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A man and a woman who are members of the Sinaloa cartel have been charged with the execution-style murder of 46-year-old Cuban Julio González at a hotel in Miami in November 2022, and they could face life imprisonment if found guilty.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office for the Southern District of Florida announced in a statement that on June 20, Jimmy Sánchez, from San Diego, California, and Tsvia Kol, from Miami, both 36 years old, were formally charged with "conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute it, firing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and causing a death in the course of the drug trafficking conspiracy."
On November 29, 2022, Kol lured González to the Aladdin Hotel in Miami Springs, where he demanded that she disclose the whereabouts of a missing package of methamphetamine, which she suspected he had stolen.
Previously, the woman had made arrangements for Sánchez to fly from San Diego to Miami to help her locate the package and carry out the murder of the victim, the Prosecutor's Office reported.
On November 30, authorities found González with two gunshot wounds, one in the face and the other in the head, lying in room 304 of the Aladdin Hotel, located at 901 S. Royal Poinciana Blvd., near Miami International Airport.
If found guilty in the trial, Sánchez and Kol face a mandatory sentence of life in prison, up to life in prison on supervised release, and fines of up to $10,000,000.
On April 11, Sánchez was arrested and taken to prison for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, but he pleaded not guilty to the charges in state court.
Kol was arrested the morning after the crime, but only on federal drug trafficking charges. The arrest warrant described her as "a known high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel."
In May, she was sentenced to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute nearly two kilograms of methamphetamines that were seized from her in 2020. However, she was not charged with González's homicide until last Thursday.
González worked as a valet at a casino and lived in Hialeah Gardens. According to his neighbors, he often offered to protect packages to prevent theft. But no one knew that he was helping the Sinaloa cartel smuggle methamphetamine into Miami, and that was the reason for his murder.
The Cuban was expecting a shipment on November 16, 2022, consisting of 11 pounds of methamphetamine, which was to be delivered to a neighboring apartment where he would go to collect it. However, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) intercepted the package, preventing the drug from reaching its destination.
During a surveillance operation, the detectives saw González looking for the package.
Less than two weeks after that failed delivery, the Cuban was murdered.
THE MURDER
Kol and Sánchez began communicating three days before the crime, and the woman coordinated the hitman's trip from San Diego, according to message records obtained by the police from her cell phone.
Sánchez flew to Miami International Airport, rented a car, and drove to Hallandale Beach, where he met Kol. He then followed her from South Broward to the Aladdin Hotel to meet González in room 304.
Kol and González exchanged several Instagram messages on the night of the murder, according to the court order.
Surveillance cameras recorded the woman taking González to the hotel in a Kia sedan; they both entered the lobby through the back door at around 10:45 p.m. Meanwhile, Sánchez was captured entering the establishment and heading to the room at 11:20 p.m.
Around 11:23 p.m., the police received a call from González to 911, in which he was heard saying, "Hotel Aladdin." When the operator asked if he needed help, he simply replied, "Yes, urgent," before the call was disconnected.
The dispatchers returned the call and heard a struggle followed by the words “No, no, no” and the sound of a gunshot.
According to the arrest warrant, the police in Miami Springs arrived at the hotel at 11:36 p.m. but found nothing unusual.
The next day, around 9 a.m., the hotel manager went to room 304 and found González lying in a pool of blood. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
When questioned by the police, González's ex-partner revealed that, five days prior to his murder, the Cuban had posted a photo of a woman named "Sapir Kol" - later identified as Tsvia Kol - with the caption: "If something happens to me, it's her." The ex-girlfriend also informed the officers that González had told her that Kol was threatening to kill him.
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