( CNN ) -- Drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix , one of the leaders of the major Tijuana cartel , was extradited to the United States on Friday , Mexico 's attorney general 's office said . Arellano Felix was one of seven brothers who ran the cartel until he and the majority of the leadership was arrested . The Tijuana cartel , also known as the Arellano Felix Organization , was weakened as a result , but is still considered one of Mexico 's major drug trafficking operations . He had been convicted of organized crime activities in Mexico and was serving several sentences in prison . He is wanted in the United States on two indictments for conspiracy , money laundering , drug trafficking , operating a drug smuggling organization , and murder . The Tijuana cartel , during its peak in the 1990s and early 2000s , controlled the flow of cocaine , marijuana and other drugs into the United States through Tijuana and Mexicali , the Mexican attorney general 's office said . One of the strategies that Mexican President Felipe Calderon has employed in his fight against the drug cartels has been sending traffickers to face justice in the United States . In Mexico , even convicted traffickers have been known to communicate freely and control their organizations from inside prison . Being tried in the United States is thought to be a deterrent . In addition to trafficking drugs , the cartel under Arellano Felix 's leadership ran a network of bribes , spies and killings , the attorney general 's office said . He was considered the brains and accountant for the organization , the agency said . Arellano Felix was arrested in 2002 in the city of Puebla . Extradition processes against him began in 2007 . The handover to U.S. marshals happened Friday at a hangar at the international airport in the city of Toluca , Mexico .
Benjamin Arellano Felix is wanted in the United States . He was a leader of the Tijuana cartel .