page_title: 1999 Matamoros standoff
section_title: Imprisonment and extraditions
hierarchical_section_title: 1999 Matamoros standoff / Aftermath / Imprisonment and extraditions
caption_attribution_description: English: Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, 15 of the world’s most violent and ruthless criminals and kingpin of the Gulf Cartel, is being extradited to the United States from Mexico. This picture was considered among the Drug Enforcement Administration's Picture of the Year in 2007.
context_page_description: On 9 November 1999, two agents from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation were threatened at gunpoint and nearly killed in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, by gunmen of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in the area. The two agents traveled to Matamoros with an informant to gather intelligence on the operations of the Gulf Cartel. As they cruised through one of the properties owned by the criminal group, they noticed several vehicles following them. The agents were forced to a stop and were corralled by a convoy of eight vehicles, from which fifteen gunmen emerged and surrounded the agents' car. Some of them wore uniforms of the local police. Among the gunmen was the former kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who recognized the informant and ordered the three of them to get out of their vehicle.
  Fearing torture and interrogation, the agents agreed they would not allow the Gulf Cartel to take them alive. They decided their best chance of survival was to talk their way out of the incident.
context_section_description: While in prison, Cárdenas Guillén continued to lead the Gulf Cartel and created an alliance with Tijuana Cartel leader Benjamín Arellano Félix. Cárdenas Guillén and Arellano Félix orchestrated plans to destabilize La Palma, and were placed under 24-hour surveillance with limited visits from family members. In October 2003 Cárdenas Guillén planned a hunger strike with other inmates after complaining that prison authorities were limiting the availability of water for their daily showers. In December 2003, Mexican authorities discovered he had smuggled a cellphone into his prison cell. In April 2004, he sponsored a nationwide gift delivery during Children's Day and gave money to a church. In August 2004, investigators discovered Arellano Félix and Cárdenas Guillén were planning to escape from prison with outside help from their henchmen; Cárdenas Guillén was reportedly planning to use Los Zetas to break in and free him. In January 2005, authorities also discovered that Cárdenas Guillén was depositing money into the bank accounts of several inmates and their family members to gain their favor. The same month, he ordered the execution of six prison guards in Matamoros; according to investigators, the attack was intended to show the government he was still capable of instigating violent acts. On 31 December 2005, high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel leader Arturo Guzmán Loera was killed in La Palma; investigators suspected Cárdenas Guillén may have planned the attack.
  The Mexican government grew frustrated of Cárdenas Guillén's actions behind bars and decided to extradite him to the U.S. The extradition occurred on 19 January 2007, along with that of 14 other suspected criminals. He was one of the four major drug cartel leaders extradited that day; the other kingpins were Ismael and Gilberto Higuera Guerrero, former leaders of the Tijuana Cartel, and Héctor "El Güero" Palma, a former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. The extradition came a few days after the inauguration of President Felipe Calderón (2006–2012); U.S. officials lauded Cárdenas Guillén's extradition and said they were optimistic about the new administration. U.S. officials had tried to have Cárdenas Guillén extradited to the U.S. during the Fox administration but they believed the Mexican government was reluctant to extradite criminals who faced crimes punishable with death penalties or life imprisonment; Mexico does not issue these sentences.
  On 24 February 2010, Cárdenas Guillén was sentenced to 25 years in prison without possibility of parole. He was also fined US$100,000 and ordered to forfeit US$50 million; a small portion of what U.S. officials believed he generated as a leader of the Gulf Cartel. Upon his release in 2035, he will be placed in supervised release for five years. Though most of the trial was held behind closed doors, the U.S. government confirmed he pleaded guilty to threatening U.S. agents, money laundering, and drug trafficking. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Cárdenas Guillén led a vast criminal empire that supplied multi-ton shipments of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to the U.S., resulting in millions of dollars in drug proceeds. They also found him guilty of using violence and intimidation to further his drug conspiracies. "The successful prosecution of Cárdenas Guillén underscores the joint resolve of the United States and Mexico to pursue and prosecute the leadership of the drug trafficking cartels, dismantle their organizations and end the violence and corruption they have spawned", the prosecution said.
caption: Osiel Cárdenas Guillén's extradition to the United States from Mexico
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