Mexican Capo's that will never return to see the light of day

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from an El Debate article

Subject Matter: Mexican Capo’s that received life sentences
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman could be added to the list of Capo’s with life sentences

Life Sentence

Juan Garcia Abrego was one of the first Capo’s to receive this sentence. Garcia was born in the United States, though his criminal activity was carried out in Mexico

The boss of the Cartel del Golfo, one of the principal groups that operated on the frontier between Mexico and the United States. In January of 1997 was sentenced by a Judge of Houston, Texas, to 11 life sentences without parole to be served consecutively and to pay a fine of almost half a billion dollars after being found guilty of 22 crimes related to drug trafficking.

He was captured by Federal Police of Mexico in 1996 and extradited to Houston to go before Judges to answer charges relating back to 1993. For ten years he was investigated by FBI agents and formed part of the list of the most sought after fugitives.

Jose Alberto Marquez Esqueda, alias “El Bat”, was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute crystal meth for the Tijuana Cartel and the Mexican Mafia gang in November of 2011.

“El Bat” was signalled as one of the participants of the gun battle that occurred in the Guadalajara airport on 24th of May of 1993 in which Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo was killed, who was caught in crossfire between members of the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. (Otis: another version is that El Chapo Guzman was thought to be at the airport, and the car he was allegedly driving was the same make and model as the Cardinals, and that the Cardinal was attacked in error.) In November of 2003, Marquez Esqueda was apprehended in Mexico.

In December of 2011, Leandro Salas Galaviz or Danial Obregon, who was linked to the Los Zetas Cartel, received the life sentence without parole, and was fined 13 million dollars for drug trafficking.

Mayra Lopez, his wife, and Josefina Galaviz, his mother, were also convicted, they were sentenced to 11 years each for criminal association and money laundering.

In May of 2013, Juan Roberto Rincon Rincon, Lieutenant of Cartel del Golfo, was sentenced to life without parole for possession of 10 tons of marijuana on United States territory.

The Cartel de Tijuana and one of its leaders of the gang Los Palillos, a dissident cell of the Tijuana Cartel, Juan Francisco Estrada Gonzalez was sentenced to nine consecutive life sentences in October of 2014.

Gonzalez Estrada had been eligible for the death penalty for six homicides and four kidnappings, among other crimes. The Jury had to chose between the death penalty and a life sentence and opted for the latter.

“Because of your great strength, you managed to save my life”, said the Capo to his Lawyers, and offered condolences to the families of his victims and apologized to the Judge for his unacceptable behavior.

At the same time, Jorge Rojas Lopez, the other leader of Los Palillos, received 12 life sentences without parole, plus 162 years and 6 months in prison for 16 crimes, including nine murders, three kidnappings and the attempted murder of a Police Officer.

It should also be remembered that Joaquin Guzman Loera could also receive a life sentence without parole.

Original article in Spanish at Debate