WASHINGTON D.C.
A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Alfredo Beltran Leyva, a leader of the Beltran-Leyva Drug Organization, to life in prison for importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine, according to officials.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, of Washington D.C., also ordered Beltran Leyva, also known as Mochomo, to forfeit $529 million.
“For well over a decade, the defendant commanded a major Mexican drug trafficking organization that imported ton-quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States and led a campaign of violence and fear that gripped communities across North America,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco. “Through close cooperation with our foreign counterparts, the United States brought this international drug trafficker to justice, significantly disrupted the flow of narcotics into the United States and stemmed the tide of destruction wrought by this violent cartel.”
Beltran Leyva, 46, was indicted on Aug. 24, 2012, for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States.
The defendant was extradited from Mexico to the United States on Nov. 15, 2014, and pleaded guilty on Feb. 23, 2016, before
“Alfredo Beltran Leyva spent decades at the head of a criminal organization responsible for trafficking large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S.,” said Assistant Director Stephen E. Richardson with the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s sentencing marks an end to Alfredo Beltran Leyva’s reign of terror, and demonstrates that the FBI and our law enforcement partners around the globe will aggressively pursue and bring justice to those individuals who use violence and intimidation to threaten our communities.”
In court, Beltran Leyva admitted that he was part of a conspiracy to import large quantities of drugs into the United States.
The evidence indicated that from the early 1990s until his indictment in August 2014, the defendant was a leader of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a global criminal enterprise responsible for importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States.
Beltran Leyva admitted that he and his organization obtained tonnage quantities of cocaine from South American suppliers, which the defendant and his organization helped finance and which were transported to Mexico via air, land and sea.
Once the cocaine reached Mexico, the defendant’s organization transported it to key points in Mexico, including Culiacan, Sinaloa, which was also the central point for the collection of billions of dollars from drug trafficking proceeds in the United States.
At sentencing, the government’s evidence showed that the organization used weapons and carried out acts of violence, including murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, in order to sustain the drug importation operation.
On May 30, 2008, the United States added the Beltran Leyva Organization to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. On Aug. 20, 2009, the United States specifically designated Beltran Leyva as a specially-designated drug trafficker under the same act.
On Aug. 20, 2009, the United States specifically designated Beltran Leyva as a specially-designated drug trafficker under the same act.