Edgar Valdez Villarreal
| Edgar Valdez Villarreal | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 11, 1973 Laredo, Webb County Texas, United States |
| Other names | La Barbie;El Comandante;El Guero |
| Occupation | Drug lord |
| Criminal charge | Drug trafficking, money laundering |
| Criminal status | Extradited to the United States. Mexico: $2.1 million USD bounty. USA: $2 million USD bounty. Arrested on August 30, 2010. |
| Allegiance | Beltrán-Leyva Cartel |
Edgar Valdez Villarreal (born August 11, 1973) also known as La Barbie ("The Barbie"), is a Mexican-American, born and raised in the United States, who was arrested near Mexico City in August 2010 on charges related to large scale drug trafficking with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.
Valdez worked for several years as a cartel lieutenant before rising to a leadership position in an enforcement squad called Los Negros. Following the death of cartel boss Arturo Beltrán Leyva in late 2009, Valdez fought a bloody and protracted gang war for control of the cartel resulting in over 150 deaths. He employed techniques such as videotaped torture and decapitation.
On August 30, 2010, he was arrested by the Mexican Federal Police at a rural house near Mexico City. He faces charges in both Mexico and the United States. His gang known as Los Negros collapsed by 2011.
Valdez was born and raised in Laredo, Texas. He was a popular high school football player. Valdez's nickname, La Barbie, came from his American football coach at United High School; because of his light skin, green eyes, and facial features, he was compared to a Ken doll, but he had little hair.
Valdez's first arrest came at the age of nineteen in Texas, where he was charged with criminally negligent homicide for running over a middle school counselor with his truck while speeding down a Laredo street. He was not indicted. He became a marijuana dealer on the streets of Laredo while still in high school. He turned down his father's offer to finance a college education in order to focus on his business, but was soon indicted on charges of distributing marijuana. He fled to Mexico to avoid capture, where he allegedly joined the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and quickly moved up through the ranks due to his connections in the United States.
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