Heir Of The Beltrán Leyva Cartel And Leader Of The H-2 Clique, Known as 'H-3,' Extradited To The U.S.

The Beltrán Leyva Cartel, once one of Mexico's biggest and most feared criminal organizations, is likely scrambling after its leader, Jesús Ricardo Patrón Sánchez, was extradited to the United States.

Formed in the early 2000s by Alfredo and Héctor Beltrán Leyva, the criminal organization started to lose its status after the deaths and arrests of its founding members. Following the arrest of "El Mochomo" in 2014, the organization divided into multiple cliques, one of them led by Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez, alias "H-2."

Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez remained as leader of the H-2 cartel until February 2017, when Mexican authorities killed him during a special operation in the state of Nayarit. His brother, Jesús Ricardo, quickly replaced him at the helm of the Beltrán Leyva clique and remained there until his arrest in 2019.

Commonly known as "H-3," Jesús Ricardo Patrón Sánchez allegedly served as the leader of the H-2 drug cartel ever since. Federal prosecutors said he sat atop of a "brutally violent" narcotics trafficking enterprise "that flooded American streets with dangerous drugs."

"H-3" was arrested in Mexico back in 2019 in the state of Jalisco, one of the clique's strongholds. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has estimated that the H-2 cartel distributed, on a monthly basis, hundreds of kilograms of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, and thousands of kilograms of marijuana into the United States and earned millions of dollars in illegal proceeds.

Court documents showed that the cartel had criminal cells in various states in the U.S. that facilitated drug trafficking, including in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina and New York.

"H-3" was extradited to the U.S. on Feb. 21 and pleaded not guilty in a Brooklyn federal court to drug trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges. As reported by ABC7, the judge ordered him to be held without bail pending trial.