Narco Snitch Released - is Edgar "La Barbie" Villareal out of prison Narcos

The U.S. government has confirmed that former Beltrán Leyva Cartel capo Édgar Valdez Villarreal, alias “La Barbie,” has been transferred out of a Florida prison, amidst heated speculation that he is collaborating as a protected witness.On Monday, it was revealed that Valdez is no longer listed as a federal inmate by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice. No further information is available on his whereabouts, and both agencies have declined to comment on his case. “Inmates who were previously in BOP custody and who have not completed their sentences could be out of BOP custody for a period for court hearings, medical treatment or for other reasons,” said BOP spokesman Benjamin O’Cone.Kent Schaffer, Valdez’s former lawyer, speculated that his former client’s disappearance from BOP records may indicate that he has agreed to give evidence as a protected witness.“Often what happens, hypothetically, is that if you’re going to testify against someone, the [federal] marshals will move you to a detention center, for example Rikers Island or the MCC [jails in New York],” he told La Jornada newspaper.Former DEA official Mike Vigil expressed a similar opinion to Milenio Television, emphasizing that Valdez’s status as a high-ranking drug trafficker meant he would have privileged information about his former criminal associates.“Neither La Barbie nor other criminals want to die in a prison here in the United States… He was related to the Beltrán Leyva Cartel; he was in meetings with ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and other members of the Sinaloa Cartel, so he can testify against many people, many officials,” Vigil said.