By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com
The leader of the violent Mexican drug cartel, accused of importing more than 200 tons of cocaine into the U.S., got hit with a 27-year sentence on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Gilberto Salinas Doria, leader of the Juarez Cartel, pleaded guilty in 2008 to narcotics conspiracy charges for importing massive amounts of cocaine into the U.S. between 1994 to 1999, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Salinas was first arrested in Mexico in 1998, but escaped, authorities said. He was later captured in Venezuela and returned to Mexico. He was prosecuted there before being extradited to the U.S. in 2007.
“Gilberto Salinas Doria is a tgrue drug kingpin who, in the course of just five years, shipped more than 200 tons of cocaine from Mexico to the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a prepared statement. “The harm caused by the poison Salinas Doria poured into the United State is inestimable, and the stiff sentence imopsed by the judge today is a just punishment for a life of crime.
