Mexican cartel boss ‘El Marro’ receives 60-year prison sentence

A Mexican cartel boss known as “El Marro” received a 60-year prison sentence in the country on Friday, according to state prosecutors. 

Jose Antonio Yepez, leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel in the state of Guanajuato, was arrested back in 2020 as one of the most wanted criminals in Mexico, Reuters reported. 

Yepez and his gang were known for allegedly stealing an industrial-sized amount of petroleum, and fanning the flames of violence in the central state. 

Reuters reported his cartel waged a bloody turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in the state.

The attorney general’s office of Guanajuato said the court  “found him and his co-authors guilty of the crime of kidnapping.”

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has promised to lower petroleum theft and crime, and Yepez is his highest profile drug arrest yet.

Yepez’s gang was known for engaging in a variety of illegal activities from kidnapping to drug smuggling, according to Reuters.