Osiel Cardenas Jr., the son of drug kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen, remained in federal custody on Monday following his indictment on gun smuggling charges.
(An update to this article can be found here: Osiel Cardenas Jr. waives rights to arraignment hearing)
Cardenas Jr. appeared Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III for his initial appearance on the smuggling charges. Cardenas Jr. is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the charges Feb. 10. He was remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals.
According to the federal indictment, Cardenas Jr. on April 22, 2021 knowingly tried to export from the United States to Mexico five Bushmaster rifles XM15-E2S, caliber 223-5.56 and five Zastava rifles, model M90, caliber 7.6sx39, contrary to the law and regulations of the U.S.
In addition, he is accused of attempting to conceal the transportation of the weapons knowing them to be intended for exportation contrary to the law and regulations of the U.S.
This was at least the second time Cardenas Jr. has been arrested and charged in federal court.
In August 2018 he was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison following his conviction for being illegally in possession of a firearm and impersonating a U.S. Marshal. He pleaded guilty to the charges in May 2018. He was released from federal prison March 25, 2020, according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Brownsville police arrested Cardenas Jr., son of former Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cardenas, around 2 a.m. on March 15, 2018 in the parking lot of the Sky Bar & Lounge. He is accused of waiving a gun around the bar, displaying a Cameron County District Attorney’s badge and threatening patrons with arrest if they didn’t leave the premises.
Police charged Cardenas Jr. with public intoxication, false report to a police officer and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
His father Osiel Cardenas, former head of the Gulf Cartel, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in February 2010 and was to forfeit $50 million of proceeds he made from his illegal enterprise.
According to the FBI, while head of the Gulf Cartel, Cardenas-Guillen oversaw a vast drug trafficking empire responsible for the importation of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana into the United States from Mexico.
(An update to this article can be found here: Osiel Cardenas Jr. waives rights to arraignment hearing)
