Mexico turns over 15 alleged cartel members

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:01/30/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

A man identified as a "gatekeeper" for the Juárez cartel and two other alleged members of the drug ring are among the drug lords extradited last weekend by Mexico to face charges in the United States, U.S. officials said.

Mexico extradited 15 men, including Osiel Cardenas Guillen, the kingpin of the Gulf cartel, to Ellington Air Force Base in Houston on the night of Jan. 19 to Jan. 20. U.S. officials said Mexican authorities hoped the move would disturb drug smuggling operations that some of the men had continued to direct from behind bars in Mexico.

Drug Enforcement Administration head Karen Tandy said during a press conference this week that the group included Gracielo Gardea Carrasco, "a gatekeeper who was responsible for controlling drug smuggling across the border for the Juárez cartel."

The suspected drug offenders will be transferred to the states where charges against them were originally filed.

Gardea was indicted in Midland in 2000 on drug conspiracy charges for allegedly smuggling marijuana from Mexico to a Midland gang known as "Los Tres de la Sierra," or the three from the mountain.