Mexico captures Texas member of cartel leadership

Houston Chronicle:

Mexican authorities captured a legendary Texan on Monday who is accused of a bloody climb to the top echelon of one of the hemisphere's most powerful drug cartels.

Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as "La Barbie" for his looks, faces a slew of charges in Mexico, but also is wanted in the United States, where he has been indicted for smuggling thousands of pounds of cocaine into this country.

The U.S. government has offered a reward of up to $2 million for his capture.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle late Monday, a Houston lawyer representing Valdez, 37, said he fears his client will be tortured or worse before he can be returned to the United States for trial.

"I do not think anyone is safe in the hands of the Mexican military" defense attorney Kent Schaffer said. "Something is going to happen."

Most recently, Valdez was indicted in Atlanta on federal charges he imported and distributed thousands of kilograms of cocaine from 2004 to 2006.

U.S. prosecutors contend the drugs were often smuggled north through Texas and then on to Atlanta, which is a hub for cartel activity in the Southeastern United States.

In turn, millions of dollars in proceeds were sent back to Mexico a similar way, according to court papers.

Valdez is said to have been a standout high-school football player in the Texas-Mexico border city of Laredo, where a coach nicknamed him Barbie for his hair and eye color.

It is unusual for an American to climb so high in the ranks of Mexican organized crime, but not unprecedented.

Texas-born Juan Garcia Abrego was captured in Mexico in the 1990s and sent to Houston, where he was convicted of drug-trafficking crimes as the head of the Gulf Cartel. He is now serving multiple life sentences.

A Mexican federal government source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Valdez was captured by federal police outside Mexico City and he was being held in the capital city at a secure location.

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It sounds like this guy will be eager to be extradited back to the US. The NY Times indicates he was vying for control of the Beltrán Leyva organization which has a reputation for brutality. He has also been tied to Joaquin Guzmán Loera, known as “El Chapo,” or Shorty who runs the powerful Sinoloa cartel