US deports drug Gulf cartel ex-boss back to Mexico

Mexican drug kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen, former leader of the notorious Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas criminal gang, was deported from the United States to Mexico Monday after serving years in prison, officials said.

Cardenas Guillen was captured in 2003 and extradited four years later to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion.

He was released from prison in August and immediately transferred into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

On Monday, the 57-year-old was escorted by officers through California’s San Diego port of entry “where he was handed over to Mexican law enforcement without incident,” ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago Field Office said in a statement.

“By returning this dangerous individual to Mexico, where he faces serious charges, we have taken a significant step in safeguarding our communities and upholding the rule of law,” the field office’s director Samuel Olson said in the statement.

Cardenas Guillen was taken to the Altiplano maximum security prison outside Mexico City, a federal source close to the case said. He has several charges pending in Mexico.

The Gulf Cartel was formerly one of Mexico’s most fearsome criminal groups, but has lost influence in recent years and split into multiple factions.

As cartel leader, Cardenas Guillen oversaw a drug trafficking empire responsible for exporting thousands of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana into the United States.

Nicknamed “El Mata Amigos” (Friend Killer), he recruited former Mexican special forces soldiers to form his personal guard, which ended up operating on its own under the name of Los Zetas, one of the country’s most bloodthirsty gangs until its collapse.

After his arrest in the northeast border state of Tamaulipas, he was extradited in 2007 to the United States, where he was sentenced in 2010 to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $50 million.

After his capture, the Zetas began operating more independently until they finally broke with the Gulf Cartel in 2010, unleashing a war for control of its drug trafficking routes in eastern and northeastern Mexico.