MIAMI – A man and woman tied to Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa drug cartel are now facing federal charges in connection with a 2022 “execution-style murder” at a “couples-only” hotel near the Miami International Airport, officials with the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.
Jimmy Sanchez, of Spring Valley, California, and Tsvia Kol, of Miami, are facing counts of 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
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Authorities said the 36-year-olds were among those responsible for shooting and killing Julio Gonzalez, 46, of Hialeah Gardens, at the Aladdin Hotel, located at 901 S. Royal Poinciana Blvd. in Miami Springs — about a block away from the airport — on Nov. 29, 2022.
Sanchez was booked into the Miami-Dade jail on state charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in April. A source tells Local 10 News that he was caught by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Kol, according to federal court records, was convicted on two federal methamphetamine trafficking charges dating from an indictment filed on Nov. 8, 2022 — about three weeks before Gonzalez’s murder.
She was described in a Miami-Dade arrest warrant as “a known high-ranking Sinaloa cartel member with a history of international organized crime syndicate that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering” and the ex-wife of Wilfredo Nunes Gallardo, another high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel, police said.
The criminal organization was once run by the infamous Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The Miami-Dade arrest warrant states that Sanchez flew into MIA the night of the killing, rented a car and drove to Hallandale Beach to meet with Kol.
It states Sanchez followed Kol from south Broward to the Aladdin Hotel to meet with Gonzalez in room 304.
Kol had arranged to rent the room for 12 hours, police said. The warrant states that Kol and Gonzalez had arranged the meeting over text.
According to a DOJ news release, Kol “demanded to know the whereabouts of a missing methamphetamine package she believed Gonzalez had stolen.”
Video showed Kol brought Gonzalez to the hotel in a Kia sedan, while Sanchez, arrived at the hotel with a man identified solely as “Torres.”
At around 11:23 p.m., police received a 911 call from Gonzalez that said “In Aladdin Hotel.” When asked if he needed help, police said he simply said, “Yes, urgent” before the call dropped.
Dispatchers called back and heard a struggle in the background, police said, followed by the words “no, no, no” and an apparent gunshot, police said.
According to the warrant, Miami Springs police arrived at the hotel at 11:36 p.m. and were unable to locate the disturbance. A hotel manager would find Gonzalez “lying in a pool of blood” the next day, police said. He had been shot twice in the head.
Police said an interview with Gonzalez’s ex revealed that five days before the killing, Gonzalez had posted a photo of “Sapir Kol” — later determined to be Tsvia Kol — with the caption, “If something happens to me, it’s her.”
A Hialeah police detective later told MDPD investigators that on Nov. 16, 2022, about two weeks before the killing, authorities had intercepted a package containing 11 pounds of crystal meth, destined for Gonzalez’s Hialeah Gardens apartment.
Police surveilled Gonzalez’s home and saw him “searching for the package that he never received” and later interviewed him prior to his death.
The warrant states that Gonzalez told detectives that “four Mexican-looking men were looking for him at the casino, because he had a package for them.”
If convicted in federal court, Sanchez and Kol would each face a mandatory life sentence and fines of up to $10 million.