Mexican drug cartel member sentenced in New Hampshire to 9 years in prison over cocaine charge
Published December 23, 2014
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. – A member of the Sinaloa drug cartel who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine has been sentenced in New Hampshire to nine years in prison.
Jesus Gonzalo Palazuelos Soto of Mexico was arrested in Spain in 2012. One of a group indicted in New Hampshire, he pleaded guilty in September and was sentenced Monday.
Prosecutors say Soto's role was to monitor the delivery of 346 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipping container, and that the delivery resulted from negotiations between members of the cartel, allegedly led by one of the world's most powerful drug lords — Joaquin Guzman — and undercover FBI agents posing as members of an organized crime syndicate.
Guzman, known as "El Chapo," was arrested earlier this year in Mexico.
