Overview

• The court imposed a 135-year term and a 1,264,327-peso fine on Baltasar Sauceda Estrada after finding him guilty of organized crime, drug trafficking and kidnapping linked to the attack.
• Five co-defendants—José Alberto Loera Rodríguez, Luis Carlos Carrasco Espinoza, Hugo Fernando Rodríguez Castillo, Juan Norberto Estrada Valdez and Héctor Javier Montoya Chávez—each received 15-year sentences and 370,578-peso fines.
• On August 25, 2011, gunmen entered the Casino Royale in Monterrey, sprayed gasoline and set the building ablaze, causing 52 deaths, most by asphyxiation.
• Prosecutors demonstrated the arson was retaliation for the casino’s refusal to pay Los Zetas’ extortion demands known as “derecho de piso.”
• The ruling caps over 14 years of investigation by the FGR’s FEMDO and FECOR units, highlighting federal coordination in prosecuting high-profile cartel violence.