A Texas judge confronted a senior cartel member in sentencing Tuesday, telling him, “Sir, if you are deported, which I think you will be, I hope you won’t come back here.”
Judge Keith P. Ellison of the U.S. Southern District of Texas gave the cartel member three and a half years behind bars and another three years of “supervised release,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Jose Juan ‘Cachetes’ – Cheeks in Spanish – Banda-Corona was the accountant for the Mexican Gulf Cartel.
The Gulf Cartel is one of the top three cartels in Mexico. In his time as their money man, Cheeks “tabulated $1 million worth of business.”
Cheeks is one of only 52 other cartel crooks that were indicted back in 2013. Up until now, 35 of the 54 have pleaded guilty to their crimes.
Despite the success in rounding up many of the 52 accused, many are on the run as fugitives. Two defendants are dead such as Galindo Medallo-Cruz who founded Los Zetas.
Los Zetas used to be the enforcement wing of the Gulf Cartel. Now the two organizations are rivals, which is why Los Zetas killed a Texas-based lawyer – Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa – back in 2013 for defending the leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas Guillen.
Rivalry between the two cartels continues behind bars as over 50 people died in a February prison riot in Mexico due to warring between rival inmates.
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