Suspected Mexican drug lord Alfredo Beltran Leyva was extradited to the United States over the weekend, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday.

Beltran Levya was an alleged leader of one of Mexico's largest cartels that shares his family name. He was extradited Saturday to make his first court appearance in Washington DC Monday.

"Over the past two decades, the Beltran Leyva Cartel has distributed tens of thousands of kilograms of dangerous narcotics and engaged in a campaign of violence that sparked drug wars and jeopardized public safety across North America," U.S. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in a statement on the extradition.

Beltran Leyva was arrested in northwest Mexico in 2008 and has been held in a maximum security prison.

The 43-year-old was indicted in 2012 on international narcotics trafficking conspiracy charges.

Alfredo is alleged to have led the cartel that controlled large swaths of western and southern Mexico alongside his two brothers Hector and Arturo.

Hector was captured by soldiers in October, while Arturo was killed in a shootout in 2009 with Mexican authorities.

The cartel's power was severely diminished after the disruption of its leadership.

The Beltran Leyva cartel blamed the Sinaloa cartel for the arrest, sparking a violent war between the two cartels and leading to thousands of murders in Mexico, the U.S. Justice Department said.