Mexican drug cartel leader extradited to the US after importing tons of cocaine
On November 17, 2014, Department of Justice officials announced that Mexican drug kingpin Alfredo Beltran Leyva, also known as El Mochomo (The Desert Ant), was extradited to the United States from Mexico. He is one of the alleged leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a Mexican drug-trafficking cartel that imported multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States for decades.
According to the DEA’s Special Agent in Charge Hunt, “For years Alfredo Beltran Leyva, along with his brothers, was responsible for not only smuggling tons of cocaine to the United States, but also for the violence that has plagued the lives of Mexican citizens.”
According to government’s filings, between the early 1990s until his January 2008 arrest by Mexican law enforcement, Beltran Leyva headed the Beltran Leyva Organization with his brothers Hector Beltran Leyva and Arturo Beltran Leyva. During that time, this drug smuggling organization, working closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, shipped tons of cocaine from South America into the United States via land, air and sea. They used shipping routes through Central America and Mexico. The Beltran Leyva Organization hired hitmen who carried out hundreds of acts of violence, including murders, kidnappings, torture and violent collections of drug debts.
