Mexican federal police have arrested Jose Vasquez Villagrana --0;a former soldier in the United States Army who allegedly smuggled0;two tons of cocaine a month for the Sinaloa cartel --0;in Santa Ana, Sonora0;on the Arizona border as reported by0;Alexandra Olson for The Associated Press:
He joined the U.S. military in Arizona in 1990 and deserted a year after getting his U.S. citizenship, according to Mexico's0;federal Public Safety Department. He is believed to have returned to Mexico, where he began trafficking. Vasquez is accused of smuggling Colombian cocaine through Panama and other countries to the northern Mexican state of Sonora. The drugs were stored at his ranch and then sent to the United States. * * * Police described Vasquez as a key player in the Sinaloa cartel, although he does not appear on a list of Mexico's most-wanted traffickers. Vasquez slowly built up his operation in Sonora, eventually buying planes that he put at the service of Sinaloa kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, police said.
Meanwhile, Jesus Vincente Zambada-Niebla pleaded not guilty yesterday in a federal courthouse in Chicago, IL0;"to charges that he conspired to import and sell large amounts of cocaine and heroin in the United States" as reported by Mike Robinson for The Associated Press:
An especially large security contingent were on hand for the hearing in what prosecutors are calling the largest international drug conspiracy case in the Chicago's history.0; Authorities say Zambada-Niebla was an influential, second-generation member of the Sinaloa drug cartel, and that he helped move large amounts of cocaine and heroin from South and Central America to the United States from 2005 to 2008. They say hundreds of kilograms of cocaine were taken to Chicago. * * * Zambada-Niebla was among three dozen defendants indicted in August in Chicago and is also charged in a separate case pending in the nation's capital. * * * Also charged in the indictment are the two alleged top leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "el Chapo" Guzman-Loera and Ismael "el Mayo" Zambada-Garcia. Federal officials said Zambada-Garcia is the father of Zambada-Niebla. Both of those men are currently at large.