Mexican cartel leader sentenced to 43 years in US prison

Investigators say a Mexican drug cartel leader whose arrest led to the killings of 12 Mexican police officers has been sentenced in the United States to 43 years in prison on drug charges.

A federal judge in Dallas sentenced 48-year-old Arnoldo Rueda-Medina on Wednesday. He also was ordered to pay a $5 million fine.

Federal officials say Rueda-Medina’s cartel was responsible for smuggling thousands of kilograms of meth into the U.S. and stashing it in Texas and other locations.

Rueda-Medina was arrested in Mexico in 2009 and extradited to the U.S. in 2017. Authorities say his arrest led to the torture and killings of a dozen police officers in Mexico whose bodies were bound and dumped on a mountain road.

Rueda-Medina pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.