Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a Texan whose blood-soaked rise to power saw him make it to the top ranks of one of Mexico's most vicious drug cartels, has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a US prison.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Guzman
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Mexican cartel leader Edgar Valdez Villarreal, widely known as "La Barbie," was sentenced by an Atlanta court to 49 years and one month in prison and forced to forfeit his $192 million (€163 million) fortune.
Valdez, 44, was found guilty of organizing and overseeing numerous truck shipments of cocaine from Mexico to the eastern United States, while shipping millions of dollars back to Mexico.
He was arrested on the outskirts of Mexico City in 2010 before being extradited to the US in September 2015. At the time of his arrest, Mexico's then-President Felipe Calderon described Valdez as "one of the most-wanted criminals in Mexico and abroad."
In January 2016 he pleaded to guilty charges including conspiring to import and distribute cocaine in the US, as well as conspiring to launder money.
Mexico's drug wars are coming to America
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Family begs for leniency
The Atlanta courtroom was largely packed with Valdez's immediate and extended family, including his seven siblings, parents, nieces and nephews.
His sister, Carla Valdez, who works as a prosecutor in Texas, told US Judge William Duffey that she and her siblings were raised by hardworking parents who taught them strong values. She acknowledged that her brother had strayed but insisted he was still a good person.
Duffey said he struggled to understand, asking "why are you a prosecutor and why is your brother a seriously evil criminal?"
Defense attorney Buddy Parker stressed that his client had cooperated with US law enforcement agents, even before his 2010 arrest, to help catch other traffickers.
Duffey remained skeptical, saying that by providing information to US authorities, Valdez was effectively "structuring a situation where his competitors were being taken out by law enforcement."
In his last statement before the court, Valdez told the judge: "I'm not a bad person, I am a good person who has made bad decisions." The judge refused to be swayed, telling Valdez that his actions amounted to a betrayal of his family and his country.
Rising through the cartel ranks
Born in Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border, Valdez began working as a street dealer as a teen, before climbing through the ranks of the Beltran Leyva gang at a time when the gang's leaders boasted ties with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel.
Dubbed "La Barbie" for his light skin and blond hair, Valdez was known for his love of luxury and tendency to purchase houses in Mexico's City most exclusive neighborhoods, including one with a zoo that housed a lion.
However, his flashy lifestyle came under threat in December 2009 when Mexican marines killed the gang's leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva. What followed was a bloody fight for control between Valdez and Arturo's brother, Hector, which left dismembered and decapitated bodies lying in the streets of Cuernavaca and Acapulco.
Valdez was arrested less than year later by elite US-trained Mexican federal police.
Despite being sentenced, prosecutors in the US' case against "El Chapo," which is due to begin in September, are still considering Valdez as a potential witness.
Mother Nature's drug lab
Don't blame the chemists: some of the world's most dangerous substances come from nature itself. Many flowers, seeds and leaves are full of intoxicants and potentially deadly drugs. Hands off!
Image: Fotolia/Opra
Cannabis - smoke it or wear it
The cannabis plant contains the psychoactive substance tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It makes people feel euphoric and relaxed and can also alleviate pain. The flowers of infertilized female plants contain particularly high amounts of THC, that's why they are taken for producing marihuana. Some cannabis species do not contain any THC at all and are grown for fiber production.
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Better than aspirin
Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) produces - you guessed it - opium. To harvest it, you simply incise the capsules and let the white latex exude and dry. Opium contains high amounts of morphine, the strongest existing pain medication. A chemical variation of morphine provides the semi-synthetic drug heroin.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/D.Ramik
Fancy a magic mushroom?
Mushrooms are chemical artists - some of them even produce psychoactive substances. Among them: this grey-coloured Pluteus salicinus. It grows on wood and contains psilocybin, which causes visual and mental hallucinations similar to LSD. Side effects are nausea and panic attacks.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Wildlife
Drug snack to go
Leaves of the coca plant harbour chemical compounds similar to cocaine. They alleviate pain and act as stimulants. In many countries in Latin America, chewing on raw coca leaves is quite common. It helps tourists deal better with altitude sickness, too. By fermenting and drying the leaves and processing them chemically, cocaine is produced.
Image: Reuters
Beautiful poisonous flowers
Angel's trumpets are beautiful to look at but you should refrain from tasting them. All parts of the plant contain alkaloids - chemical compounds with strong effects on the human body. When you eat or smoke the plant, your heart rate will increase and you will start to hallucinate. As with all natural drugs, finding the right dosage is difficult. Deadly accidents occur quite often.
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Bummer with thornapple
On the internet, poisonous Datura plants - also known as thornapples - are advertised as natural drugs as well. Really not a good idea: The plant induces strong hallucinations, sometimes with a complete loss of reality. People tend to hurt themselves severely under its influence.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/R. Koenig
Hawaiian Babies
Argyreia nervosa is native to Asia, even though the plant is called Hawaiian baby woodrose. The seeds of this climbing vine contain ergine, a compound similar to LSD. It causes colourful visions and euphoria but also nausea, prickling and psychoses. Overdosing can happen easily as one seed alone already has a strong effect.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/R. Koenig
Ecstasy with cactus
The peyote cactus in Mexico and Texas is full of mescaline, a hallucinogenic compound that is illegal under the international Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Mescaline alters thinking processes and one's sense of time and self-awareness. The cactus is cut into pieces and eaten or boiled into a tea. The cactus species is now listed on the Red List as vulnerable.
Image: picture-alliance/WILDLIFE
Beware of nutmeg
Nutmeg in high amounts can act as a drug, since it contains the hallucinogenic compound myristicin. But don't worry: you'll never reach the necessary dosage if you only use nutmeg as a spice. Getting high on nutmeg seems a bad idea anyway, as side effects include headaches, nausea and diarrhea.
Image: picture alliance/CTK/R. Pavel
Psychedelic leaves?
Yes, it's true: the evergreen kratom tree (Mitragyna speciosa), native to Southeast Asia, incorporates the opioid-like compound mitragynine into its leaves. In traditional medicine, the leaves are chewed to relieve pain, increase appetite and treat diarrhea. But they can also be used to mix drug cocktails.
The tobacco plant produces poisonous and addictive chemicals, such as nicotine and other alkaloids, and harbours them inside its leaves. With this poisonous cocktail, the plant tries to ward off animals that might want to eat it. When the leaves are dried and smoked, the chemicals enter the human body - together with many cancerous substances generated by burning tabacco.