Related To Story Feds Nab Alleged Mexican Drug Lord
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Senior Member Of Drug Cartel Sentenced
POSTED: 6:11 am PST January 8,
2008
UPDATED: 11:33 am PST January 8,
2008
SAN DIEGO -- A senior lieutenant for the once-powerful Arellano-Felix drug cartel has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for smuggling hundreds of tons of drugs, committing murders and paying millions of dollars in bribes to law enforcement.U.S. District Judge Larry Burns also ordered 32-year-old Manuel Arturo Villareal-Heredia on Monday to forfeit $5 million.The defendant pleaded guilty Sept. 17 to operating an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering and conspiracy to invest illicit drug profits.
Villareal and the leader of the AFO, Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, were captured off the coast of Baja California in August 2006 aboard the 43-foot yacht "Dock Holliday."Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix also pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced last Nov. 5 to life in prison.Defense attorney Paul Blake told Burns yesterday that he felt very strongly that Villareal will be rehabilitated and become a productive member of society with the support of his family.For his part, Villareal thanked the judge for giving him "good counsel" and thanked Burns for being a "fair judge."Burns told the defendant he had trouble differentiating between the polite man before him in court and the man who tortured and killed people in furtherance of the AFO."I think you got a tremendous break here," Burns told the defendant.The judge said that absent a plea agreement, he would have given Villareal more time in custody.
Previous Stories:
- December 17, 2007: Mexican Man Sentenced For Role In Deadly Drug Cartel
- November 5, 2007: Convicted Drug Kingpin Apologizes During Sentencing
- November 5, 2007: Cartel Leader To Be Sentenced
- October 15, 2007: Brother Of Alleged Drug Kingpin Sentenced
- September 21, 2007: U.S. Court Unseals Details in Mexican Drug Lord Case
- September 17, 2007: Mexican Drug Lord Pleads Guilty In U.S. Court
- April 27, 2007: Brothers In Drug Cartel Plead Guilty To Racketeering
- December 20, 2006: Arellano-Felix, Alleged AFO Member Plead Not Guilty
- December 12, 2006: Trial Date Set For Leader Of Arellano-Felix Drug Cartel
- October 2, 2006: Judge: Arellano-Felix Trial Should Start Next Spring
- September 18, 2006: Alleged Drug Lord's Brother Faces Judge
- September 5, 2006: Federal Judge Refuses To Take Himself Off Arellano-Felix Case
- August 17, 2006: Suspected Drug Lord Pleads Not Guilty
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