The son of legendary Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas remains in federal custody after U.S. agents arrested him at the Texas border. He was allegedly trying to smuggle hundreds of ammunition rounds and weapons parts into Mexico.
Osiel Cardenas Jr, the son of the legendary capo, is set to remain behind bars without bond pending a detention hearing later this week in the Texas border city of Brownsville, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas show.
Cardenas, who is a U.S. citizen, had been driving a 2015 black Escalade from Brownsville into Matamoros when an officer with U.S Customs and Border Protection had him sent to a secondary inspection. Using a scanning device, authorities were able to spot hidden compartments in the dashboard area of the vehicle. Once they opened up the truck they found 290 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 161 rounds of .223 Remington caliber ammunition and 29 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition as well as rifle magazines and other weapon parts, the court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.
Prior to his arrest, Cardenas Jr. had been out on bond following his arrest by Brownsville Police for DWI and for unlawful possession of a weapon, charges that remain pending in state court.
Cardenas’ father Osiel Cardenas is the legendary capo who created the feared Los Zetas as his personal guard. Using Los Zetas, the elder Cardenas was able to stake claim to vast smuggling routes across Mexico forcing other traffickers to pay a fee in order to move through his territory. During Cardenas’ reign the Gulf Cartel or La Compania as it was called at the time became one of the top criminal empires in Mexico and according to a series of civil and criminal lawsuits filed in federal courts, La Compania bribed at least two Tamaulipas governors and many other public officials in order to ensure their supremacy in Tamaulipas. After Cardenas’ arrest and extradition to the U.S. the Gulf Cartel and also Los Zetas imploded into multiple regional warring factions that have resorted to extortion, kidnapping and other crimes in addition to drug trafficking and human smuggling.