Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, accused of being one of the leaders of a Mexican drug-trafficking cartel, was due in federal court in Washington on Monday after being extradited to the United States over the weekend.

Beltrán Leyva was arrested in Mexico in 2008 and indicted two years ago in the U.S. on charges related to an international drug trafficking conspiracy.

The 43-year-old was extradited on Saturday and was scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay.

U.S. and Mexican authorities say the Beltrán Leyva gang was responsible for trafficking drugs to the United States and Europe including cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine. Prosecutors say Beltrán Leyva led the drug trafficking organization with his brothers. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

When Beltrán Leyva was arrested in 2008, he was a top lieutenant of the powerful Sinaloa cartel who allegedly commanded squads of hit men and organized drug shipments north.

The gang split from Sinaloa that same year and later had its stronghold between Acapulco and the south of Mexico City, while retaining some drug routes in western Mexico. They were known particularly for infiltrating or buying off government officials and police.

The Beltrán Leyva gang started to split apart in late 2009, when one brother, Arturo, who took over for Alfredo, was shot dead by Mexican marines and another brother, Carlos, was detained two weeks later. Another brother, Héctor, was arrested in San Miguel de Allende in October.

With the takedown of the Beltrán Leyva leadership, the cartel has splintered into untold numbers of gangs that terrorize central and southern Mexico, including the states of Morelos and Guerrero south of Mexico City.