Ex-Mexico Drug Czar Gets 40 More Years
The disgraced former head of Mexico’s anti-drug efforts was hit with a new penalty on drug charges Tuesday, bringing his total prison sentence to more than 71 years, the federal attorney general’s office reported.
In a news release, the agency said a Mexico City judge sentenced Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo to 40 years for promoting the transportation of cocaine, for organized crime and for bribery.
He already is serving a nearly 32-year sentence for firearms charges. The new penalty is in addition to that one, the attorney general’s office said. He is still being tried on a charge of abuse of authority.
The 65-year-old retired general, who served 40 years in the Mexican army, was arrested in February 1997 on charges of taking bribes from the powerful Juarez drug smuggling cartel to ease its operations while cracking down on its rivals.
Authorities also said he had links to a notorious drug trafficker, the late Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as “the Lord of the Skies” for flying planes filled with cocaine.
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