Leader of Major Drug Ring Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison

The leader of a drug ring that was caught with nearly 200 pounds of mostly pure methamphetamine has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Forty-one-year-old Israel Angeles-Moctezuma, of Stockton, California was the last of 52 defendants to plead guilty and be sentenced in the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said in a news release Friday that Angeles-Moctezuma directed a network of co-conspirators who transported hundreds of pounds of meth, marijuana and heroin from Mexico into the U.S.

The drugs were then distributed through a second network of people that Angeles-Moctezuma directed.

The Drug Enforcement Administration also seized at least 18 firearms and over $300,000 in cash. Prosecutors say one seizure of 56 pounds of meth was the largest ever in eastern Missouri.