SAN ANTONIO, July 22 (UPI) -- A federal judge Thursday sentenced a key figure in a large Texas drug ring to life in prison for distributing more than 3,100 pounds of cocaine.
Jesse Salazar Ramirez, 34, of San Antonio, was convicted of being a supervisor in a drug ring in Eagle Pass, Texas, that distributed cocaine valued at $22 million across the country after smuggling it across the border, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said.
During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Edward C. Prado said that Ramirez had threatened a witness, provided perjured testimony and attempted to intimate a prosecutor during his trial. Fourteen other defendants pleaded guilty in the case.
"Today's sentence of life in federal prison for Jesse Salazar Ramirez marks the end of the line for a major drug trafficker and the final chamber for this very sophisticated and large-scale drug distribution operation," Sutton said.
The ring transported the cocaine in hidden compartments inside vehicles to San Antonio and then distributed it across the country to Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, and Kansas City, Mo., the U.S. attorney said.
