A drug kingpin who used submarines and aircraft to smuggle his cocaine and then armed his operation with 50-caliber rifles and rocket-propelled grenades pleaded guilty Wednesday to hauling truckload upon truckload of cocaine into the Atlanta area.
At the time of his arrest five years ago, Edgar Valdez Villareal was one of the most wanted men in the world. In his heyday, Valdez had achieved cult-like status in Mexico, moving tons of cocaine into the U.S., repeatedly eluding capture and sending messages to his enemies with videos of beheadings. He is American-born, unlike most drug lords in Mexico, and was nicknamed “La Barbie” at his Texas high school because of his blond hair and green eyes.
On Wednesday, in a courtroom overseen by numerous armed marshals, Valdez pleaded guilty to three criminal conspiracy counts for distributing and importing cocaine and then laundering the proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey scheduled sentencing for March 29. Valdez, 42, faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole. He did not enter into a plea agreement with prosecutors, and there was no mention of Valdez becoming a snitch in hopes of winning a reduced sentence.
For a while, it appeared as if Valdez’s guilty plea would not happen. The hearing was delayed about an hour while Valdez talked with his lawyers in a holding cell just outside the courtroom. On a number of occasions, one of Valdez’s defense attorneys, Buddy Parker, could be heard shouting at his client.
At one point, a clerk knocked on the door and told co-counsel Bruce Maloy that Parker’s raised voice could be heard outside. As Maloy opened the door to walk back into the holding cell, Parker could be heard yelling, “I just told you it can’t be done.”
A short while later, Valdez’s other lawyer, Adriana Arce-Flores, entered the courtroom and summoned Valdez’s brother, who was sitting in the back of the courtroom gallery. Valdez’s brother soon removed his belt and entered the holding cell accompanied by three armed marshals. About 15 minutes later, the brother and Valdez’s legal team reentered the courtroom. They were soon followed by Valdez himself, who was wearing a tan prison jumpsuit with his legs in shackles.
Valdez made no mention of what had occurred in the holding cell and answered Duffey’s questions with simple “yes, your honor” replies.
Born in Laredo, Texas, Valdez was a rarity: an American who rose up through the top ranks of Mexican drug cartels. He got his nickname while playing linebacker on his high school football team. His fair complexion and blond hair made his coach think of Valdez as a Ken doll, hence the Barbie moniker.
Valdez ran his operation with military precision, U.S. Attorney John Horn told Duffey during Wednesday’s court hearing. He bribed law enforcement officials and persuaded one high-level cocaine trafficker to become his partner by delivering two prized horses and a trainer to the man’s ranch.
Valdez took in an estimated tens of millions of dollars in cash that he had packed in semis which then rumbled back across the border into Mexico. Not all the money made its way back. A prolonged wiretap investigation headed by DEA agents led to an August 2005 seizure of $2.5 million in drug proceeds that were collected in Atlanta and packed in a tractor trailers, Horn said. Three months later, agents seized 120 kilograms of cocaine and another $1.5 million in cash at an Atlanta stash house, the prosecutor said.
Valdez armed his organization with shipments of AK-47s, AR-15s, M-16s with grenade launchers, 50-caliber rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as body armor and night-vision equipment, Horn said.
Valdez started out in the drug trade as early as 2000, selling marijuana in the Laredo area. He soon found customers in New Orleans and Memphis who wanted cocaine.
In 2001, he was sending 150- to 180-kilogram shipments of cocaine to customers in Mississippi and Tennessee every three or four weeks from his base in Laredo. About a year later, however, Valdez fled to Mexico when his rivals, the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas, pooled resources and sought control of the lucrative Larredo corridor.
Operating often out of Monterrey, Valdez joined forces with Carlos Montemayor, who had a fleets of trucks and drivers used to transport cocaine into the U.S. Valdez then won over Arturo Beltran-Leyva after sending the drug trafficker the prized horses, Horn said.
Valdez brokered another agreement in 2003 with a Gulf Cartel kingpin, while continuing skirmishes with the Zetas. At this point, Valdez established a more coordinated distribution network that sent cocaine to Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis and San Diego.
In one six-month period alone, Valdez’s organization distributed 1,500 kilograms of cocaine in the Atlanta area, Horn said.
After the DEA wiretap operation disrupted Valdez’s operations in Atlanta, Valdez established more cartel connections. He continued to receive shipments of cocaine from Columbia, smuggling the drug on submarines, airplanes and fast boats to Costa Rica before sending it on to the U.S.
In 2009, Mexican authorities tried to hunt down Valdez and located him on several occasions, Horn said. Yet he eluded capture until his Aug. 30, 2010, arrest by Mexican Federal Police at a ranch he owned near Mexico City. Horn said Valdez then provided a videotaped statement to Mexican authorities in which he admitted to exporting cocaine into the U.S, among other things.
Valdez was held in custody in Mexico until he was extradited to the U.S. last fall. After Wednesday’s hearing, Horn said that until his extradition, Valdez never set foot in Atlanta.
But Valdez’s guilty plea “is a victory for all the people in the U.S. and Mexico whose lives were affected by his cocaine trafficking,” the prosecutor said. “We hope this case sends a message that the city of Atlanta is not good for the cartel business.”
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