Cartel associates sentenced to lengthy terms for 2022 Miami hotel murder.
A federal court sentenced two defendants connected to a 2022 murder near Miami International Airport. Tsvia Kol, 37, of Hallandale Beach, and Jimmy Sanchez, 38, of Spring Valley, California, pleaded guilty to firearms homicide and conspiring to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine.
The killings occurred November 29, 2022, at the Aladdin Hotel in Miami Springs, where the pair allegedly lured and shot Julio González, 46, of Hialeah Gardens. Investigators say the motive was a missing meth shipment worth roughly $90,000; law enforcement had already seized the drug.
Kol, described in an arrest warrant as a high‑ranking Sinaloa cartel associate and former wife of Wilfredo Nunes Gallardo, met Sanchez in a rented hotel room before the fatal confrontation. Sanchez, who flew in from San Diego that night, participated in the planning and execution.
United States Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones stated the trial stemmed from a botched drug deal that escalated into an execution. Kol received a sentence of nearly 20 years, while Sanchez was sentenced to more than 27 years. The sentences are intended to reflect the seriousness of the violence.