Mexico extradites drug cartel bosses to U.S

Reuters

January 20, 2007

By Frank Jack Daniel

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has extradited four drug kingpins to the United States, striking a blow to warring cartels that killed 2,000 people last year and have turned large areas of the country into lawless badlands.

Osiel Cardenas, who allegedly ran the Gulf cartel, was the most notorious of 11 drug traffickers flown to face trial in the United States on Friday. He was arrested and jailed after a shootout in 2003, but he continued to run drug operations from his prison cell.

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Gonzales lauds Mexico's extradition of 15 to U.S.

By Matthew T. Hall
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

January 21, 2007

Mexico's extradition of 15 reputed drug lords and violent criminals, four of whom have ties to San Diego, drew praise from the U.S. attorney general yesterday and signaled its new determination to keep traffickers from running their cartels from inside prison walls.

“The actions overnight by the Mexican government are unprecedented in their scope and importance,” U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a statement yesterday.