Alleged cartel members extradited to Texas

USA TODAY, January, 2007 by Donna Leinwand

A suspected Mexican drug lord whose cartel allegedly smuggled more than 4 tons of cocaine a month over the U.S. border will stand trial in Texas. Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, the alleged kingpin of the Gulf Cartel, and three other alleged drug lords appeared in a Houston court Monday. Mexican authorities delivered Cardenas-Guillen and 14 other alleged Mexican drug dealers and criminals to Houston late Friday and early Saturday, the Drug Enforcement Administration said.

"These extraditions are unprecedented in the history of Mexico," DEA Administrator Karen Tandy said Monday. "Did we get all of Mexico's major drug dealers? Not yet. But this past weekend, the U.S. and Mexico took an enormous leap forward." Cardenas-Guillen, whose trademark was a gold-plated .45-caliber pistol, was charged in Texas in December 2000 with drug trafficking and threatening to kill federal agents, Tandy said. The indictment alleges Cardenas-Guillen and his cohorts attempted to kidnap and kill a ...