A notorious Mexican drug lord has been arrested in Mexico after U.S. authorities deported him following a lengthy prison sentence. Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, former leader of the Gulf cartel, was extradited to the U.S. in 2007. He completed 14 years of a 25-year sentence before U.S. officials deported him. Upon arrival in Mexico, Mexican authorities took him into custody and transferred him to Altiplano, a maximum-security prison near Mexico City.

Cárdenas Guillén now faces charges for drugs, organized crime, and money laundering in his home country. Samuel Olson, Chicago Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), stressed the importance of removing an “international fugitive.”

Cárdenas Guillén, 57, is from Matamoros, a city on the U.S.-Mexico border. He earned the nickname “El Mata Amigos” or “Friend Killer” for his violent tactics. He recruited former Mexican special forces soldiers to form the brutal Zetas group, known for extreme violence.

Captured in Tamaulipas, Mexico, in 2003, Cárdenas Guillén was convicted in the U.S. in 2010. The U.S. Justice Department accused him of threatening an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Texas. This was over a failed drug delivery involving nearly a ton of marijuana.

President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised to crack down on the Mexican cartels, stating last year that he views them as “unlawful enemy combatants” and could allow the U.S. military to operate against them.

Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, the commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, claimed this year that the cartels were also using thousands of drones at the border to aid in their operations.

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