|TAMPA — As drug cases go, this one was horrendous. It involved one dealer accusing another of stealing his business, a kidnapping plot and torture by hot sauce.

It ended Wednesday when a federal judge sentenced Mario Espino, a young man a prosecutor called “a victim of his own ambition,” who aspired to be the “No. 1 drug dealer in Pasco County,” to 22 years in prison.

Yet, in a 90-minute sentencing hearing, Espino was at once condemned for his crimes and praised for his candor in helping prosecutors take down other dealers who dominated the flow of fentanyl and methamphetamine in areas north of Tampa. The government sought close to 30 years in prison. He could have gotten life.

His sentence balanced what the government said was substantial assistance Espino gave to investigators, testi

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