Washington offers $5 million reward for Sinaloa Cartel leader known as 'El Ruso'
Over the past decade, Ponce Felix has been indicted several times in the Central and Southern Districts of California on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking, firearms and money laundering.
FBI. File image.
The government on Tuesday announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture or conviction of Juan Jose Ponce Felix, alias El Ruso, a top commander of the Sinaloa Cartel, an organization designated as a terrorist group by Washington.
The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs published the offer under the Narcotics Reward Program (NRP) explaining that the Mexican kingpin is also known as Jesus Alexandro Sanchez Felix, and faces charges of violating U.S. narcotics laws.
According to the FBI, Ponce Felix is the founder and leader of Los Rusos, the main armed wing of La Mayiza. La Mayiza is a powerful faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, co-founded and led by Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias El Mayo, who is currently in a U.S. prison.
The La Mayiza faction of the cartel manages the production and trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine from northwest Mexico to the U.S.
Organized crime, drug trafficking, firearms and money laundering
The reward offered for information leading to his arrest would be another in the Trump Administration's efforts to dismantle transnational crime globally and bring cartel fugitives designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations to justice.
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In mid-August organized crime suffered a major blow after the US and Mexico confirmed an agreement to extradite 26 high-level cartel leaders under a deal between the Trump Administration and the government of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
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