Former Honduras police chief known as "The Tiger" gets 19 years in U.S. prison for cocaine distribution

The former chief of the Honduran National Police was sentenced Thursday to 19 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in a conspiracy to protect shipments of cocaine destined for the United States.

Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, 64, better known as "El Tigre" or "The Tiger," was a member of the Honduran National Police for decades before becoming its leader for a year in 2012.

He rose to power by enabling cocaine trafficking on a massive scale and using violence, including murder, to protect the drug trade, prosecutors said in a presentencing brief. They had asked that he be sentenced to 30 years in prison.