Mexican drug cartel boss sentenced to life in prison, ordered to forfeit $529 million

Alfredo Beltran Leyva, one of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), was sentenced to life in prison for his role in an international drug trafficking operation, federal officials said Wednesday.

The BLO Mexican drug-trafficking cartel is responsible for “importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the US,” federal officials said.

“For well over a decade, Alfredo Beltran Leyva commanded a major Mexican drug trafficking organization that imported ton-quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the US and led a campaign of violence and fear that gripped communities across North America,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“Today’s sentencing marks an end to Alfredo Beltran Leyva’s reign of terror,” said Assitant Director Stephen E. Richardson of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.

James J. Hunt, the Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division, referred to Beltran Leyva as one of the “Goliaths of Mexican drug traffickers.” Hunt said the drug kingpin was “known for his savage business tactics.”

The 46-year-old Beltran Leyva was indicted August 24, 2012, for “Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine and Methamphetamine for Importation into the United States.”

He was extradited from Mexico to the United States on Nov. 15, 2014, and pleaded guilty on Feb. 23, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon of the District of Columbia. Leon imposed the life sentence and ordered Beltran Leyva to forfeit more than $529 million in assets.

In court, Beltran Leyva admitted he and his organization obtained tonnage quantities of cocaine from South American suppliers, which BLO “helped finance and which were transported to Mexico via air, land and sea,” a news release states.

Once the cocaine reached Mexico, BLO transported it to key distribution points in Mexico. Evidence presented in court revealed BLO “carried out acts of violence, including murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, in order to sustain the drug importation operation.”

The FBI’s El Paso Division led the investigation in partnership with the DEA’s New York Division and HSI’s Special Agent in Charge in New York.