Erick Valencia Salazar, alias El 85 or El Matazetas, one of the historic operators of drug trafficking in Jalisco and identified as a founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), pleaded guilty this Tuesday before a U.S. federal court to trafficking cocaine from Mexico into the United States.
The plea was formalized during a hearing held at the Federal Court in Washington before Judge James Boasberg. According to the court record, the session had originally been scheduled for 10:00 a.m., but was rescheduled to 2:00 p.m. on April 7 due to adjustments in the court’s calendar.
“The court accepts the plea and the defendant is declared guilty,” the document states. Following this, both Valencia Salazar’s defense team and federal prosecutors must submit a sentencing memorandum to help determine the penalty he will face. The sentencing hearing has been set for July 31.
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El 85 is currently being held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His case becomes the first high-profile case among the drug traffickers handed over by Mexico to the United States since February 2025 to reach a plea agreement.
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A drug trafficking operator in Jalisco
A native of Jalisco, Valencia Salazar for years operated closely with key figures in drug trafficking such as Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, known as Nacho Coronel, and brothers Óscar Nava Valencia and Juan Carlos Nava Valencia, leaders of the so-called Milenio Cartel.
According to Mexican authorities, his initial role was as a logistical operator in the trafficking of cocaine into the United States. However, the reshuffling of organized crime following Coronel’s death in 2010 opened a new stage in his criminal career.
That year, the fracture of the Milenio Cartel led to an internal dispute. Valencia Salazar aligned himself with Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, to fight for control of the organization. From that alliance first emerged the group known as Los Torcidos and later the structure that would ultimately consolidate as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The origin of “Los Matazetas”
During that stage of confrontation, Valencia Salazar was linked to the creation of the armed group Los Matazetas, which initially emerged as a structure fighting Los Zetas in various territories.
The criminal dispute intensified when rival organizations, such as La Resistencia, attempted to stop the expansion of Oseguera Cervantes’ group into states such as Veracruz. In that context, the bloc led by Valencia Salazar adopted the name Los Matazetas, a designation later associated with the expansion of the CJNG.
Arrests, ruptures and criminal war
The relationship between Valencia Salazar and El Mencho fractured in 2012, when El 85 was arrested in Zapopan, Jalisco. According to various accounts within organized crime itself, his capture may have been the result of an internal betrayal.
After remaining in prison, Valencia Salazar obtained his release in 2017 due to failures in due process. From that point on, he definitively broke with the CJNG and founded the Nueva Plaza Cartel, a group that sought to challenge criminal control in the Guadalajara metropolitan area.
The confrontation between both organizations triggered a new wave of violence in Jalisco, marked by armed clashes, executions and direct attacks between rival cells.
His last capture and extradition to the U.S.
On September 4, 2022, Valencia Salazar was recaptured by the Mexican Army during an operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco. He remained in custody until February 2025, when the Mexican government handed him over to U.S. authorities along with 28 other drug traffickers wanted by the justice system in that country.
In the United States he faced a single charge: conspiracy to traffic cocaine. More than a year after his transfer, he decided to plead guilty, a legal strategy that could open the door to a reduced sentence or procedural benefits.
The final decision, however, will depend on federal prosecutors and the judge when the sentence is handed down next July.
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