HOUSTON, Oct. 8 -- The defense rested Tuesday after calling only three witnesses in the trial of alleged Mexican drug kingpin Juan Garcia Abrego on U.S. charges of conspiracy, drug trafficking and money laundering. Garcia Abrego, 51, was not one of the three witnesses called by the defense.
He has pleaded innocent to charges that he masterminded the distribution of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. Closing arguments are scheduled Wednesday morning. The accused founder of the so-called 'Gulf Cartel' based in northern Mexico, Garcia Abrego is accused of distributing at least 14 tons of cocaine and two tons of marijuana and laundering more than $10 million in drug proceeds. Garcia Abrego was arrested by Mexican police Jan. 14 in Monterrey, Mexico, and flown the next day to Houston. He has been held under tight security at an undisclosed location for his trial in Houston federal Court. The arrest of Garcia Abrego was hailed on both sides of the border as a major breakthrough in U.S.-Mexico efforts to break the back of the border drug trade. Although the indictment against him mentions murders, Garcia Abrego is not charged with murder. He will not face the death penalty in the United States, if he is convicted. He faces a possible life prison sentence. Prosecutors say they also want to confiscate more than $275 million in U.S. currency from Abrego if they win a conviction. Garcia Abrego's Matamoros, Mexico-based drug ring reportedly grossed as much as $20 billion a year. At his peak, he reportedly orchestrated the smuggling of a third of the cocaine entering the United States. Seven other defendants are named in the same federal indictment, but they are either dead, in prison, or still at large, according to U.S. officials.
