If this isn’t just a story fit for Hollywood. The New York Times has reported that notorious Mexican drug kingpin Chapo Guzman’s top drug trafficker turned out to be a 90-year-old WWII veteran. His name is Leo Sharp, and authorities believe that the elderly daylilies grower got his start in the drug game some time in the early 2000’s. Sharp is known in the gardening world as one of the premiere daylilies growers, with no one suspecting that the seemingly sweet old man was responsible for distributing cocaine all across the country.
Authorities believe that in just 2010 alone, Sharp brought up as much as 1,140 kg of cocaine on the behalf of Mr. Guzman to Detroit. Sharp, or Tata as he was known by the cartel, would receive his charge in Tucson and then make his way up and across the U.S. dropping off kilos of cocaine as he went.
DEA agent Jeremy Fitch explained, as reported by NYT reporter Sam Dolnick, that “Leo is the perfect courier for the cartel. He has a legitimate ID, he’s an older guy, he wouldn’t be pegged as a drug runner and he has no criminal history.” And clearly Chapo Guzman agreed.
Then after a lengthy investigation by the DEA involving wiretaps linking Sharp to cartel leaders, Leo’s reign came to an end. On October 21, 2011, Sharp was pulled over by a state trooper just outside of Detroit and his car was searched. Drug sniffing canines were called to the scene, and a whopping 104 kg of cocaine was eventually pulled from his truck.
Darryl A. Goldberg, Sharp’s attorney, is trying to convince anyone who will listen that Sharp is a victim in all this. He argued that Sharp was coerced into the trafficking trade by Guzman’s ruthless cartel. Goldberg defended his client claiming that the old man has dementia and that the cartel took advantage of him. The prosecution, of course, rejects the claim.
Sharp ended up copping to the charges against him last October. He has yet to make any meaningful contribution to authorities though since his arrest. Leo was sentenced to three years for his crimes after a judge rejected his offer to pay off his $500,000 fine by growing Hawaiian papayas.
Photo: This undated booking photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Leo Earl Sharp, 87, who was arrested for cocaine possession near Chelsea, Ind., in Washtenaw County Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. Authorities say the bust occurred when a state trooper stopped Sharp for improper lane use and found 228 pounds of cocaine in his pickup truck. (AP Photo/U.S. Marshals Service)
Comment Template