Powerful member of Mexican drug family to be sentenced in San Diego after lengthy legal battle

Mexican drug cartel honcho finally faces sentence

SAN DIEGO — A man who helped make Mexico’s Arellano Felix family one of the most powerful Mexican drug cartels is to be sentenced on drug charges, 16 months after he was extradited from Mexico.

Jesus “Chuy” Labra faces between five and 40 years in prison when he’s sentenced Monday in a San Diego federal court after nearly a decade of legal wrangling.

In October he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least 100 kilograms of marijuana and at least 100 grams of cocaine.

Money laundering and racketeering charges were to be dropped at the sentencing.

Labra was arrested while watching his son’s soccer game in Tijuana in 2000, but it took more than eight years to extradite him to the U.S.