Cartel suspect faces multiple federal charges
The nephew of notorious Gulf Cartel leaders Osiel Cárdenas Guillén and Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén appeared in federal court Wednesday morning and agreed to push his trial back to April.
Rafael Cárdenas Vela, a plaza boss in the Gulf Cartel’s Matamoros operation, is facing drug-trafficking, money-laundering and conspiracy charges levied after his Oct. 20 arrest in Port Isabel.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jody Young told the court the prosecution is still in the discovery process, gathering information about the case.
“We’re continuing to look at matters,” Young said.
Cárdenas Vela, who is in federal custody, stood shackled in the courtroom and waived his right to a speedy trial.
U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen scheduled a pretrial hearing for April 24 and jury selection for April 26. The trial was previously set to begin at the beginning of March.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been watching Cárdenas Vela for a lengthy period before he was stopped on a traffic violation in Port Isabel in October.
Court documents show agents set up surveillance on his ranch home in Rio Hondo after receiving a tip that he was in the United States.
The cartel leader is accused in a four-count indictment of participating in drug and money-laundering conspiracies, managing cocaine and marijuana transportation from Mexico to cities throughout the United States for at least a decade.
The defendant is also known as “Junior,” “Commandante 900” and “Rolex.” His uncle Osiel Cárdenas Guillén is serving time for federal drug convictions. Another uncle, Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, also known as “Tony Tormenta,” was fatally shot in Matamoros in 2010.
