SAN DIEGO — A U.S. judge sentenced former Mexican drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix to 25 years in prison Monday for leading one of the world’s most powerful cartels for more than a decade before the Tijuana-based ring was crippled by his arrest.
Saying he was limited by a plea deal that set 25 years as the maximum, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns told the court the 58-year-old drug lord deserved a life sentence for harming the U.S. and Mexico in a “profound” way with the bloodshed he unleashed and the hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana he is believed to have smuggled to America.
Burns noted that those who followed Arellano Felix’s orders are serving much longer sentences.
“If I had it within my power, I would impose a longer sentence,” Burns told Arellano Felix.
The judge also ordered him to forfeit $100 million, and prosecutors said they would be working on identifying his assets.
