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Ecoley

Cartel money launderer found slain in Mexico


    Culiacan, Mexico, Jan 3 (EFE).- A woman suspected of laundering money for fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was found murdered in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, authorities told Efe.

    Oralia Beatriz "Betty" Quintana Felix was killed on New Year's Day, but it took a day to identify the body.

    She was abducted from a neighborhood in Culiacan, the state capital, and taken to another location prior to being killed execution style, according to the preliminary report.

    Police found 40 shell casings from an AK-47 assault rifle and a .9 mm pistol around the body.

    Ostensibly a real estate agent, Quintana worked for Blanca Margarita Cazares Salazar, alias "The Empress," who is in custody as the reputed head of Chapo Guzman's money-laundering operation, the Sinaloa state Attorney General's Office told Efe.

    Quintana was arrested in Mexico City in 2006 in possession of more than $900,000 in cash.

    Guzman, whose Sinaloa cartel is Mexico's largest drug trafficking organization, regularly appears on Forbes magazine's list of global billionaires.