Final Arellano Felix Brother Sentenced
The infamous Tijuana drug cartel was run by the Arellano Felix family for years. Now, the last of the clan is headed to prison.
The infamous Tijuana drug cartel was run by the Arellano Felix family for years. Now, the last of the clan is headed to prison.
Eduardo Arellano Felix, who took care of the organization’s financial matters, pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to 15 years in a U.S. prison. It took the DEA 20 years to finalize its investigation into the notoriously bloody cartel. BBC News reports:
A judge in San Diego told Arellano Felix, also known as The Doctor, he should have been aware of the “terrible effects” of the cartel’s activities, despite being mainly responsible for its finances.
“And for that, you should be ashamed,” said judge Larry Burns, who sentenced Eduardo’s brother Francisco Javier to a life sentence in 2007.
Another of Eduardo Arellano Felix’s brothers, Benjamin, is also serving a sentence in a US prison.
A fourth brother, Ramon, died in a shoot-out in Mexico in 2002.
The oldest brother, Francisco Rafael, was convicted in 2008 to six years in prison for selling drugs to an undercover agent, but the US authorities set him free as he had already served the time in Mexico.
Eduardo has reportedly requested to share a cell with his brother Benjamin. It appears despite the cruelty these drug kingpins showed their fellow human beings—dissolving their enemies in corrosive chemicals, for example—their family bonds persist.
—Posted by Natasha Hakimi
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