Edgar Valdez Villarreal

Edgar Valdez Villarreal
Born (1973-08-11) August 11, 1973
Laredo, Webb County
Texas, United States
Other names La Barbie;[1][2] El Comandante;[1] El Güero[1]
Occupation Drug lord
Criminal charge Drug trafficking, money laundering
Criminal status Extradited to the United States.
Mexico: $2.1 million USD bounty.[3]
USA: $2 million USD bounty.[4]
Arrested on August 30, 2010.
Allegiance Beltrán-Leyva Cartel

Edgar Valdez Villarreal (born August 11, 1973) also known as La Barbie ("The Barbie"), is a Mexican American suspected drug lord and leader of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, a criminal group based in Sinaloa. He was arrested near Mexico City in August 2010 on charges related to large scale drug trafficking.

Valdez worked for several years as a cartel lieutenant before rising to a leadership position in an enforcement squad called Los Negros.[5][6] Following the death of cartel boss Arturo Beltrán Leyva in late 2009, Valdez fought a bloody and protracted gang war for control of the cartel resulting in over 150 deaths. He employed techniques such as videotaped torture and decapitation.[7][8]

On August 30, 2010, he was arrested by the Mexican Federal Police at a rural house near Mexico City.[9] He faces charges in both Mexico and the United States. His gang known as Los Negros collapsed by 2011.[10]

Biography

Valdez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas.[8][11][12] He was a popular high school football player. Valdez's nickname, La Barbie, came from his American football coach at United High School; because of his white skin, green eyes, and facial features, he was compared to a Ken doll,[13][14] but he had little hair.

Valdez's first arrest came at the age of nineteen in Texas, where he was charged with criminally negligent homicide for running over a middle school counselor with his truck while speeding down a Laredo street. He was not indicted.[15] He became a marijuana dealer on the streets of Laredo while still in high school.[8][16] He turned down his father's offer to finance a college education in order to focus on his business, but was soon indicted on charges of distributing marijuana.[8] He fled to Mexico to avoid capture, where he allegedly joined the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and quickly moved up through the ranks due to his connections in the United States.[8]

Los Negros

Valdez came to lead the enforcement gang called Los Negros,[5][6] who were engaged in a territorial dispute in the Nuevo Laredo region against Los Zetas. Los Negros orchestrated kidnappings and recruited operatives, including corrupt police officers, military personnel and federal agents, according to the attorney general's office. While the group was allegedly controlled directly by Valdez, it used to be overseen by the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.[17]

According to Mexican media reports, shortly after the death of the cartel's leader, Arturo Beltrán Leyva on December 16, 2009, Valdez began to dispute the cartel's leadership and its territory; almost a decade ago one faction was led by Valdez and Gerardo Alaniz, while the other was led by Arturo's brother Héctor Beltrán Leyva and his lieutenant Sergio Villarreal Barragán.[18][19]

In August 2010 four decapitated bodies were found hanging from a bridge in Cuernavaca, along with a message warning anyone helping Valdez of a similar fate.[9] Both sides engaged in similarly gruesome tactics intended to warn off the other; over 150 deaths are allegedly linked to the dispute.[8]

U.S. government reports allege that Los Negros have been known to employ local gangs such as MS-13 and Mexican Mafia to carry out murders and other illegal activities.[20]

Connection with the Cabañas Case

The morning of January 25, 2010, the football player Salvador Cabañas was wounded by a gunshot to the head. Through the recording of a CCTV camera José Jorge Balderas Garza, aka. "JJ", was identified as his attacker. According to his own statements Valdez-Villarreal himself was the person who gave "JJ" shelter to protect him from the police, by placing him in one of his safe houses, this was because of the friendship they have. [21]

Charges and allegations

The Mexican police had been searching for Valdez since his 2002 indictment on two counts of conspiracy with the intent to distribute marijuana. In their investigation, police raided homes that he had rented, locating grenades, automatic weapons and police uniforms. In May 2009, the Mexican authorities listed him as one of their 24 most wanted drug traffickers, and posted a $30 million pesos ($2.3 million USD) reward for information leading to his capture.[3]

Valdez pleaded not guilty and took out advertising in the local Monterrey newspaper, El Norte, describing himself as: "a legitimate businessman who had been forced to leave Nuevo Laredo and move to the neighboring state of Coahuila because he was being harassed for bribes by local police officers."[22]

In June 2010, Valdez was indicted in a U.S. court on charges of trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Mexico into the United States between 2004 and 2006.[4] Mexican officials claim that Valdez introduced to the U.S. about one ton of cocaine per month.[23] In 2009, the Justice Department posted a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture.[4]

Arrest

Mexican police said they tracked Valdez across five Mexican states for a year, a pursuit that intensified in the latest months as they raided home after home owned by the drug lord, missing him but arresting several of his allies. On August 30, 2010, Valdez was captured by the Mexican Federal Police near Mexico City.[9]

In a video released by Mexico's federal police on September 1, 2010, Valdez told his interrogators how he smuggled drugs from Panama to the United States and transported cash from the U.S. back into Mexico hidden in trailers. He said that he spent $200,000 to make a film based on his life; however, he decided not to release the movie because it might reveal too much information about him.[24] After Valdez' arrest, his father-in-law, Carlos Montemayor González, (a.k.a., El Charro) took control of the cartel, only to be arrested 3 months later on November 24, 2010.[25]

His American lawyer told the New York Times that Valdez denies all charges against him and that the video confession was made under duress.[8] In November, 2010, Mexico started his extradition process to the United States.[26]

Extradition

On September 30, 2015, Valdez Villarreal was extradited to the U.S. along with twelve other criminals, including former high-ranking Gulf Cartel leader Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez.[27]

Pending film

In 2011 Legendary Pictures acquired the rights to film American Drug Lord[28] a movie about Valdez based on an article in Rolling Stone magazine. Charlie Hunnam, who is best known for his role as Jax Teller in the TV crime-drama Sons of Anarchy, is scheduled to portray the crime figure.[29] In January, 2016 was revealed that since 2013[30] American actor Armie Hammer contacted the family of the infamous cartel leader "La Barbie" (Valdez-Villarreal) and secured the rights to film the life story of the Drug lord.[31][32][33][34]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Narcotics Rewards Program: Edgar Valdez-Villarreal". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  2. ↑ Miller Llana, Sara (31 August 2011). "In Mexico, skepticism that arrest of Edgar Valdez Villarreal – 'La Barbie' – will stem drug trade". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Mexico'’s 24 most wanted traffickers". Los Angeles Times. 23 March 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2012. C1 control character in |title= at position 8 (help)
  4. 1 2 3 "Feds post $2 million reward for alleged caretl kingpin 'La Barbie'". CNN. CNN Wire Staff. 11 January 2010. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  5. 1 2 Freeman, Laurie (June 2009). State of Siege: Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico (PDF). Washington Office on Latin America. pp. 7–15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  6. 1 2 "La Barbie", brazo derecho de los Beltrán Leyva". La Crónica de Hoy (in Spanish). 30 August 2010. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  7. ↑ Miller Llana, Sara (31 August 2010). "Edgar Valdez Villarreal – suspected drug lord 'La Barbie' – arrested in Mexico". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McKinley Jr., James C. (8 September 2010). "U.S. Student Became Mexican Drug Kingpin". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 "Mexico arrests 'drug lord' Edgar Valdez". BBC News. 31 August 2010. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  10. ↑ Vega, Aurora (7 August 2011). "Surgen cuatro grupos del narco en 2011; El Chapo es el capo más poderoso". Excélsior (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  11. ↑ Thompson, Ginger (4 December 2005). "Mexico in grip of all-out drug war". San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  12. ↑ Samuels, Lennox (21 March 2006). "Man called 'La Barbie' has another name: outlaw". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  13. ↑ "La Barbie" captured in Mexico". KGNS-TV. 30 August 2010. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  14. ↑ "Mexico nabs alleged drug lord 'La Barbie'". MSNBC. 31 August 2010. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  15. ↑ "Mexico Says Drug Lord 'La Barbie' Captured". Fox News. The Associated Press. 30 August 2010. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  16. ↑ Quinones, John (19 May 2010). "Man or Myth? American Drug Lord 'La Barbie' Fascinates and Terrorizes". ABC News. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  17. ↑ McCaul, Michael T. (2006). A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border (PDF). United States House Committee on Homeland Security. p. 38. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2012.
  18. ↑ De la Luz González, María (22 April 2010). "El Indio peleaba cártel a Héctor Beltrán". El Universal (Mexico City) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  19. ↑ "Cae 'El Cantante', operador de 'El Indio'". El Universal (Mexico City) (in Spanish). 26 April 2010. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  20. ↑ "Weak bilateral law enforcement presence at the U.S.-Mexico border: territorial integrity and safety issues for American citizens" (PDF). United States House Committee on the Judiciary. 17 November 2005. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  21. ↑ http://www.lavanguardia.es/internacional/noticias/20100901/53993016871/la-barbie-protegio-al-atacante-de-cabanas-y-financio-una-pelicula-sobre-su-vida-mexico-laredo-valdez.html
  22. ↑ McKinley Jr., James C. (3 December 2005). "Mexico Agents Kidnapped 4, Prosecutor Says". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  23. ↑ "Police: Accused drug lord moved tons of cocaine to U.S.". CNN. 31 August 2010. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  24. ↑ "'La Barbie', la película". El Mundo (in Spanish). 1 September 2010. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  25. ↑ Ellingwood, Ken (24 November 2010). "Mexico drug gang leader arrested". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  26. ↑ "Mexico Prepares to Extradite Drug KingPin 'La Barbie' to US". Latin American Herald Tribune. 21 November 2010. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  27. ↑ Corcoran, Katherine (1 October 2015). "Mexico extradites top drug lords 'La Barbie,' 'El Coss' to US from maximum security jail". U.S. News. The Associated Press.
  28. ↑ http://deadline.com/2015/01/charlie-hunnam-jason-hall-american-drug-lord-1201350329/
  29. ↑ Jason Buch of the San Antonio Express-News, "'La Barbie' movie: Native Laredoan immortalized", Laredo Morning Times, January 17, 2015, p. 1
  30. ↑ http://www.am.com.mx/celaya/espectaculos/armie-hammer-obtiene-los-derechos-biograficos-de-la-barbie-256626.html
  31. ↑ http://www.thewrap.com/armie-hammer-lands-rights-to-mexican-drug-lord-la-barbies-life-story/
  32. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  33. ↑ https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/news/armie-hammer-lands-rights-mexican-drug-lord-la-020800804.html?ref=gs
  34. ↑ http://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiarosenbaum/armie-hammer-secures-life-rights-of-la-barbie
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