A former U.S. marine who ran a drug-smuggling organization that worked with several Mexican drug cartels will now spend 16 years in prison. The former Marine conspired to smuggle at least 10 tons of cocaine into the US each month.
This week, 50-year-old Angel Dominguez Ramirez Jr., a former U.S. Marine, went before a U.S. District Court judge in San Diego who sentenced him to 16 years in prison for his role as the leader of a drug-smuggling group that trafficked tons of cocaine from South America into Mexico. Ten tons of drug shipments eventually made their way into the U.S. on a monthly basis. Dominguez had previously pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges last fall. Mexican authorities arrested him in Mexico and after two years in a Mexican prison, they extradited him to the U.S. in 2016.
The smuggling group worked with several Mexican drug cartels, including organizations that are at war with each other like the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel Jalisco New Generation. Dominguez got into the drug business after being unable to find work after being medically discharged from the U.S. Marines following a car crash where his two daughters died. Court documents revealed that he spent six months in a hospital and was left with permanent damage from the crash.
According to federal prosecutors, Dominguez ran a drug organization called “El Seguimiento 39,” also known as “The Company.” The group would transport and supply drugs from South America to Mexico which would then make their way into the United States.
Dominguez built his organization through key alliances with most of Mexico’s drug cartels — including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Beltran Leyva Cartel, Cartel Jalisco New Generation, the Gulf Cartel, and Los Zetas. Court documents also point to Dominguez having access to top Mexican police officials at the federal level. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, authorities estimated that the organization smuggled approximately ten tons of cocaine into the U.S monthly and would send back to Mexico about $10 million dollars per month in proceeds.
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
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