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World & Nation

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN DIEGO

By Richard Marosi
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Three former lieutenants of Tijuana’s Arellano Felix drug cartel have pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and conspiracy charges. Jorge Aureliano Felix, who agreed to forfeit $1 million, faces a potential a 30-year prison term for his role in the once-powerful organized crime group that shipped hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S.

Armando Martinez Duarte, a former federal police officer in Baja California, admitted protecting drug shipments and leaking information. Another lieutenant, Efrain Perez, pleaded guilty with Martinez last week. Aureliano pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

The top targets remaining in the case, alleged cartel leaders Benjamin Arellano Felix and his brother Eduardo, are in Mexican prisons. U.S. authorities are seeking their extradition.

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-- Richard Marosi

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Richard Marosi

Richard Marosi is a former Metro editor for the Los Angeles Times. He previously reported from the U.S.-Mexico border. Marosi was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2015 for his series on Mexican laborers and in 2013 for his stories on the fate of thousands of immigrants who were deported from the U.S. to Mexico in recent years. He has delved deeply into Mexico’s drug wars, producing a groundbreaking series on the Sinaloa cartel and sharing an Overseas Press Club Award in 2009. In the early 2000s, his corruption investigations in Southeast Los Angeles County contributed to the indictment or ouster of a dozen politicians and city officials. Marosi is a Southern California resident but remains loyal to the Giants, 49ers and Warriors of his native San Francisco Bay Area.

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