A top Sinaloa Cartel operator accused of planning several kidnappings and executions in the El Paso/Juarez Metropolitan Area was extradited to Texas for a federal trial.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the extradition of Jose Antonio “Jaguar” Torres Marrufo, a top Sinaloa Cartel lieutenant, who was previously fighting to remain in Mexico. The man is named in a 2011 criminal indictment along with jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and current cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Prosecutors claim the cartel members moved drugs, performed kidnappings, and murdered people in the U.S. and Mexico. Breitbart News reported on a civil lawsuit filed against various international banks for alleged complicity in laundering cartel funds and fueling the murder of U.S. citizens.
Torres Marrufo, originally a member of the Juarez Cartel, eventually joined forces with El Chapo and became the leader of the armed wing of Sinaloa Cartel in Ciudad Juarez–earning a reputation for bloodthirstiness. Mexican authorities arrested Torres Marrufo in 2012 but he was successfully able to tie up the extradition process for several years, El Universal reported.
According to U.S. prosecutors, in September 2009, Marrufo, under the orders of El Chapo and El Mayo, planned and the kidnapping of a man from Horizon City, Texas, who allegedly lost a 670-pound load of marijuana at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint. Sinaloa Cartel gunmen kidnapped the victim and moved him to Ciudad Juarez, where Torres Marrufo allegedly interrogated him and ordered his execution. Mexican authorities later discovered the victim’s mutilated body.
The criminal indictment also points to the 2007 kidnapping of a U.S. family during a wedding in Ciudad Juarez. Three hostages were tortured and killed after a fourth was murdered at the wedding site.
In 2017, Breitbart News reported on the 24-year- prison sentence that a U.S. federal judge handed down to Francisco Javier “El Pichas” Pulido, a Sinaloa Cartel hitman who worked under Torres Marrufo. If convicted, Torres Marrufo faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Border / Cartel Chronicles. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Border / Cartel Chronicles. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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