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The Highest Profile Woman In The Mexican Drug Trade Appeared In A Miami Court Today

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Sandra Avila Beltra Mexico

Today a court in Miami refused a bond for a 51-year-old Mexican soon due to face trial for drugs trafficking charges, Reuters reports.

The court worried that Sandra Avila Beltra would be a flight risk — given her history perhaps that's understandable.

Avila Beltra is believed to be a relative of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, a notorious drug lord currently serving 40 years for the kidnapping and murder of a DEA agent. Her entire family is thought to be in the trade — she's been described as a "third generation" trafficker.

Her romantic life is thought to be drug-linked as well. She's reportedly dated a large number of Mexico's drug barons. She's been married twice, both times to ex-cop drug traffickers. Both ex-husbands were later murdered. Her rise in the drug trade is largely attributed to a relationship with Juan Diego Espinoza Ramírez, a notorious Colombian drug trafficker. Their relationship helped tie the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel with the Colombian Norte del Valle Cartel.

Avila Beltra reportedly became such a well-known figure in Mexican public life that a popular song about her appeared, calling her the "beautiful Queen of the Pacific" and describes her arriving at a party in a helicopter. It took four years of investigation in Mexico before she was finally arrested on drugs and guns charges in 2007. Though she was later acquitted of the drugs charges, she remained in prison and was extradited to the US last week. While in prison in Mexico she got botox. The prisons director was fired after the incident.

Whether Avila Beltra really is the biggest female drug player or not, she seems to love our attention. In 2008 she released a book entitled "The Queen of the Pacific: Time to Talk" and she appeared on 60 Minutes in 2009.

Her arraignment is set for September 14.

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