Osiel Cardenas, one of the most notorious drug cartel bosses in Mexican history, was released from a U.S. prison on Friday and is now in immigration custody and could face deportation.
Cardenas, the former leader of the Gulf Cartel, led some of the bloodiest gang wars in Mexico's turbulent past and is accused of transforming drug trafficking by adopting extremely violent tactics such as beheadings.
Cárdenas founded the Zetas, the Gulf Cartel's armed wing made up of former Army special forces officers.
He was arrested after a shootout in 2003 and extradited to the United States in 2007. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2010.
The Zetas later split off and briefly became Mexico's most violent crime group before all but disappearing.
A spokesman for the US prison service told Reuters that Cardenas was released early on Friday “into the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”
It is unclear whether Cardenas will be deported to Mexico or remain in the United States.
An ICE spokesman said Enforcement and Removal Services agents detained Cardenas at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and “he remains in ICE custody pending a determination of his final disposition.”
NBC News, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported that the Biden administration plans to extradite Cardenas to Mexico on Monday.
Cardenas has outstanding charges in Mexico and is being held in a U.S. immigration detention center, according to Mexican government sources.
Leo Silva, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who worked against the Zetas in Mexico, said Cardenas was directly responsible for Mexico's rise in brutal violence over the past two decades.
The Zetas were pioneers of efforts by organized crime groups to expand beyond mere drug trafficking to extortion of residents and businesses in the territories they controlled.
The Zetas also carried out widespread kidnappings for ransom and sowed fear.
