Alfredo Beltran Leyva, also known as Mochomo, one of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a Mexican drug-trafficking cartel responsible for importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States, was sentenced today to life in prison for his participation in an international narcotics trafficking conspiracy.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assitant Director Stephen E. Richardson of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Division and Executive Associate Director Peter T. Edge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement.

“For well over a decade, the defendant commanded a major Mexican drug trafficking organization that imported ton-quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States and led a campaign of violence and fear that gripped communities across North America,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco. “Through close cooperation with our foreign counterparts, the United States brought this international drug-trafficker to justice, significantly disrupted the flow of narcotics into the United States and stemmed the tide of destruction wrought by this violent cartel.”

“Alfredo Beltran Leyva spent decades at the head of a criminal organization responsible for trafficking large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S.,” said Assistant Director Richardson. “Today’s sentencing marks an end to Alfredo Beltran Leyva's reign of terror, and demonstrates that the FBI and our law enforcement partners around the globe will aggressively pursue and bring justice to those individuals who use violence and intimidation to threaten our communities.”

“Alfredo Beltran Leyva is one of the ‘Goliaths’ of Mexican drug traffickers known for his savage business tactics and responsible for flooding the United States with illegal drugs,” said Special Agent in Charge Hunt. “This sentencing exemplifies law enforcement’s commitment to bringing justice to the victims of drug abuse through successful prosecutions of the highest echelon of drug traffickers.”

“Today’s sentencing dealt a major blow to the Beltran Leyva Organization by taking out one of its leaders. It is with tireless joint enforcement efforts like this one that we can remove drugs from America’s streets and make our communities that much safer,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Edge. “HSI and our law enforcement partners, both in the United States and around the world, will not waver in our resolve to dismantle and cripple violent drug organizations, and remove their leadership.”

Beltran Leyva, 46, was indicted on Aug. 24, 2012, for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States. The defendant 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. Judge Leon imposed today’s sentence and ordered Beltran Leyva to forfeit $529,200,000.

In court, Beltran Leyva admitted that he was part of a conspiracy to import large quantities of drugs into the United States. At his plea hearing and during pre-trial conferences, the government proffered evidence that from the early 1990s until his indictment in August 2014, the defendant was a leader of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a global criminal enterprise responsible for importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States. Beltran Leyva admitted that he and his organization obtained tonnage quantities of cocaine from South American suppliers, which the defendant and his organization helped finance and which were transported to Mexico via air, land and sea. Once the cocaine reached Mexico, the defendant’s organization transported it to key points in Mexico, including Culiacan, Sinaloa, which was also the central point for the collection of billions of dollars from drug trafficking proceeds in the United States. At sentencing, the government’s evidence showed that the organization used weapons and carried out acts of violence, including murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, in order to sustain the drug importation operation.

On May 30, 2008, the United States added the Beltran Leyva Organization to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. On Aug. 20, 2009, the United States specifically designated Beltran Leyva as a specially-designated drug trafficker under the same act.

The FBI’s El Paso, Texas, Division led the investigation in partnership with the DEA’s New York Division and HSI’s Special Agent in Charge, New York office as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Acting Deputy Chief Amanda Liskamm and Trial Attorney Adrian Rosales of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drugs Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marcia M. Henry and Andrea Goldbarg of the Eastern District of New York prosecuted the case. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided valuable assistance in the case.</s>Mexican security forces have launched a crackdown on the drug cartels who are fighting a bitter battle that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2006 (AFP)

A former leader of the Beltran Leyva Mexican drug-trafficking cartel that bears his name was sentenced on Wednesday to life in a U.S. prison for participating in an international narcotics trafficking conspiracy, the Justice Department said.

Alfredo Beltran Leyva, 46, also known as Mochomo, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington to forfeit $529 million, the Justice Department said.

Since the 1990s, the Beltran Leyva Organization, together with the Sinaloa Cartel, directed a drug transportation network that shipped tons of cocaine and methamphetamines into the United States, U.S. law enforcement officials said.

At its peak, the Beltran Leyva Organization dominated drug trafficking in western Mexico and was responsible for “countless murders,” they said.

“Alfredo Beltran Leyva is one of the Goliaths of Mexican drug traffickers known for his savage business tactics and responsible for flooding the United States with illegal drugs,” said James Hunt, special agent in charge, of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Beltran Leyva was arrested by Mexican special forces in early 2008 in what his brothers Hector and Arturo reportedly believed to be a sell-out by the rival Sinaloa gang. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Sinaloa gang’s former leader, was extradited to the United States in January and is awaiting trial in a New York jail, after having escaped twice from Mexican custody.

U.S. prosecutors indicted Beltran Leyva in August 2012, while he was still in Mexican custody, on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States. He was extradited from Mexico in November 2014 and pleaded guilty to the charge on Feb. 23, 2016.

Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed in a December 2009 shootout with the Mexican army, while Hector, the cartel’s boss, was captured by Mexican soldiers in October 2014.</s>A Mexican cartel boss once aligned with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and referred to by authorities as one of the “Goliaths” of drug straffickers was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for his involvement in an international drug ring.

Alfredo Beltran Leyva, also known as Mochomo, was a kingpin behind the Beltran Leyva Organization — a Mexican drug-trafficking cartel prosecutors say is responsible for importing substantial quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the US.

US District Court Judge Richard Leon handed down the life sentence, along with a $529,200,000 forfeiture amount based on an “extremely conservative” estimate of the amount of cocaine Beltran Leyva moved to the border for importation to the US.

Beltran Leyva, 46, appeared for his sentencing in federal court in Washington, DC, Wednesday afternoon, unshackled and in a tan jumpsuit. In a translated allocution, Beltran Leyva apologized to the judge for the “behavior that brought me here.”

“I have told the truth before you. I accept the responsibility that I helped by brother Arturo sell cocaine in Culiacán, knowing that it was coming to the US, but I have never sent one kilogram to the US,” he said.

Leon denied an attempt by the defense team to reduce the sentencing range, saying that Beltran Leyva had not accepted responsibility for his actions and “sought to avoid responsibility to the extent that he could.”

The judge said he had not “seen a case of this magnitude in this circuit.”

Under his plea agreement, Beltran Leyva admitted that his cartel helped finance and obtain multi-ton shipments of South American cocaine for close to two decades. The drugs were transported to Culiacan, Sinaloa and other points in Mexico, where billions of dollars in US drug proceeds also were collected, according to prosecutors.

“Today’s sentencing marks an end to Alfredo Beltran Leyva’s reign of terror, and demonstrates that the FBI and our law enforcement partners around the globe will aggressively pursue and bring justice to those individuals who use violence and intimidation to threaten our communities,” said Assistant Director Stephen E. Richardson of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division in a statement.

Beltran Leyva was indicted back in 2012 and extradited from Mexico to the US in 2014.</s>FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2008, file photo, Mexican federal police officers escort Alfredo Beltran Leyva, known as "El Mochomo, upon his arrival at the Mexico City's airport. Beltran Leyva, 46, was sentenced to life in prison on April 5, 2017, after pleading guilty in February to charges his multibillion-dollar operation smuggled tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, file photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A once-powerful Mexican drug cartel leader and associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been sentenced to life in a U.S. prison.

Alfredo Beltran Leyva, 46, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in February to charges his multibillion-dollar operation smuggled tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States. Beltran Leyva led the organization from the 1990s to his indictment in 2014, as it shipped tons of cocaine from South America to the United States, prosecutors said.

Authorities called him a "Goliath" of drug trafficking. A judge ordered him to forfeit more than $529 million, based on what he described as a conservative estimate of the amount of cocaine Beltran Leyva brought into the United States.

Beltran Leyva led a "campaign of violence and fear that gripped communities across North America," acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco said.

The organization relied on killings, torture, kidnappings and other violence to sustain its drug trafficking operation, prosecutors said. FBI Assistant Director Stephen Richardson said the life sentence marks an end to the group's "reign of terror."

The once-powerful Beltran Leyva cartel was led by Alfredo and his brothers as it grew to prominence as an arm of Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel. The Beltran Leyva group smuggled drugs and ran human trafficking operations, along with enforcement operations for the larger Sinaloa organization.

That relationship soured, according to federal prosecutors, after Alfredo Beltran Leyva's 2008 arrest. His brothers blamed Sinaloa leaders for his arrest, and the split eventually led to a bloody fight among the two groups at the same time as the Sinaloa cartel was waging a war against the Juarez cartel for control of drug and human smuggling routes in northern Mexico.

The Beltran Leyva gang started to split apart in late 2009, when one brother, Arturo, who took over for Alfredo, was shot dead by Mexican marines and another brother, Carlos, was detained two weeks later. Another brother, Hector, was arrested in San Miguel de Allende.

Guzman is awaiting prosecution in New York following his extradition from Mexico in January.</s>Alfredo Beltran Leyva, who with his brothers once ran one of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels, appeared in federal court in Washington on Wednesday and asked for a chance to be reunited with his family as an old man.

He got life in prison instead — and was ordered to forfeit nearly more than half a billion dollars.

“You’ve come to the end of a long road, a road filled with violence,” said U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, who called him “a leader of one of the largest drug cartels in the world” before issuing the sentence.

Beltran Leyva was one of the “Goliaths of Mexican drug traffickers, known for his savage business tactics,” James J. Hunt, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York office, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said the Beltran Leyva organization started in Sinaloa in the mid-1990s under the drug cartel run by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who now sits in prison awaiting trial in New York.

The group moved tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S., warred with rival gangs in Guerrero and Mexico state and bought off politicians, police and the press, according to prosecutors.

Planes carrying more than 650 pounds of cocaine would fly daily to the United States, they said.

Arrested in 2008 in Mexico, Beltran Leyva was extradited to the United States in 2014 and pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and importing drugs.

When he was arrested, Mexican police said his .38-caliber pistol was decorated with emeralds, an engraving of revolutionary leader Francisco “Pancho” Villa and a saying: “I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”

At the court hearing Wednesday, Beltran Leyva, 46, known as “El Mochomo,” admitted he worked in the family cocaine trade but portrayed himself as a mere flunky among the brothers.

“I have never sent 1 kilogram of cocaine to the U.S.,” he said. “I ask that you have mercy on me.”

Leon said he had no doubt that Beltran Leyva was a leader of the family cartel. He also ruled that Beltran Leyva would forfeit $529 million, which he said was a “very conservative” estimate of his drug profits.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) - A once-powerful Mexican drug cartel leader and associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been sentenced to life in a U.S. prison.

Alfredo Beltran Leyva, 46, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in February to charges his multibillion-dollar operation smuggled tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States. Beltran Leyva led the organization from the 1990s to his indictment in 2014, as it shipped tons of cocaine from South America to the United States, prosecutors said.

Authorities called him a "Goliath" of drug trafficking. A judge ordered him to forfeit more than $529 million, based on what he described as a conservative estimate of the amount of cocaine Beltran Leyva brought into the United States.

Beltran Leyva led a "campaign of violence and fear that gripped communities across North America," acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco said.

The organization relied on killings, torture, kidnappings and other violence to sustain its drug trafficking operation, prosecutors said. FBI Assistant Director Stephen Richardson said the life sentence marks an end to the group's "reign of terror."

The once-powerful Beltran Leyva cartel was led by Alfredo and his brothers as it grew to prominence as an arm of Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel. The Beltran Leyva group smuggled drugs and ran human trafficking operations, along with enforcement operations for the larger Sinaloa organization.

That relationship soured, according to federal prosecutors, after Alfredo Beltran Leyva's 2008 arrest. His brothers blamed Sinaloa leaders for his arrest, and the split eventually led to a bloody fight among the two groups at the same time as the Sinaloa cartel was waging a war against the Juarez cartel for control of drug and human smuggling routes in northern Mexico.

The Beltran Leyva gang started to split apart in late 2009, when one brother, Arturo, who took over for Alfredo, was shot dead by Mexican marines and another brother, Carlos, was detained two weeks later. Another brother, Hector, was arrested in San Miguel de Allende.

Guzman is awaiting prosecution in New York following his extradition from Mexico in January.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — A once-powerful Mexican drug cartel leader and associate of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been sentenced to life in a U.S. prison.

Alfredo Beltran Leyva was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in February to charges his multibillion-dollar operation smuggled tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States. Prosecutors say the organization shipped the drug from South America.

During his sentencing, prosecutors said the organization relied on killings, kidnappings and other violence to sustain its drug trafficking operation.

The once-powerful Beltran Leyva cartel began as an arm of Guzman’s Sinaloa federation but split after Beltran Leyva’s arrest in 2008.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco says Beltran Leyva led a “campaign of violence and fear that gripped communities across North America.”</s>“For well over a decade, the defendant [Leyva] commanded a major Mexican drug trafficking organization that imported ton-quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States and led a campaign of violence and fear,” the release stated on Wednesday.

In 2012, Leyva was apprehended in Mexico and extradited to the United States two years later. The defendant pleaded guilty to receiving large import large quantities of cocaine from South America and facilitated imports into the United States.

According to the indictment, Leyva's organizations used firearms to kidnap, torture, and murder people as a part of the drug operation.</s>In this Jan. 21, 2008, file photo, Mexican federal police officers escort Alfredo Beltran Leyva, known as "El Mochomo, upon his arrival at the Mexico City's airport. Beltran Leyva, 46, was sentenced to life in prison on April 5, 2017, after pleading guilty in February to charges his multibillion-dollar operation smuggled tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States.

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Mexican Beltrán Leyva Cartel drug lord Alfredo Beltrán Leyva is sentenced to life in prison and ordered to forfeit $US529,200,000.