar Valdez Villarreal, aka La Barbie, and Carlos Montemayor were allegedly high-level members of the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva Cartels and were charged on June 11, 2010, in the Northern District of Georgia with conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, as well as conspiring to launder money by transporting drug money from the United States into Mexico. Valdez Villarreal also faces narcotics-related charges in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

• Jean Baptiste Kingery was charged on Nov. 20, 2013 in the Central District of California with arms trafficking related to the illegal exportation of defense articles and munitions from the United States to Mexico. Kingery is expected to make his initial appearance in the District of Arizona on Oct. 1, 2015.

• Aureliano Montoya-Pena, aka La Changa, was among 20 defendants charged on Nov. 2, 2011, in the Northern District of Illinois with conspiracy to possess and distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and various other offenses related to transporting millions of dollars in drug proceeds between Chicago and Mexico.

• Julio Cesar Valenzuela-Elizalde, aka The Pilot, was among eight defendants charged on Dec. 19, 2002, in the District of Arizona with an international methamphetamine distribution conspiracy, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to import a controlled substance.

• Martin Daniel Castillo-Rascon was charged on June 12, 2013 in the Western District of Texas with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, importation of a controlled substance, and aiding and abetting.

• Antonio Reynoso-Gonzalez was charged in 1995 in the Southern District of California along with Joaquin Guzman-Loera, aka El Chapo, and 22 others with conspiracy to import and to possess cocaine with intent to distribute.

• Antonio Gonzalez Platas was charged in the state of Arkansas with rape.

• Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota aka Juan manuel Maldonado Amezcua aka Safado aka Pelon is wanted out of the federal court in the District of Columbia on murder and weapons charges.

• Carlos Montemayor aka The Director aka El Licenciado was charged out of the Northern District of Georgia on drug trafficking chrages and money laundering chartges

 

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.