The long planned trial of Gulf Cartel head

San Antonio Express News/Houston Chronicle:

Chained at the wrists and ankles, the imprisoned Gulf Cartel boss shuffled toward U.S. federal agents and into a new chapter in U.S.-Mexican relations. He already has been convicted in Mexico of charges rooted in his running the cartel.

A chance at payback is coming for U.S. authorities after Mexico handed over Osiel Cardenas Guillen in January to face trial in Houston.

The U.S. government contends that for years Cardenas ran one of the most violent and powerful criminal syndicates in Mexico, at his peak pumping 6 tons of cocaine a month across the border and squaring off in a turf war over trafficking routes through the Laredo area.

He may be the highest-profile drug trafficker Mexico has extradited to the U.S.

A federal indictment also charges that in a standoff in 1999 he threatened to kill an FBI agent and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

"He is famous like the devil," said Beto Quintanilla, a scratchy-voiced recording artist who sings corridos — ballads often about drug trafficking.

Should prosecutors make their case, his days of trademark gold-plated guns will be replaced by a prison cell.

"He killed his way up the ladder to lead the Gulf Cartel," DEA chief Karen Tandy said.

Handing over Cardenas, 39, also is seen as a sign that Mexican President Felipe Calderon intends to take on the cartels by punishing their leaders and forcing them to go back to the days of killing less and doing business behind closed doors.

"Whoever sows instability, violence and death among Mexicans is the enemy," Calderon has said.

Among the other major criminals who are jailed in Mexico but are likely on a U.S. wish list are Benjamin Arellano Felix, who headed the Tijuana Cartel, and Rafael Caro Quintero, who is wanted in the 1985 torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena.

Extradition is a diplomatic maneuver, but it strikes a special fear for drug-cartel bosses because it removes them from their country and largely ensures they'll never again have contact with their soldiers.

Authorities hope Cardenas' extradition will remind traffickers: If they can get the man nicknamed, among other things, the "Ghost," they can get anyone.

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It is a long story that goes on to tell how it took over ten years to get to this point. The US owes President Calderon for this opportunity. If he had not won in Mexico's squeaker election it is unlikely that the bad guys would be coming here for trial. But, he has to make room for a new batch he and the army are taking down.