Notorious Gulf Cartel Kingpin Croaks in US Prison Before Facing Justice
Ex-Gulf Cartel leader Mario Ramírez Treviño ("El Pelón") died in US prison March 13, before sentencing. Captured in 2013 & extradited, he became a US witness against rivals like "El Menchito." His cause of death wasn't stated.
He ran one of Mexico's most bloodthirsty drug gangs, but Mario Ramírez Treviño – the feared Gulf Cartel boss known as "El Pelón" ("The Bald One") or "X20" – has cashed in his chips. The 63-year-old narco kingpin died behind bars in a US prison earlier this month, cheating a judge's final sentence, federal prosecutors revealed this week.
The former cartel honcho kicked the bucket back on March 13, according to a motion filed March 21 by grim-faced prosecutors from the Justice Department's Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section. Feds Janet Turnbull, Kirk Handrich, and Jayce Born formally asked a DC court to drop the hammer on the case against Treviño, stating the obvious: you can't prosecute a corpse.
