The one-time Mexican leader of “one of the most notorious multi-national drug trafficking organizations to ever exist” pleaded guilty to a variety of charges in a federal court in San Diego on Wednesday, according to the FBI.
Benjamin Arellan-Felix was the leader of the Tijuana Cartel/Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO) from 1986 until his arrest in Mexico in 2002. He was extradited last April 29 from Mexico to the U.S.
The group controlled the flow of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the Unites States from the border towns of Tijuana and Mexicali, says the FBI, with operations extending south into Mexico and Colombia as well.
“The plea today marks the end of the Arellano-Felix drug trafficking organization as we know it,” said William R. Sherman, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA in San Diego. The plea is the latest in a string of convictions against members of the AFO, including Arturo Paez-Martinez in 2002, Ismael and Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero in 2007, Javier Arellano-Felix in 2007 and Jesus Labra-Aviles in 2010.
“The AFO has been effectively dismantled and no longer poses the same threat to the people of the United States or Mexico,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura E. Duffy.
