Right-hand man for Mexican cartel leader sentenced to 30 years
By: Associated Press | ∞
SAN DIEGO -- A U.S. citizen who was a top assistant to the leader of Mexico's Arellano Felix drug cartel will serve 30 years in federal prison for his role in smuggling drugs across the border.
Thirty-two-year-old Manuel Arturo Villarreal Heredia will also forfeit $5 million. He thanked U.S. District Judge Larry Burns for being fair.
Villarreal pleaded guilty in September to racketeering and conspiracy to invest illicit drug profits.
He was captured with cartel chief Francisco Javier Arellano Felix aboard a fishing yacht off the coast of Baja California in 2006. Arellano Felix pleaded guilty to running the cartel and was sentenced in November to life in prison.
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