Craig Petties rose from a teenage street dealer in Memphis to become, according to federal investigators, the first Black American ever accepted into the inner circle of a Mexican cartel. On August 22, 2013, U.S. District Judge Samuel Mays Jr. sentenced Petties to nine life sentences without parole after he pleaded guilty to racketeering, drug trafficking, and orchestrating multiple murders. Petties is currently serving his sentence at the federal penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, DEA, FBI, and Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals records.
Reportage from public records and press coverage. Open cases: charged or alleged unless stated as convicted.