Carlos Landin Martinez, the diamond pendant wearing cartel leader previously mentioned, has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the global drug trade.

From the AP (via Google News):

A retired Mexican state police commander who led a secret life as a drug boss was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday on federal drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy charges.

Carlos Landin Martinez, reportedly the No. 2 man in Reynosa, Mexico, for the notorious Gulf drug cartel, was convicted on nine counts in January. Nicknamed “El Puma,” the paunchy, droopy-eyed Landin said nothing when his sentence was read.

Trafficking would have to pay Landin a tax to move their contraband through areas that he controlled.

Prosecutors said traffickers wanting to use lucrative smuggling routes across the border into South Texas had to pay Landin a “piso,” or tax, to move drugs in cartel territory.

Drugs came across on people, on rafts and through a tunnel that opened up through a manhole in Hidalgo, Texas. The proceeds from drug sales all over the country were then smuggled back into Mexico.

The global drug trade is a $321 billion industry.