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Alleged Drug Cartel Leader Sentenced 16 Years in Prison

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published February 11, 2008 at 1:10 PM PST
This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A federal judge in San Diego has sentenced a man federal prosecutors allege is one of the region's most notorious drug lords to 16 years in prison. The sentence is the result of a plea agreement betwe

Alleged Drug Cartel Leader Sentenced 16 Years in Prison

A federal judge in San Diego has sentenced a man federal prosecutors allege is one of the region's most notorious drug lords to 16 years in prison. The sentence is the result of a plea agreement between the alleged leader of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel and government prosecutors. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

Hector Plama Salazar pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle 50 kilos of cocaine from Mexico to the United States with the intent to distribute the drugs.

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The crime carries a maximum life sentence and $4 million fine. Under the plea, Palma will pay just a $100 administrative court fee.

Judge Larry Burns will recommend Palma gets credit for the five years he spent in prison in Mexico awaiting extradition. That plus the year Palma spent in prison here means he may have just 10 years left to serve on his 16 year sentence.

Burns told the court the sentence meets the goal of protecting the public and deterring others from committing similar crimes.

Burns will recommend Palma serve his time in the Western United States because a large part of Palma's family lives in Los Angeles.

Amy Isackson, KPBS News.

Amy Isackson
Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.
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