The son of the ultimate leader of the Gulf Cartel pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle rifles from Texas to Mexico while on parole. The troubled cartel heir has a history of arrests in Texas and still faces assault charges in a Brownsville bar stabbing incident.
On Tuesday afternoon, 30-year-old Osiel “Junior or Ozo” Cardenas Salinas, a U.S. citizen, went before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. in Brownsville where he pleaded guilty to one count of arms smuggling. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November. His father, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, was the supreme leader of the Gulf Cartel and the founder of Los Zetas at a time when his organization was one of the most powerful in Mexico. He is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S.
The smuggling case began in April 2021, when Jose Roberto “Hurraco” Molina Medrano contacted a man to help him purchase several firearms, court documents revealed. However the man that Hurraco worked with was a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives asset. During the meetings, Hurraco revealed that he was purchasing the weapons for Cardenas Salinas.
Authorities arrested Molina and another man named Azhuan Martinez on April 22, during the purchase of 10 rifles (five AK-47s and five AR-15s) for $13,000 total. Molina met with the ATF informant for the purchase and Martinez arrived shortly after with the money.
Despite the case starting in April, it was not until December when U.S. Marshals arrested Cardenas at a luxurious home in Brownsville. The initial arrest was tied to a stabbing at a local bar. Cardenas and another man were recorded in surveillance video attacking two victims in response to an earlier altercation. Cardenas still faces state charges.
Court documents revealed that when Cardenas was directing the smuggling of the weapons, he was on supervised release for a March 2018 case where he pulled a gun at a different bar despite being a convicted felon. When authorities arrived, he presented a stolen police badge and claimed to be a U.S. Marshal. Cardenas was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
Cardenas’ first federal felony arrest came in January 2015 when he tried to smuggle hundreds of rounds and weapons parts into Mexico. After taking a plea deal, Cardenas received a 10-month prison sentence. He also has a record of local arrests including DWIs and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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