Suspected Mexican Cartel Boss, Rival Of El Chapo Extradited To North Dakota To Face Federal Charges

Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha, who is an accused hitman for a Mexican drug cartel, was transferred to North Dakota to face federal charges.

KVRR reported that he appeared in court in Fargo on Friday about 11 years after he was caught in Tijuana, Mexico. Sillas-Rocha is facing three charges. It includes conspiracy to commit murder for a continuing criminal enterprise.

Sillas-Rocha, known as “Ruedas,” or “Wheels,” was a top lieutenant for the Arellano Felix cartel, said authorities. It was a longtime competitor of the Sinaloa cartel that was led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a notorious drug kingpin.

For decades, the Felix cartel is said to have smuggled cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the U.S. Sillas-Rocha had been fighting extradition to America where federal officials in North Dakota were collecting incriminating evidence on the Felix cartel. The gathering of evidence started after one of its members killed a man over a drug debt.

According to a detective in North Dakota, Sillas-Rocha once boasted to authorities that he murdered up to 30 people a month during the gang’s prime in Tijuana.

It’s still not clear what led Mexican authorities to turn over Sillas-Rocha to officials in the U.S.

Christopher Myers is the federal prosecutor on the case, but he declined to comment on it on Tuesday. AP News also tried to connect with lawyer Matthew Lombard, who represented Sillas-Rocha in his first appearance, but he could not be reached.

Court documents showed that the case ended up in North Dakota after Jorge “Sneaky” Arandas, who is a member of the Felix cartel, ordered the killing of a man. The order was given out as the man allegedly failed to pay for five pounds of methamphetamine that came from Sillas-Rocha. Arandas told cops that he feared that he would be killed for not paying Sillas-Rocha. So he had someone shoot the man nine times.

No plea had been filed and no further court proceedings had been scheduled as well.

In March 2011, a federal indictment that was filed detailed how Sillas-Rocha allegedly led a drug ring in North Dakota, Nebraska, Washington state, California, Minnesota and elsewhere from 2002 into early 2011. He was arrested in 2011 by Mexican authorities, reported Inforum.