SAN DIEGO -- One of seven brothers from the notorious Arellano-Felix drug cartel, who admitted distributing cocaine to undercover agents in San Diego 27 years ago, was sentenced Monday to six years in federal prison.

Francisco Rafael Arellano-Felix, 57, was extradited to the United States last year from Mexico, where he had been held on a U.S. arrest warrant since March 2004. The defendant was initially arrested in San Diego and indicted in August 1980, but went on the run after posting $150,000 bail.

The indictment stemmed from a Drug Enforcement Administration undercover operation into a cocaine and heroin distribution organization operating in the San Diego area. Arellano-Felix admitted that he was among a group of individuals who delivered cocaine to an undercover agent; that he personally took payment for the cocaine; and that he was counting the money at the time agents arrested him.

In 2004, Arellano-Felix was about to be released from a Mexican prison for weapons violations when he was ordered held on charges contained in the U.S. indictment.

With credit for time served, Arellano-Felix could be paroled within four months, said defense attorney Brian White. White told U.S. District Judge Irma Gonzalez that Arellano-Felix has spent the last 15 years in prison because of his last name and the reputation of his brothers.

The defendant was a very public figure who ran a nightclub in Mazatlan in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was often seen with celebrities in Mexico, White told the judge. "He is the only Arellano brother who led such a public life," White told the judge. "He was scapegoated. At every turn, he's being punished for the actions of his brothers."

One of the Arellano brothers, Benjamin, told authorities that Rafael had nothing to do with the running of the drug cartel, White told the judge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said Rafael Arellano-Felix was not charged with being part of the overall Arellano-Felix drug conspiracy. Duffy said the defendant's family was not in a position to visit him while he was in custody, but that could change if he is paroled. "I do not think for a moment that he has lost contact with his family," the prosecutor said outside court.

The defendant told the judge that he had been denied his liberty for years and reminded her that one of his co-defendants was set free and the other was sentenced to three years behind bars. "I am a remorseful man for all the mistakes I've made in the past," he said.

Arellano-Felix pleaded guilty June 18 to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. His brother, Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, the leader of the AFO, pleaded guilty last month to running a criminal enterprise and conspiracy to launder money. He is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without parole on Nov. 5.