CHICAGO – A reputed associate of captured Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's has pleaded guilty in Chicago to drug trafficking.
Tomas Arevalo-Renteria's surprise change of plea happened Wednesday in U.S. District Court. It was a blind plea, so it's not based on any deal with prosecutors.
It comes weeks after co-defendant Alfredo Vasquez Hernandez announced he'd plead guilty, then changed his mind.
Hernandez's lawyer has said his client feared for the lives of his family in Mexico after a false Chicago TV report suggested Hernandez would cooperate with prosecutors. That's why he decided to go to trial after all.
On Wednesday, all sides took pains to note Arevalo-Renteria had never cooperated with U.S. officials and never would.
Arevalo-Renteria, Hernandez and Guzman are accused in an alleged $1 billion drug-trafficking conspiracy.
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