Tijuana cartel leader faces 15 years
From The San Diego Union Tribune
By Greg Moran
SAN DIEGO - "The last of four brothers who ran the Arellano Félix drug cartel in Tijuana pleaded guilty in federal court to two charges related to the
vast profits the organization earned over two decades.
Eduardo Arellano Félix, 56, will also receive no more than 15 years in prison under terms of a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office in San
Diego. That is less than the prison sentences handed to his two brothers: Javier Arellano Félix got a life sentence and Benjamin a 25-year term.
If he had been convicted on all of the charges lodged against him in a 1997 indictment, Eduardo Arellano Félix faced a sentence of 140 years, said his
attorney, Brian Funk.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering and a second of illicit use of drug profits. Funk said the charges he admitted to reflect his role
in the family drug business, which he said was not as prominent as his other brothers'.
"For the last 20 to 25 years, he's basically been a recluse," Funk said, "and has had no dealing with the organization other than through his family."
Arellano admitted to taking millions of dollars in drug profits made by the family and investing it in real estate and other ventures.
"The day-to-day operations and all of the real nasty transactions was ordered by his brothers," Funk said outside of court.
U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement the plea marked "the end of an era" for the family cartel.
"When this ruthless cartel was thriving in the 1990s we made what some considered an audacious and impossible commitment to wipe out the
organization," Duffy said. "Today we can say we have done just that."
Several local defense attorneys were surprised at the 15-year sentence Arellano will get. Former federal prosecutor John Kirby, who worked on the
Arellano brothers' indictment, along with Duffy, before becoming a defense attorney, said the prison term was "very, very low" given Eduardo's role in
the group.
"The evidence against Eduardo was never as strong as it was against the others," Kirby said. "But it seems to me even given that, that 15 years isn't
appropriate."
He said Eduardo was among the top four decision-makers for the cartel before pulling back from the group after the killing of Cardinal Juan Jesus
Posadas Ocampo at the airport in Guadalajara in 1993.
Arellano will be formally sentenced on Aug. 19. As part of the plea, he agreed to forfeit $50 million in assets and proceeds from the enterprise,
though federal authorities have yet to locate any assets to seize.
During Friday's hearing before U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns, Arellano hesitated several times when Burns questioned him about his precise role
in the cartel. Eventually, he acknowledged that he helped launder the drug profits and invest them in various ways that helped the organization
thrive.
Arellano was extradited to the U.S. to face the charges in 2012. Mexican police had captured him in Tijuana in 2008"
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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