Newport News, VA (WBAP/KLIF) – Federal authorities say the mastermind behind a large drug trafficking ring that operated in Texas and California as well as in Virginia and North Carolina has pleaded guilty to the charges against him. Forty four year old Ramiro Ramirez-Barreto admitted in a Newport News, Virginia courtroom that he ran a continuing criminal enterprise. He faces 20 years in prison. Virginia prosecutors say four other defendants in the case also pleaded guilty. Ramirez-Barreto is a Mexican national reportedly linked to the Sinaloa drug cartel.
