A woman linked by police to the Sinaloa cartel and who was sentenced to prison for distributing meth has pleaded guilty along with a California man in connection with the 2022 execution-style murder of a drug courier at a Miami Springs hotel.
Tsvia Kol and Jimmy Sanchez, both 37, pleaded guilty last week to charges stemming from the murder of 46-year-old Julio Gonzalez, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said Tuesday.
Gonzalez was discovered with gunshot wounds to the face and head in a room at the Aladdin Hotel on S. Royal Poinciana Boulevard in November 2022.
According to federal prosecutors, Kol lured Gonzalez to the hotel and demanded to know the whereabouts of a missing package containing around 11 pounds of meth that she believed he stole.
Kol, of Hallandale Beach, also allegedly arranged for Sanchez to fly from California to Miami to assist her with carrying out the murder.
Kol armed Sanchez with a firearm and while inside the room, Gonzalez called 911 and attempted to provide his location, but the audio of the call portrayed a physical altercation ensuing and gunshots firing, authorities said.
Sanchez admitted that he shot and killed the victim in the hotel room and left his body, which was not discovered until the following morning, prosecutors said.
Hotel security footage revealed Kol and Sanchez fleeing the property after the murder.
Kol and Sanchez were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and causing a death in the course of the drug trafficking conspiracy.
Sanchez was also charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
They now face up to life in prison at sentencing, which is scheduled for later this year.
“These guilty pleas lay bare the deadly reality of drug trafficking,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. “This was a cold-blooded murder driven by the drug trade, where intimidation and greed turned narcotics trafficking into violence and death.”
Authorities had described Kol as a known high-ranking Sinaloa cartel member who specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering.
Kol had been detained in 2020 after she was found with several pounds of meth and fentanyl pills and was offered a deal, according to a transcript of a court hearing, that included her avoiding arrest, at least for the time being, and becoming an “informal cooperator,” providing information on shipments and coconspirators.
But eight months after cutting that deal, a federal agent would later testify in court, she resumed receiving methamphetamine, distributing 15 pounds of it to her coconspirators.
That was July 2021, and at that point, the agent said they were done with Kol, noting she had provided “bad intel” anyway and violated her agreement by breaking the law.
In May of 2024, Kol was sentenced to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute the meth she was caught with in 2020.
Sanchez was also described in a warrant as a suspected Sinaloa cartel member.
“This case illustrates that drugs and violence go hand in hand,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As part of their drug operation, these defendants shipped large amounts of methamphetamine, and when they thought the victim stole their product, they killed him in cold blood.”
