David Amoruso / PRESS RELEASE
Two high-level drug cartel bosses were among a group of 13 individuals extradited from Mexico to the United States to face charges pending in various jurisdictions, including the murders of a U.S. Consulate employee and two others, and other violent crimes and drug trafficking-related offenses.
The extradition list features cartel bosses, an arms trafficker, drug dealers, murderous gangbangers, and one rapist. So, without further delay, let’s take a look at the two biggest names on the list.
Jorge Costilla-Sanchez, aka El Cos, is an alleged former leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, and was charged on April 10, 2002, in Texas with cocaine and marijuana importation and distribution, money laundering, and threatening federal law enforcement officers with assault, kidnapping or murder. He was among the FBI’s most wanted until his arrest by Mexican authorities on September 12, 2012.
And then there is Edgar Valdez Villarreal, aka La Barbie, born in the United States, Valdez Villareal holds a dual Mexican and American citizen rose to the top of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel by waging a ruthless war on its rivals earning him a brutal reputation for videotaping tortures and murders. Valdez Villareal was charged on June 11, 2010, in Georgia with conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, as well as conspiring to launder money by transporting drug money from the United States into Mexico. He also faces narcotics-related charges in Louisiana.
The extraditions are a result of a meeting on June 16, 2015, between Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Attorney General Arely Gómez González of Mexico where they agreed to begin a new era of collaboration between the two nations to fight international organized crime.
“Today’s extraditions would not have been possible without the close collaboration and productive relationship the Department of Justice enjoys with officials at the highest levels of law enforcement in Mexico,” said Attorney General Lynch. “I am grateful to our Mexican counterparts not only for their assistance with this important matter, but also for their extraordinary efforts and unwavering partnership in our ongoing fight against international organized crime. I look forward to all that we will continue to accomplish in the service of that mission as we build on these achievements together in the days and months ahead.”
The following 10 defendants were placed in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service late this afternoon. An additional defendant was also extradited, but the case remains under seal until the defendant’s initial appearance tomorrow.
- Luis Umberto Hernandez Celis, aka Pack; Alberto Nunez-Payan, aka Fresa, Fresco and 97, and Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, aka Chino, are alleged members of the Barrio Azteca gang and were charged on March 9, 2011, in Western District of Texas with participating in the March 13, 2010, murders in Juarez, Mexico, of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. Consulate employee.
- Carlos Montemayor, allegedly a high-level member of the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva Cartels who was charged on June 11, 2010, in Georgia with conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, as well as conspiring to launder money by transporting drug money from the United States into Mexico.
- Jean Baptiste Kingery was charged on Nov. 20, 2013, in the Central District of California with arms trafficking related to the illegal exportation of defense article and munitions from the United States to Mexico. Kingery is expected to make his initial appearance in the District of Arizona on Oct. 1, 2015.
- Aureliano Montoya-Pena, aka La Changa, was among 20 defendants charged on Nov. 2, 2011, in the Northern District of Illinois with conspiracy to possess and distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and various other offenses related to transporting millions of dollars in drug proceeds between Chicago and Mexico.
- Julio Cesar Valenzuela-Elizalde, aka The Pilot, was among eight defendants charged on Dec. 19, 2002, in the District of Arizona with an international methamphetamine distribution conspiracy, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to import a controlled substance.
- Martin Daniel Castillo-Rascon was charged on June 12, 2013, in the Western District of Texas with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, importation of a controlled substance and aiding and abetting.
- Antonio Reynoso-Gonzalez was charged in 1995 in the Southern District of California along with Joaquin Guzman-Loera, aka El Chapo, and 22 others with conspiracy to import and to possess cocaine with intent to distribute.
- Antonio Gonzalez Platas was charged in the state of Arkansas with rape.
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