Eduardo Arellano Félix (born October 11, 1956) is a Mexican drug trafficker, brother of Benjamín, Ramón, Javier and sister, Enedina, all drug traffickers. The Arellano-Félix Organization, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, has been responsible for numerous murders and the smuggling of thousands of tons of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

and

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...

for more than a decade. The DEA believes that the Arellano-Félix brothers were responsible for the numerous smuggling tunnels that were found in January 2006. Arellano is believed to be one of the most sophisticated brothers and had taken control of the cartel. He was wanted by Mexican and

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

authorities in connection with the smuggling of several tons of

and

from Mexico into the U.S. each year. He and his sister, Enedina Arellano Félix, became the leaders of the drug cartel after their brother Javier Arellano Félix was arrested by U.S. authorities in

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

on August 16, 2006. His brother Ramón Arellano Félix, believed to be the most ruthless member, was eventually killed in a

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding , known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast across from th ...

shootout with the Federal Police in February 2002. Another brother, Benjamín Arellano Félix, "the mastermind", was arrested in March 2002.

Kingpin Act sanction

On 1 June 2004, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

sanctioned Arellano Félix under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act"), for his involvement in drug trafficking along with nine other international criminals and two entities. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.

Arrest

Arellano was captured by the Mexican Federal Police after a shootout in Tijuana, Baja California, on October 26, 2008. Eduardo was sought by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

in 180 countries, and the U.S. State Department had been offering

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

5,000,000 for information leading to his arrest. Eduardo Arellano Félix was charged in the U.S. Southern District of California with

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to import

and

. Authorities say Arellano did not go down without a fight, despite having his 11-year-old daughter near him. On the same day, the Mexican military also arrested another alleged lieutenant of the Tijuana Cartel in a separate incident: Luis Ramirez Vázquez, known as ''El Güero Camarón'', or ''The Blond Shrimp''. Although the arrests were blows to the Arellano Félix cartel it did not dismantle the organization, which was afterwards led by Eduardo's nephew, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano. and is now led by Eduardo's sister Enedina, after Luis Fernando's own arrest.

Extradition and sentence

On September 1, 2012, he was extradited to the U.S. to face charges of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

and drug trafficking among other crimes. He is the last Arellano Félix brother named in a 2003 indictment to be extradited. On August 18, 2013, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His sentence, however, was shorter than the one his brothers received because the U.S. court deemed that he was "less involved in the unsavory aspects" on the Tijuana Cartel.

U.S. District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

Larry A. Burns reminded Arellano that he was convicted either way because he was well-aware of the violent doings of his criminal organization, and told him that he should be embarrassed of his actions because they had a negative effect on the community and on the relationship between Mexico and the U.S. After having completed 8 years in the U.S., he has been deported back to Mexico in August 2021 and immediately transferred to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 maximum security prison in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arellano Felix, Eduardo 1956 births Living people Eduardo Eduardo Fugitives Mexican drug traffickers Mexican people imprisoned abroad People extradited from Mexico to the United States People from Culiacán People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act Tijuana Cartel traffickers

Kingpin Act sanction

Arrest

Extradition and sentence

See also

References