A federal judge issued the first formal prison against Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, leader of the Gulf Cartel, after his deportation from the United States to Mexico on December 16.
Daniel Marcelino Niño Jiménez, Fourth District Judge in Criminal Matters of Toluca, considered that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) presented sufficient evidence to initiate a process for organized crime, in the form of crimes against health. The notification of the ruling was made yesterday at the Altiplano Prison, where he is detained.
The FGR points out that Cárdenas Guillén exercised leadership of the Gulf Cartel, establishing alliances with other criminal organizations and trafficking drugs internationally, mainly through the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán, in addition to Guerrero and Tamaulipas.
“After the evidence provided by the agent of the Public Ministry of the Federation, the Fourth District Court in Criminal Matters with residence in Toluca, issued an order of formal imprisonment against this person, in the Federal Center for Social Reintegration number 1.” Altiplano’, in Almoloya de Juárez,” the agency reported.
This process is the first in which Cárdenas Guillén appears after his return to Mexico. During his preparatory statement before Judge Niño Jiménez, he pleaded not guilty to the drug trafficking charges.
Federal authorities indicated that, this Monday, a judge in Jalisco could determine whether to formally imprison Cárdenas Guillén in relation to another file, where he is accused of having murdered six people. Among the victims are Guadalupe and Juan Rosendo Vázquez Guzmán, brothers of Francisco Vázquez Guzmán, a protected witness under the code name “Rufino”, who were murdered on July 4, 2002 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
The capo also faces two other pending arrest warrants and the reactivation of seven criminal proceedings that were pending after his extradition to the United States in 2007.
The Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) reported last week that the arrest warrants were issued for crimes such as qualified homicide, organized crime and crimes against health.
The processes he still faces include two for organized crime (in the form of crimes against health and money laundering), as well as crimes related to firearms, collection and bribery. According to the SSPC, if found guilty of all charges, Cárdenas Guillén could face up to 730 years in prison.
The capo was arrested on March 14, 2003 in Matamoros and extradited to the United States on January 19, 2007. In 2010, the Federal Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston sentenced him to 25 years in prison and a fine of 50 million dollars after pleading guilty to several criminal charges.
On December 16, 2023, the United States deported Cárdenas Guillén to Mexico, crossing the border in Tijuana, Baja California, and from there he was transferred by air to Mexico City, to be interned in the Altiplano Prison.
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