Ailing Guadalajara Cartel Founder Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo to Spend More Days in Prison as Transfer to Private Home Suspended
It looks like Guadalajara Cartel founder Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo will still have to spend more time in prison even after being granted house arrest.
According to Infobae, Felix Gallardo will have to remain in Puente Grande prison in Jalisco state until September 23 as his release from jail on Thursday was suspended.
Milenio reported that Jose Antonio Perez Juarez, the general director of Prevention and Social Reintegration of Jalisco, said the proceeding to transfer the Guadalajara Cartel founder to his Zapopan home was deferred as the National Guard admitted that it did not have the capacity to do it due to lack of personnel.
Lawyer of Guadalajara Cartel Founder Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo Accuses Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Postponing His House Arrest
The postponement in placing Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo under house arrest had certainly not made his lawyers happy. One of his lawyers, Teresa Vallejo Perez, accused Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Rosa Icela Rodriguez of ordering the process to be suspended.
Vallejo Perez noted that she will hold the secretary and "all of Mexico" responsible if her client dies. The lawyer said the secretary intends to build an image that his client is an evil man who will be sacrificed for political gains.
Vallejo Perez further noted that the National Guard agents had already told her there was no danger to the public or possibilities of escape and had sufficient personnel for the transfer of the Mexican drug lord to the address indicated in the file.
She said the agents had also checked Felix Gallardo's ankle monitor and verified that it worked correctly. The Mexican drug lord must wear an ankle monitor for authorities to know where he is.
The Guadalajara Cartel founder's lawyers, wife, and son waited more than three hours for the formal release of Felix Gallardo from prison on Thursday, but it did not materialize.
Guadalajara Cartel Founder Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo Granted House Arrest
Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo was allowed on Monday to continue his sentence from home as his health deteriorated. However, the Attorney General's Office (FGR) challenged the order issued by a judge on the same day.
The FGR argued that the judge had only ruled on his 40-year sentence and not his separate 37-year sentence. According to reports, another judge still needs to rule concerning his 37-year sentence.
Felix Gallardo is currently serving two prison sentences that add up to his 76-year-old age. He was arrested in April 1989 for the kidnapping and killing of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar.
In the same year, a court sentenced the Guadalajara Cartel founder to 40 years in prison for crimes that included stockpiling weapons, drug trafficking, murder, bribery, and money laundering. However, after serving 28 years, a 2017 retrial sentenced him to an additional 37 years for the death of Camarena.
In granting him house arrest, the judge said the Mexican drug lord could serve the remaining three years of his sentence for drug trafficking and possession of weapons in a private home due to his advanced age and health problems. And after he completed it, the judge noted that Felix Gallardo will have to begin serving his sentence for the murder of Camarena.
In his first interview from prison, the Guadalajara Cartel founder told Telemundo last year that his health was terrible and that his family was already digging a hole under a tree for him to be buried.
He also said he does not have hopes of getting out of prison. He noted that he had lost all hope of being released and believed he would die in prison. Felix Gallardo is currently blind in one eye and deaf in one ear and often needs an oxygen tank in order to breathe.
Felix Gallardo, also known for his aliases "El Jefe de Jefes"(The Boss of Bosses) and "El Padrino" (The Godfather), has once worked with Rafael Caro Quintero, another Guadalajara Cartel co-founder, who has been named to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Felix Gallardo also oversaw lieutenants like young Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, who later became the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. He was also known to work with Amado Carrillo Fuentes for the fleet of airplanes used to move drugs for his Juarez cartel.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
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