Mexican Drug Cartel Boss, ‘La Madrina,’ Gets 22 Years in US Prison

Drug trafficking leader Luz Irene Fajardo Campos was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Wednesday in connection with an international drug trafficking conspiracy, reports The U.S. Department of Justice. Campos, who led a drug trafficking organization that was aligned with the Sinaloa cartel, had been found guilty in December 2019 in connection with aconspiracy to transport thousands of kilograms of cocaine and dozens of pounds of methamphetamine into the United States. Campos was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release and forfeit $18 million.

According to evidence submitted during the trial, Campos partnered with other traffickers and her adult children in operating a U.S. distribution network that was aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, Campos, 57, who was known by nicknames “La Comadre,” “La Madrina” and “La Doña,” oversaw the manufacturing of methamphetamine in a desert outside Hermosillo, Mexico. “With this sentencing, we cut the head off of the snake,” said Special Agent in Charge Cheri Oz of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Phoenix Field Division. “Drug traffickers like Fajardo Campos tear at the very fabric of our communities. She made millions of dollars from pushing thousands of pounds of poison into Americans’ communities while at the same time fueling violence and crime across the United States.”