US judge sentences cartel lieutenant to 22 years
58-year-old is one of 11 alleged traffickers indicted in Chicago, including Guzman himself.
CHICAGO (AP) - A U.S. judge has sentenced a reputed lieutenant of captured Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman to 22 years in prison for his role in a $1 billion conspiracy to traffic narcotics to Chicago and other cities.
Alfredo Vasquez-Hernandez was sentenced Monday in U.S. District in Chicago. The 58-year-old is one of 11 alleged traffickers indicted in Chicago, including Guzman himself. Hernandez was the first to be sentenced.
The case is regarded as one of the U.S. government s most important against Mexican cartels. Guzman remains jailed in Mexico, and Mexican authorities haven t said if they will extradite him to Chicago.
Prosecutors say Hernandez employed logistical skills to ship tons of heroin and cocaine by train from Mexico to Chicago concealed amid furniture
