HomeNewsBriefEnigmatic Drug Lord 'La Barbie' Made Deal With US: Report
BRIEF

Enigmatic Drug Lord 'La Barbie' Made Deal With US: Report

BELTRAN LEYVA ORG / 9 AUG 2016 BY DAVID GAGNE EN

An American drug lord who operated in Mexico reportedly made a deal with US authorities to secure a shorter sentence, an anticipated outcome that is sure to add to the mounting evidence that extradited capos are providing on Mexico's underworld.

Edgar Valdez Villareal, a former leader of Mexico's Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO), and four of his accomplices agreed to supply US authorities with information on his and rival drug cartels in exchange for a reduced prison sentence, reported El Universal.

Known as "La Barbie," a nickname his high school football coach in Texas reportedly gave him for his blond hair and fair skin, Valdez Villareal was arrested by Mexican authorities in August 2010. He was extradited to the United States in September 2015 after spending the intervening years in maximum security prison. La Barbie initially pleaded innocent to US drug trafficking charges, but switched his plea to guilty in January 2016.

US prosecutors allege La Barbie was responsible for sending multiple tons of cocaine into the eastern United States while working for the BLO. 

InSight Crime Analysis

It has long been suspected that La Barbie would be willing to cut a deal with US authorities. "He might sing like a canary," one expert on Mexican drug cartels told the Los Angeles Times at the time of his arrest. "They flipped him," Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope told Vice News after La Barbie pleaded guilty in January. 

Indeed, according to El Universal, La Barbie's lawyer was actually pushing to have him extradited to the United States, something which many drug lords fight tooth and nail to avoid. And shortly after his arrest, rumors began swirling that La Barbie had negotiated his surrender with Mexican and potentially even US authorities. 

SEE ALSO: Mexico News and Profiles

Given La Barbie's status in the Mexican underworld, he may in fact have information valuable to US authorities. Several other heads of Mexican drug cartels, from the BLO to the Gulf Cartel, have also been extradited and are possibly providing intelligence as well. A number of captured drug lords, however, have yet to be sent to the United States, most notably the Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

A similar dynamic is playing out in other parts of Latin America. Colombia has long used extradition as a judicial weapon against drug traffickers, while countries such as Guatemala and Honduras have also taken to sending drug capos to face justice in the United States. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 15 DEC 2021

A recent study of credit card cloning around the world revealed some startling disparities in the risks customers face across…

EL SALVADOR / 31 MAR 2022

Between July 2021 and February 2022, the government of President Nayib Bukele released four top leaders of the MS13 in…

EXTORTION / 31 MAY 2023

A new report has found that organized crime groups are overwhelmingly to blame for violence in Mexico, and the CJNG…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…