Co-founder of Jalisco New Generation drug cartel pleads guilty
BBC →The co-founder of the Mexico-based Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Érick Valencia Salazar, has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced. Valencia Salazar, known as 'El 85', was captured by the Mexican army in 2022 in the state of Jalisco and was among a group of 29 alleged drug lords extradited to the United States in February 2025 to stand trial.
JURY FINDS JOSE OROZCO GUILTY OF SELLING DRUGS
Jose Orozco, said to be a cousin of Pascual Orozco, noted Mexican revolutionary leader, was found by a jury in federal court Wednesday afternoon guilty of a charge of selling narcotics. Punishment will later be assessed by Judge William R. Smith. Orozco took the stand in his own defense and outlined a long series of hardships which he claimed has befallen him since he crossed into the United States from Mexico. Court records were produced to show that Orozco was sentenced to 18 months at Leavenworth for aiding a revolutionary movement in Mexico but that he was later pardoned by President Woodrow Wilson. Witnesses used by the government testified that Orozco had often supplied them with morphine sulphate.
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Enlarge → What Happened Next
Volstead Act
The production, importation, and distribution of alcoholic beverages—once the province of legitimate business—was taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, including murder. Enforcement was difficult because the gangs became so rich that they were often able to bribe underpaid and understaffed law-enforcement personnel.
Wikipedia →Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act
The Act also led to the establishing of the Federal Narcotics Control Board (FNCB) to tightly oversee the import and export primarily of opiates, but also other psychoactive drugs like coca. The control board were created to better control what America was exporting from its territories to others as well as what was being brought in, to ban all recreational consumption and to control the quality of what was being used for medical purposes.
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