| | |  Americas & Beyond | October 2009 
Guilty Plea Entered by Partner in Drug Gang
 Greg Moran - San Diego Union-Tribune
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October 16, 2009
| | Jesus “Chuy” Labra Aviles faces prison term of 5 to 40 years. | |
US Federal Court — For 20 years, Jesus “Chuy” Labra Aviles was among a small group that made up the very top tier of the Arellano Felix drug gang, a “senior partner” in a ruthless Tijuana organization that trafficked in narcotics by the ton and ordered killings by the hundreds.
Yesterday, it took less than 20 minutes for Labra to admit to several crimes and all but consign himself to spending the rest of his life in a U.S. prison.
Clad in an orange jail jumpsuit, Labra pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine, and agreed to forfeit $1 million in drug proceeds. He faces a maximum term of 40 years in prison.
The 62-year-old Labra answered firmly in Spanish a series of routine questions from Magistrate Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo.
He admitted he was a “senior partner,” as the plea agreement fashioned by the government put it, with fellow cartel members Benjamin Arellano Felix and Manuel Aguirre Galindo. He also said he consulted on major decisions of the group and directed the conspiracy that sent “hundreds of tons” of cocaine and marijuana across the border.
The $1 million in forfeited proceeds is just a fraction of the millions Labra probably saw during the heyday of the gang, which has been diminished in scope after a series of arrests, deaths and prosecutions by authorities on both sides of the border since 2002.
Arellano was captured in Mexico in 2002, and federal authorities in San Diego are still awaiting his extradition. Aguirre remains at large and — like Labra, Arellano and nine other senior members of the gang — is named in a much-amended indictment originally returned by a federal grand jury in San Diego in 1997.
Labra was arrested in 2000 in Tijuana, and remained in Mexican custody until he and several others were extradited to the United States last New Year's Eve. A trial was set to begin Nov. 9.
Outside court, Guadalupe Valencia, Labra's attorney, said the plea agreement does not require his client to cooperate with the government. He also said there was no agreement that Mexican prosecutors would drop the charges against Labra there.
Valencia offered little insight into why Labra decided now to plead guilty. He faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 40 years in prison when U.S. District Judge Larry Burns sentences him Jan. 4.
“He felt it was in his best interests,” Valencia said. “He just thought this was the right thing to do now.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko declined to comment after the hearing.
Three others who were extradited along with Labra still face trial. They are Armando Martinez Duarte, Efrain Perez Arciniega and Jorge Aureliano Felix. All were indicted on charges of racketeering, drug smuggling and money laundering. A hearing on that case is set for Monday.
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