The General Prosecutor of the Republic (FGR) reported that the head of the District Court for Federal Criminal Proceedings granted a new conviction for another 20 years in prisonfor him organized crime crime for the purpose of committing crimes against health, against the Sinaloa capo Vicente Carrillo Fuentes“The Viceroy”, former leader of the Juárez Cartel.
The justice procurement institution explained that it is a case in which the brother of Amado Carrillo Fuentesaka “The Lord of the heavens”, was prosecuted in June 2015 and in which he won an injunction the following year that ordered his procedure to be reinstated.
Likewise, the FGR reported that in October 2014 it complied with the arrest warrant against “El Viceroy”, leaving him at the disposal of the judge of the case. That same year, a formal arrest warrant was issued for him, however, in disagreement with the ruling, the now sentenced man and his defense filed various amparo suits, so that finally, in 2019, the Fifth Unitary Court of the Second Circuit confirmed the order of formal imprisonment.
Later, after the evidence obtained from the proceedings carried out by the Public Ministry of the Federation (MPF), a sentence of 20 years in prison was handed down against Carrillo Fuentesfor being criminally responsible in the commission of the aforementioned crime.
The Sinaloan capo Vicente Carrillo Fuentes“The Viceroy”, former leader of the Juárez Cartelwas sentenced, on September 14, 2021, to 28 years in prison, for the crimes of organized crime with the purpose of committing crimes against health, operations with resources of illicit origin and collection of firearms.
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) recalled that in June 2015, the brother of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias “The Lord of the heavens”, a formal prison order was issued against him for the crime of organized crime.
Later, in 2016, in an amparo trial, constitutional protection was granted and the procedure was ordered to be reinstated. On April 20, 2017, the judge again issued a formal prison sentence and in November of the same year it was confirmed. After other procedures to which the person sentenced today was entitled, and after the data provided by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the judge in the case sentenced the Sinaloa capo.
On July 26, the Second Unitary Circuit Court of the Auxiliary Center of the Fifth Region, with residence in Culiacán, Sinaloa, ratified the order of formal imprisonment issued against the Sinaloan capo Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, “El Viceroy”, former leader of the Juárez Cartel.
This is due to the presumed responsibility of the brother of the deceased alias “El Señor de los Cielos”, in the crime of organized crime, of criminal case 39/2010, which had its origin in an investigation carried out at the time by the then Attorney General’s Office. of the Republic (PGR).
“El Viceroy”, who currently remains imprisoned in the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (CEFERESO) Number Thirteen, “CPS Oaxaca”, filed an appeal against the order of formal imprisonment issued on March 12, 2020, by the Third District Court of Federal Criminal Proceedings in the State of Mexico.
On May 21, 2018, Graciela Santés Magaña, magistrate of the Fourth Unitary Criminal Court, granted an amparo to the Sinaloa capo, against the formal prison sentence that was handed down on November 15, 2017, for crimes against health and organized crime.
Judge Santés Magaña argued that Olga Sánchez Contreras, Fifth District Judge in Federal Criminal Proceedings of Mexico City, did not specify in the prosecution the facts that impute to Carrillo Fuentes, 58 years old, as an alleged member of an organization criminal.
The magistrate of the Fourth Unitary Criminal Court also indicated that the evidence in this matter was not duly studied and assessed, because several testimonies do not refer to the dates of the events and, therefore, it cannot be established whether the accusation of organized crime against “El Viceroy”.
The Sinaloa capo was arrested on October 9, 2014 in Torreón, Coahuila, by elements of the now defunct Federal Police (PF) and remained imprisoned in the CEFERESO Number 2, of the West, in Jalisco, “Puente Grande”. All this within the so-called “Maxiprocess”, the largest drug trafficking file that the then PGR brought to justice.
At the time, more than 100 arrest warrants were issued against alleged members and accomplices of the Juarez Cartelin which they also accused “The Lord of the heavens”, brother of “El Viceroy”, who in addition to the aforementioned criminal case, is followed by five other criminal proceedings and an extradition trial.
Both drug lords were accused by the PGR of trying to negotiate an amnesty for the leaders of drug trafficking with the administration of then President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, whose proposals included associating with the Arellano Félix brothers, not selling drugs in Mexico, handing over the 50 percent of the profits to the Federal Government and, in exchange, cancel the persecution against them, a pact that could never materialize.
In 2006, “El Viceroy” also won a lawsuit against the PGR, an institution that charged him with the crime of violating the Federal Law against Organized Crime, in his hypothesis of stockpiling weapons and cartridges for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Force Aerial, and for his links with the late General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo, former head of the National Institute for the Fight against Drugs (INCD).
The same thing happened on December 27, 2005, when the head of the Fifth District Court for Criminal Proceedings, Olga Sánchez Contreras, refused to grant an arrest warrant, derived from cases 12/1998, 25/1999 and 60/2002.
This as a result of the accusations that assured that in 14 buildings in Jalisco, presumably owned by “El Viceroy”, there were hundreds of large-caliber weapons (AK-47, known as goat horns; as well as R-15 assault rifles, among others), cartridges and grenades.
The protected witness with the code name “Jaime” testified that meetings between Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and members of his criminal group, as well as authorities that provided him with protection, were held in these addresses, in addition to the fact that in one of these properties “El Señor of the Heavens” met with top level public officials.
It is presumed that “El Viceroy” assumed the leadership of the Juárez Cartel in 1997, after the death of his brother Amado Carrillo Fuentes. He is originally from Navolato, Sinaloa, and was one of the 122 main priority targets ordered to be detained during the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto.
Until before his apprehension there were rewards for data leading to his capture. One of 30 million pesos from the Mexican authorities, and five million dollars from the US authorities, which are now demanding his extradition. In the US, the Northern District Court of Texas requires “El Viceroy” for his probable responsibility in the crimes of conspiracy, possession and introduction of cocaine into that country.
