Former Drug Cartel Boss Sentenced To Seven Life Terms In San Antonio Court

SAN ANTONIO, TX — A former regional boss for the Zetas drug cartel was sentenced in a San Antonio federal court on Wednesday to seven life terms for his role in 18 grisly executions and for participation in drug-trafficking operations that included a rampage where more than 300 people in northern Mexico were slaughtered, according to reports.

Marciano “Chano” Millan Vasquez showed no reaction in court as U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez rendered the consecutive life sentences for seven charges, then stacked another five years on a separate count, the San Antonio Express News reported. Prison terms for two other counts were ordered to run concurrent, according to the report.

“No. Está bien,” Millan responded when asked by the judge if he had any remarks before being beginning his long sentence. No. It’s alright, is all he said, according to the report.

The details of his crimes laid bare during the court proceedings exposed the horrific brutality of the drug trade—crimes far worse than even cinematic portrayals on the subject even come close to approximating, bloody crimes that make realistic depictions of violence on the "Breaking Bad" program centering on the meth trade pale by comparison, by several orders of magnitude.

A witness to Vasquez's activities testified that Millan once chopped up a six-year-old girl with an axe while she was still alive, forcing her tied-up parents to watch to teach them a lesson, the report noted. He began with cutting off the girl's knee before dismembering her arm as the girl screamed in agony, according to the witness. He then ordered the parents to be killed along with a dozen others in the same brutal fashion, according to the report.

Millan also conspired with fellow cartel members to round up and slaughter 300 people after a member of their ranks turned informant for U.S. law enforcement officials, reports indicate.

Before being brought to justice, Millan had been living in San Antonio under an alias, according to the Express-News report.

>>> Read the full story at San Antonio Express-News

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