A founder of one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent drug cartels has pleaded guilty in the U.S. to a federal narcotics conspiracy charge. Erick Valencia Salazar co-founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel with Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the drug lord known as “El Mencho” who was killed by the Mexican army in February. Valencia Salazar faces a mandatory-minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison after pleading guilty on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to conspiring to distribute cocaine for U.S. importation. Chief Judge James Boasberg is scheduled to sentence him on July 31.
