Edgar Valdez-Villarreal was serving a 49-year sentence and was not scheduled to be released until 2056 before he went missing from a federal prison in Florida.
The former cartel leader and hitman was widely known as "La Barbie" and gained a reputation for beheading his enemies and taping torture sessions. Valdez-Villarreal was a top lieutenant for El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel and also led the Beltran Leyva Cartel's enforcement group, Los Negros.
The 49-year-old was eventually indicted by the United States in 2010 and extradited to America five years later before being found guilty of drug trafficking and money laundering. Now, the convicted drug lord has disappeared from the federal Bureau of Prisons website, and the Mexican government has questions regarding his mysterious absence.
"It's very strange what is going on in the United States with Mr. Villarreal, who is no longer registered among those in custody, and we want to know where he is," said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a press conference. "There is no reason for him to leave prison because he was condemned to many years unless there was some kind of an agreement."
Although the Bureau of Prisons refused to disclose why Valdez-Villarreal is listed as "not in BOP custody," a spokesman said prisoners can be temporarily removed from the site if they are undergoing court hearings, medical treatments, or "other reasons."
Valdez-Villarreal is a Mexican American who grew up in Laredo, Texas. He reportedly received the "La Barbie" nickname from his high school football coach. However, Valdez-Villarreal moved to Mexico in the 1990s after receiving a marijuana charge. In Mexico, he became one of the country's most ruthless enforcers and, at the time of his capture, was the only American citizen to rise so high in the Mexican cartels.
Source: NY Post
