Who is Osiel Cárdenas Guillén?
Osiel Cárdenas was nicknamed “El Loco”, “El Patrón”, “Padrino”, “Memo”, “El Viejón” and “El Mata Amigos”, this last nickname was acquired after he murdered his friend and then head of the Gulf Cartel, Salvador Gómez Herrera, in 1998, in order to obtain control of that criminal organization.
The capo was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on May 19, 1967. He is currently 57 years old.
He is identified as a former leader of the Gulf Cartel and “Los Zetas”, a criminal group formed in the 1990s with former elite military members.
In 2003, Osiel Cárdenas was captured by elements of the Mexican Army and the then Attorney General’s Office (PGR) in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
On March 7, 2005, the Mexican government granted the United States the extradition of Osiel Cárdenas, but it was not until January 2007 that the kingpin was finally transferred.
During his trial in the United States, Osiel Cárdenas pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion of federal agents; in exchange, 12 other drug trafficking charges were dropped.
He was given a sentence of 25 years in prison, without parole, and fined $50 million after a trial conducted over three years in complete secrecy.
Osiel Cárdenas became one of the most feared Mexican hitmen for implementing violent strategies to try to maintain control of drug trafficking. Today he is held in the maximum security prison of El Altiplano, where the authorities trust that he will serve life sentences.
A capture history
Cárdenas Guilén was first detained in August 1992 in the United States, after crossing through Brownsville, Texas, using a border crossing card that allowed him to temporarily remain 25 miles from the US-Mexico border. He was then arrested for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and was transferred to the Cameron County Jail in Brownsville, Texas.
On January 13, 1993, the Court for the Southern District of Texas, in Brownsville, sentenced the capo to 63 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute an amount greater than 500 grams.
According to information from ICE, at the end of that year, on December 23, 1993, he was transferred to Mexico under the Treaty between the United States and Mexico on the Execution of Criminal Sentences.
On March 14, 2000, the United States Attorney’s Office in Houston filed an indictment against Cárdenas for 13 counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, six counts of assault on a federal official, one count of laundering monetary instrumentsa charge of conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana into the US from Mexicoand a charge of continuation of a criminal enterprise.
The Office of International Affairs of the US Department of Justice collaborated with the Government of Mexico to achieve his extradition.
On January 19, 2007, Mexico extradited Cárdenas to the United States to stand trial in the Southern District of Texas.
