 | Jorge Equardo Costilla-Sanchez, 46, a former head of one of the world’s largest drug trafficking cartels faces life in prison after pleading guilty to nearly two decades’ worth of crimes. Costilla-Sanchez was the head of the Gulf Cartel between 2003 and 2012, when he was arrested by the Mexican Navy. The FBI was at the time offering a $5 million reward for his capture. He was later extradited to the United States. |  Prosecutors said Costilla-Sanchez was an integral part of the Gulf Cartel's drug smuggling and money laundering operations dating as far back as 1998. |
 | Costilla oversaw the drug gang amid a violent, brutal conflict with its armed branch, the Zetas, whose splintering to form a new cartel in 2010 has significantly weakened the Gulf Cartel. Also known as 'El Coss' he is believed to have joined the cartel in the mid 1990s, rising from a sicario — hitman — to the leader of an international drug, murder and extortion ring worth billions. |  |
