Violent Jesus Ricardo Patron Sanchez, 39, took over a major Sinola cartel operation that moves heroin, cocaine, meth and other drugs across the Mexico-US border
A Mexican cartel boss dubbed “James Bond” has been captured and locked behind bars in the US.
Jesus Ricardo Patron Sanchez, 39, was identified as the leader of the H-2, a major Sinaloa cartel operation to moves heroin, cocaine, meth and other drugs into the US in monthly deliveries since 2013, according to the US Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York.
US Attorney John Durham added: “Sanchez was one of the principal leaders of the H-2 drug trafficking Organisation, a brutally violent transnational criminal organisation that flooded American streets with dangerous drugs and protected its operations through murder and corruption.”
“This office is committed to working with its federal and international partners to bring leaders of cartels and transnational criminal organisations to justice in the US and to hold them accountable for the death and destruction they have unleashed here and abroad,” he added.
Sanchez took over cartel operations after his brother Juan Francisco Patron Sanchez was killed in 2017, according to federal prosecutors. His takeover earned Sanchez another nickname H-3.
The cartel leaders has numerous nicknames, including “XMen” and “Diabolic.” According to the New York Post, Sanchez was given the H-3 nickname as the cartel was founded by Hector Beltran-Leyva, the first “H.”
When control was given to his elder brother Sanchez, he was called “H-2” and his brother became known as “H-3” when he took over the cartel. When in charge, Sanchez continued to traffic drugs into the US while carrying out money laundering operations and organising to kill rivals and others who threatened the operation, prosecutors said.
The operations took a hit in recent years as federal prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration honed in on Sanchez who was extradited to the US on Friday and was arrested in Mexico in 2019. He was arraigned on Saturday and charged with leading a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute large-scale narcotics and using firearms in connection with narcotics offenses, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
The extradition to the US comes weeks after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order recognising cartels as terrorist organisations. The executive order could be used to justify military action against the cartels.
