Major Mexican drug dealer gets life in U.S. prison

DALLAS, April 29 (Reuters) - The suspected leader of a notorious Mexican drug cartel was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday by a U.S. district court judge for trafficking and money laundering, the Department of Justice said.

Carlos "El Puma" Landin, the suspected leader of Mexico's powerful Gulf drug cartel who was one of the country's most wanted men, was arrested last year by U.S. authorities while shopping in the Texas border town of McAllen.

The Gulf cartel and its armed wing the Zetas dominate smuggling routes into Texas via the violence-wracked Mexican border cities of Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo.

Landin was found guilty by a jury in January of a total of nine counts of drug trafficking and money laundering.

"U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Landin to the maximum -- life imprisonment -- for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and various counts of distributing more than 50 kilograms of cocaine," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

"Landin also received the maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and laundering more than $1.6 million in drug proceeds," it said.