Fronteras

Federal prosecutors have asked a major Mexican drug trafficker pay a $10 billion fine and serve a life sentence for his crimes.

Alfredo "El Mochomo" Beltrán Leyva was a rival to the Sinaloa Cartel when his family split from the drug trafficking organization in 2008. What followed was a vicious cartel war that cost thousands of lives, even as both groups smuggled narcotics across the Arizona border.

He was extradited to the United States in 2014 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges last February. Now the U.S. government wants him to pay a $10 billion fine and serve out the rest of his life in prison. Prosecutors called the amount a "conservative estimate" of how much Beltrán Leyva earned in trafficking proceeds. This week, Beltrán Leyva’s attorneys asked the U.S. to prove he actually earned that much money. They also asked he serve a maximum 25 years.

Beltrán Leyva is scheduled for sentencing next week.