08/21/13 – Eduardo Arellano Felix, “El Doctor,” a member of the Tijuana Cartel—also known as the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO)—, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a District Court in San Diego, California on August 20, 2013. According to Reuters, Eduardo (56) pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds and one count of conspiring to invest that money for AFO’s benefit. He also agreed to forfeit $50 million (USD). The District Court judge who heard the case, Larry A. Burns, was the same judge who had previously sentenced two of Eduardo’s brothers, Benjamín and Francisco Javier.
Eduardo was captured in Tijuana during a shootout with authorities in 2008, and sentenced to extradition in 2010. Although he challenged the decision, he was extradited to the United States on August 31, 2012. Eduardo, one of four Arellano Felix brothers, was considered the last-man-standing in the AFO clan because he had evaded capture until 2008. While one brother, Ramón, was killed by police in Sinaloa in 2002, two other brothers, Benjamín and Francisco Javier—who had since taken control of the AFO—, were convicted in the United States on different charges. Benjamín was sentenced to 25 years in a San Diego federal court in April 2012 for money laundering and racketeering, while Francisco Javier received a life sentence in November 2007 for money laundering and running a criminal organization.
As explained by Justice in Mexico in September 2012, Eduardo was considered one of the masterminds behind the AFO’s dominance in the 1980s and 1990s. Although he was known for his advising role within the cartel, Eduardo was also thought to be the main negotiator for trafficking tons of Colombian cocaine through Mexico and into the United States.
Despite some allegations that the AFO is completely dismantled with the removal of Eduardo, it is believed that some of their operations remain under the administration tutelage of Eduardo’s female siblings, Enedina and Alicia, and that the group is now under the leadership of Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano, “El Ingeniero,” the son of Alicia. Nonetheless, allegations suggest that after Teodoro “El Teo” García Simental split from the group prior to his capture in 2010, the AFO gradually lost its influence and territory to the Sinaloa Cartel led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
William Sherman, the special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in San Diego, argues that the recent sentencing of Eduardo Arellano Felix “marks the end of an era in cartel history. The AFO is finished, others have moved in and are attempting to take their place.” U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy noted that the three living Arellano Felix brothers “are now confined to maximum security prison cells for a very long time” and “urge[d] others who aspire to take their place to take note.”
Sources:
Moran, Greg. “Last Arellano brother gets 15 years.” San Diego Union Tribune. August 19, 2013.
