Washington: A former Mexican drug lord was sentenced to 25 years in prison and made to forfeit USD 50 million of his personal fortune by a federal court in Texas, the US Justice Department said.
Osiel Cardenas, 42, who formerly headed Mexico's notorious Gulf cartel, was arrested in Mexico in 2003 and extradited in 2007 to the United States, where he has been held behind bars without parole.
Yesterday's sentence followed previously-entered Cardenas pleas of guilty to five charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and threatening to kill federal agents, the department said in a statement.
US District Judge Hilda Tagle in Houston, Texas, sentenced Cardenas to 25 years without parole in federal prison, and fined him USD 100,000.
In addition, "the court entered a preliminary order of forfeiture imposing a personal money judgement against Cardenas in favour of the United States in the amount of USD 50 million.”
The US government said more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine seized in the United States between July 2000 and September 2001 were attributable to Cardenas's cartel.
Drug ledgers seized showed the group made USD 41 million from selling drugs in Atlanta, Georgia, in a 3.5-month period of 2001.
Cardenas was also linked to death threats made to US law enforcement officials working undercover during his three-year investigation, the Justice Department said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 11:22