Alleged Mexican Drug Kingpin Pleads Not Guilty, DOJ Says Arrest Led to Violent Drug Cartel War

Eje Central

Alfredo Beltran Leyva, allegedly a former leader of the drug cartel Beltran Leyva Organization, entered a not guilty plea in federal court in Washington, D.C. yesterday after being extradited over the weekend from Mexico, where he was arrested in January 2008. He was indicted by federal prosecutors in 2012

According to a Department of Justice release, after his arrest the Leyva organization blamed another group, the Sinaloa Cartel, for Beltran Leyva's capture, causing a "violent war between the two drug cartels, and the murder of thousands of citizens in Mexico, including numerous law enforcement officers and officials."

After his 2008 arrest, the Leyva organization was added to a "Blocked Persons" list under the Kingpin Act and Beltran Leyva himself was later "specifically designated…  as a specially designated drug trafficker under the same Kingpin Act." The DOJ insists in the same release that Leyva "is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."

Beltran Leyva's entered his not guilty plea through a public defender, according to the Washington Post, but says his family will provide him a lawyer. Beltran Leyva's 2008 arrest did nothing to stem the flow of narcotics across the Americas, but it did, by the Department of Justice's own admission, increase the level of drug-related violence in Mexico, an expected consequence of a drug war offensive.

Comments

[AlmightyJB]

There is no other possible course of action other than to continue policies that not only do not work at all, they make things much worse. You're welcome /most Americans.

[antisocial-ist]

Don't be silly. TIME TO DOUBLE DOWN.

[See Double You]

Well, yeah. Sanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

According to a Department of Justice release, after his arrest the Leyva organization blamed another group, the Sinaloa Cartel, for Beltran Leyva's capture, causing a "violent war between the two drug cartels, and the murder of thousands of citizens in Mexico, including numerous law enforcement officers and officials."

So, when you capture/kill the head of a criminal enterprise, his subordinates don't all just run away back into Mordor like in Return of the King? That the subordinates fight to take their former leader's place while outsiders perceive the loss of a rival leader as an opportunity to destroy or absorb that organization? While all of this chaos is taking place, citizens get caught in the crossfire?

I would never have guessed. Really.

[Zeb]

So, when you capture/kill the head of a criminal enterprise, his subordinates don't all just run away back into Mordor like in Return of the King?

Not unless he is a supernatural being with god-like powers. Which doesn't seem to be the case here.

[Episiarch]

Zeb, are you a god?

[Zeb]

Yes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not unless he is a supernatural being with god-like powers. Which doesn't seem to be the case here.

*NERD MODE ACTIVATED* By the time of the War of the Ring, most of Sauron's power existed in the One Ring, so much so that he could no longer form a physical body without it. Until the Ring was back in his possession, he was forced to rely on conventional military forces assembled of those enslaved to his will (the Nazgul and the Orcs), and his allies (Saruman, the Haradrim, and the Easterlings). Once the Ring, Saruman, and the Nazgul were destroyed, the armies of Mordor fell into chaos and were routed (even though the outnumbered the army of the west by 10-to-1). *NERD MODE DEACTIVATED*

[Zeb]

Yes, I am aware of Sauron's history and origins, thank-you-very-much.

God-like may be overstating things a bit by the end of the Third Age, but he still had supernatural ability to instill enough fear in his subjects to keep them obedient.

[Harvey_birdman]

"If someone asks you if you're a god you say YES!"

[Agammamon]

What, you mean real-life organizations have ontological inertia and won't fold like the Empire after Palpatine got 'shafted'.

Heh, *shafted*. 'Cause, you know, he got dropped down a deep shaft. By a big black guy.

[Brett L]

So every power in the fucking universe, and he couldn't turn that force lightning into a magnetic brake? Deserved what he got.

[UnCivilServant]

Power, but no education. He didn't know what that was or how it worked, he studied the Classics instead.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And obviously, you didn't. According to the Rule of Two, it was fitting and proper that he died at the hand of his apprentice. To have fought that would have betrayed everything the Sith stood for.

[UnCivilServant]

An apprentice that was no longer a follower of the Sith ways, and thus unworthy of overthrowing his master.

[UnCivilServant]

Also, just because the apprentice makes the attempt, you're not required to let him win. He has to earn it through wits and strength.

[Brett L]

Regardless-- the Right Hand rule and a judicious use of current could have probably kept him alive long enough to get blown up, as I suppose easy access to the escape craft was probably no existent from the ventilation shafts.

[HeteroPatriarch]

He did. You think that shriveled fuck could've stood up to the biggest, baddest, blackest motherfucker in the galaxy? He knew it was inevitable.

[Heroic Mulatto]

He didn't know that. All he knew at that point was that Vader bellowed out a dorky "NOOOOOOOOO!" as Vader took advantage of him when he exposed his flank.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Nerds all over this motherfucking thread.

[Riven]

Darth Bane would be rolling in whatever serves as his grave if he saw the state of the Sith when Palpatine ruled it.

[Agammamon]

Magnets, how do they fucking work?

[Anonymous Coward]

Something like that, yes.

Heh, heh. You said shaft.

[Andrew S.]

Wait, he was arrested in January 2008 and he's just now being arraigned?

[UnCivilServant]

Extradition woes, or failure to provide a speedy trial?

[Harvey_birdman]

Constitutional protections do not apply to federal prosecutions, Dear.

[PapayaSF]

Alfredo Beltran Leyva, allegedly a former leader of the drug cartel Beltran Leyva Organization

Gee, I wonder how anyone ever got the idea there was a connection? Helpful hint: when creating an organized crime organization, don't name it after yourself.

[UnCivilServant]

So you're not the head of the PapayaSF smuggling ring?

[PapayaSF]

That's the PapayaSF who's on Twitter! See, I knew she would cause confusion.

[Zeb]

I think that when you get to that level of organized crime, you depend far more on corruption and violence to protect you than secrecy.

[PapayaSF]

True, but still, a little plausible deniability can come in handy.

[sarcasmic]

We're talking about common thugs here, not businessmen. I doubt they have the imagination to name it anything else.

[PapayaSF]

According to this list, that's the only one named after a person. The rest are named after places, with a few exceptions: Los Zetas and (my favorite name) the Knights Templar.

[UnCivilServant]

The Templars? Where are the Assassins?

[paranoid android]

Well if we knew, they wouldn't be very good assassins, now would they?

But, you know, start checking any carts of hay you happen to pass on the street, just be safe.

[sarcasmic]

Mmmmmmmm.... Fettuccine......

[The Late P Brooks]

Just as long as those brave American DEA agents kept getting a paycheck, and a lot of cool toys to play with.

[Agammamon]

. . . but it did, by the Department of Justice's own admission, increase the level of drug-related violence in Mexico . . .

Hey - at least this did *something*. What more do you people want?

[Adans smith]

And the cartels make a huge portion of their money on pot.Just legalizing pot would make a huge cut in the profits.It would also show the lie the WODs is.Jails would empty some in this country ,may even have some effect on the violence in Mexico.

[sarcasmic]

According to the research I have done, pot accounts for only twenty percent of their income. Though I have no idea how accurate the information is, since no one but the cartels really knows for sure.

[UnCivilServant]

"We got into this new gig - it's called taxation. We don't even have to give them anything for it!" -Cartel

[Adans smith]

I've seen any where from 40 to 75 percent.When I have seen the numbers for use by drugs, pot is far,far greater.Drug warriors seem to always give a low ball number for the cash.Look at the drugs seized at the borders,pot it by far the largest

[UnCivilServant]

Call be a cynic, but the first thing that came to mind about border seizures is the cartel getting a call from their corrupt neighborhood DHS agent and having a conversation like:

"They want us to make a nother newsworthy bust, or they might start to look at what's actually going on. Got anything you can live without coming?"

"Take the pot truck, that's chump change, but the bulk makes it look impressive."

[sarcasmic]

Perhaps that's how the cartel fires people. It sets them up for a bust.

[Adans smith]

I have had the same though.It's said they only seize 10% of all drugs coming in.That means it very easy to get even large bails of pot across.10% would be a cost of doing business.I'm also certain many border patrol cops are on the take,and. locals too.Another thing,arrests for pot are the largest amount of all drug arrest,by far

[PapayaSF]

The "10%" thing is a rule thumb that's been around for at least 40 years. I would not put much faith in it.

[sarcasmic]

With all these people leaking the fancy medical shit onto the black market, it makes me wonder how much of a demand there is for the commercial crap anymore.

[Zeb]

I wonder that too. Who is still smoking Mexican weed?

Though I think that the cartels have gotten into a lot of cultivation of higher quality stuff in the US as well. So they probably count that.

[T]

What I don't understand is why Mexico puts up with our bullshit on this front. Unless their government doesn't give a shit about their citizens?

Wait, I may have something here...

[DesigNate]

The Cartels learned their lessons from the bootleggers and took control of the government at an early stage in the game.

[kayledysonmul]

my best friend's sister-in-law makes $74 every hour on the internet . She has been out of work for six months but last month her payment was $19486 just working on the internet for a few hours. see this here ....

?????? http://www.payinsider.com