US court jails Mexican drug gangster blamed for 1,500 hits

[alp227]

Source: AP

A top Mexican drug gangster of the Juárez cartel who is blamed for more than 1,500 killings including that of a US consulate employee has been sentenced to life in prison by an American court.

Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez pleaded guilty in El Paso district court to 11 counts that included conspiracy, racketeering and murder. Judge Kathleen Cardone gave Acosta seven concurrent life terms, three additional consecutive life terms and 20 years in federal prison.

Acosta allegedly headed La Linea, the Juárez cartel's enforcement arm. Mexican authorities say the former police officer admitted to ordering more than 1,500 killings after being captured in July with his bodyguard in the northern Mexico city of Chihuahua.

Mexico extradited Acosta to the US three weeks ago.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/06/us-jails-mexican-drug-gangster

[midnight]

1. Won't these jail sentences be a losing battle as long as Wall Street launders this drug money?

[Turbineguy]

2. That would put

3 funeral homes out of business I figure.

[Lasher]

3. Why isn't this man in a Mexican prison?

It costs $28,000 a year to keep him in jail. Why are we stuck with this cost?

[ManiacJoe]

4. Here he will actually be in prison, maybe?

[Lasher]

5. That is a good point.

The thought occurred to me.

[Marrah_G]

6. It's probably better for everyone that he be imprisoned here

[Alcibiades]

7. As bad as prison probably is in Mexico

for most inmates, he probably would have been better off there-last year, officials discovered a "luxury suite" that had been vacated by someone and used as the prize in a raffle. Of course, "no one knows" who originally had the suite built, because "the prisoners won't say." Yeah, right. I'm sure no one in the prison staff noticed when this was built.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017385/Mexican-prisoner-raffled-luxury-cell-inmates-Cereso-Hermosillo-jail.html

You have to see the photos. It looks like a cosy little apartment.

[Posteritatis]

8. He'd remain in prison for about twelve minutes if he was in Mexico. (nt)

[Lasher]

9. Hey, what a great new growth opportunity for America's privatized prison industry!

Do those pesky criminals keep escaping from your country's prisons no matter what you do? Well, send them to Dungeons R Us in the USA! For a low low annual fee of $38,000 USD, we'll take those annoying problems off your hands. And thanks to our exclusive lock-the-door-and-throw-away-the-key guarantee, you can be sure they'll never be heard from again!

Our maximum security prisons are filling up fast, so better act now while cell space is still available. Just contact your nearest US embassy today and tell them Dungeons R Us sent you!