Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadia, a leader of Colombia’s Norte del Valle Cartel, was recently sentenced to prison by a New York District Court. Abadia, aka “Chupeta,” was the Columbia connection for the Sinaloa Cartel during its heyday under Joaquín Guzmán Loera, aka “El Chapo.”

Chupeta was charged with offenses relating to drug trafficking, money laundering, and homicide, the Insight Crime news story reported. He admitted to ordering the killing of 150 people and was responsible for shipping about 500 tons of cocaine into the United States. 

His sentence was only 14-20 years, because he received a reduced sentence for serving as a key witness in the case against El Chapo, the Insight Crime news story reported. With time served and good behavior, he could be released from prison as early as next year, the news report said.

In his testimony, Chupeta detailed the dealings between his Norte del Valle Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. He also testified against Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, brother of current Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael Zambada García, and possibly other cases, Insight Crime said.

Chupeta initially agreed to a 25-year prison sentence in exchange for cooperation in 2010 but then got a lighter deal after agreeing to testify after El Chapo was arrested in 2018. El Chapo is currently serving a life sentence.

Chupeta’s criminal career began in the 1980s while working for the Cali Cartel. He was in prison from 1996 to 2002, was arrested again by Brazilian authorities in 2008 and was later extradited to the United States, the news story said. He is infamous for having several botched facial reconstruction surgeries to evade authorities, which left him unrecognizable.

Based in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, the Sinaloa Cartel is one of the oldest and most significant cartels. Led by Guzmán until his arrest in 2017, it still has one of the largest international operations of the Mexican drug cartels and has been described as the “most powerful drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere,” its Insight Crime profile says.

The Sinaloa Cartel has more than 26,000 members, associates, facilitators, and brokers associated with it throughout the world and has a presence in 19 of the 32 states in Mexico. It imports drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine into the United States, Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Ann Milgram said in congressional testimony.