US authorities say head of Mexico's Gulf Cartel in custody; makes court appearance in Texas
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}U.S. authorities say they have arrested the head of the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's most violent drug trafficking rings.
Federal prosecutors announced that 23-year-old Juan Francisco Saenz-Tamez made his initial court appearance in Beaumont on Tuesday on drug and money laundering charges.
Wendell Campbell of the Drug Enforcement Administration says Saenz-Tamez is the latest of several people who have headed the Gulf Cartel following the 2013 arrest of former leader Mario Ramirez-Trevino.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Saenz-Tamez is from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. He was arrested Oct. 9 while shopping in the South Texas city of Edinburg.
He does not appear on the U.S. State Department's list of Mexican narcotics fugitives or the Treasury Department's list of significant foreign narcotics traffickers. However, the DEA says its investigation revealed Saenz-Tamez's leadership role.