In the eyes of the Justice Department, Zhenli Ye Gon is a major player.

The one-time fugitive allegedly amassed a fortune importing and selling ingredients to methamphetamine producers in Mexico. A March 2007 raid on his mansion in Mexico City turned up $207 million in bundled cash — the single largest seizure of alleged drug money in the world. When federal drug agents arrested him in an Asian restaurant in suburban Maryland in July 2007, they were certain they had nabbed a kingpin.