Former Gulf Cartel Leader Released From US Prison

Osiel Cardenas Guillen in custody of Mexican agents during his extradition to the United States in 2007 – Copyright PGR/AFP HO

Mexican drug lord Osiel Cardenas Guillen, former leader of the notorious Gulf Cartel and the Los Zetas criminal gang, was released from U.S. custody on Friday and turned over to immigration officials, officials said.

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

A Federal Bureau of Prisons official told AFP that Cardenas Guillen, 57, was released on Friday and transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

He faces multiple charges in Mexico, but it is not yet known whether the US government will deport him.

The Gulf Cartel was once one of Mexico’s most fearsome criminal organizations, but in recent years the cartel has lost influence and split into several factions.

As leader of the cartel, Cardenas Guillen ran a drug trafficking empire responsible for exporting massive quantities of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to the United States.

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

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

After his arrest, the Zetas began to operate more independently, until they finally broke with the Gulf Cartel in 2010, leading to a war for control of drug trafficking routes in eastern and northeastern Mexico.