'Chino Antrax' pleads guilty in San Diego

'Chino Antrax' pleads guilty

After 17 months in custody, Jose Archeiga Gamboa, 'El Chino Antrax', immortalized by his Instagram account, pled guilty in San Diego's federal courthouse.  In front of Judge Dana Sabraw, who has handled all of the 'Operation Narco Polo' defendants, including Serafin Zambada Ortiz, he softly answered 'Si Senor', when answering questions.  

Gamboa pled guilty to a drug conspiracy charge, admitting to coordinating the shipment of ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States.  He also admitted to overseeing many cartel responsibilities since at least 2005.  He admitted to both directly and indirectly participating in acts of violence to further the organization, and promote their business.  

It is unknown whether he has entered into a cooperation agreement with the prosecutors and US Attorneys office, he agreed to forfeit 1 million in drug profits, and is set to be sentenced in October. Serafin Zambada Ortiz was set to be sentenced Friday, but is scheduled for August 2015.  A review of Serafin Zambada's docket on Pacer reveals numerous sealed motions, before his eventual plea.  

It remains to be seen whether he will be sentenced at 10 years, the minimum, or closer to 15-20.  He was designated a kingpin by the OFAC in January 2014, shortly after his arrest in the Netherlands, after debarking a plane from Mexico City, into Amsterdam, shortly after Christmas.  His kingpin status hinged on being a leader of Los Antrax.  Last year a women whom he had a child with, Yuriana Torres was kidnapped from a gym in Culiacan, leaving only a single gym shoe behind.  She was found strangled, shot, and tortured a day later, on the street.  

The articles have little to no new information on the case, other then prosecutors linked Chino Antrax to over 50 drug seizures internationally, and have thousands of pages of documents, witness statements, wiretap evidence, linking him to his crimes.  They will not have to reveal much of this information, due to the guilty plea.  He is represented by Michael Mcdonell, a La Habra, Orange County based attorney.  Mcdonnell also represented James Lawerence Snowden, part of the original 'Narco Polo' investigation, centering on a 5 kilo cocaine, and 40 pound marijuana shipment seized in North Carolina, in October 2011.  The drugs were later linked to a San Diego distribution network, and it's leader, and further down the line it went.  Snowden received 188 months. 

'Operaration Narco Polo' was a sprawling indictment against Sinaloa, eventually resulting in the arrests of Chapo Guzman, Serafin Zambada Ortiz, Ismael Zambada

Imperial, 'Mayito Gordo', 'Changuito Antrax', and dozens more of Antrax members and associates.  'Aquiles' and 'La Rana' are indicted, and considered fugitives from justice, as are Mayito Flaco, and Ivan Archivaldo.

When Fernando Sanchez Arellano, El Inge, was arrested last summer, he admitted to investigators that he believed El Chino Antrax was responsible for ordering the killing of his uncle, Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, gunned down in front of his children in Los Cabos, October 2013.  Chino Antrax instagram had photos of him on a yacht in Cabo, and later photos surfaced with the two posing together amid Tecate models, hours before his death.

Chino Antrax is said to be in solitary confinement for safety at the San Diego MCC. His trips around the world are displayed in sleek, foreboding photos from his Instagram account, Louboutin shoes and Yves St Laurent t shirts, with an ominous skull ring on his hand.  His picture represent a narco fantasy, whether a three story yacht in the South of France, or a single, striking pose in front of iconic locales in Dubai, the pyramids of Egypt, or the glittering lights casino lights of Vegas.  The pictures are filled with 'too good to last' shots of parties in Culiacan, many of those posing, or softly bearing the peace sign are in custody, dead, or on the run. 

Sources: UT San Diego