SAN DIEGO - Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, former head of the Tijuana drug cartel, was sentenced on Monday to life in prison. U.S. District Judge also ordered Arellano-Felix, 37, to forfeit $50 million and forfeit his interest in a yacht, the Dock Holiday.
Arellano-Felix pleaded guilty in September to operating a continuing criminal enterprise and conspiring to launder monetary instruments. He was head of a murderous drug cartel that brought thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States from Colombia.
Arellano-Felix also admitted he murdered people and directed the murders of others, bribed military and law enforcement officers with millions of dollars, murdered informants, murdered witnesses, wiretapped rival drug dealers and Mexican law enforcement officials, impersonated law enforcement officials, trained hit squads, "taxed" other people's criminal activities, and kidnapped people for ransom.
Other than that, he seems like an OK guy.
The U.S. Coast Guard arrested Arellano-Felix, allegedly in international waters, off the coast of Mexico in August 2006, aboard the Dock Holiday.
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