News
Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 1996
Escape
of Cali mafia leader Jose Santacruz-Londono
On
January, 11, 1996, the Government of Colombia announced the escape of
Cali mafia leader Jose Santacruz-Londono from a maximum security prison
in Bogota, Colombia. Upon learning of the escape, Thomas A. Constantine,
Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated:
"The escape
of Jose Santacruz-Londono realizes the fears I expressed to Colombian
Defense Minister Esquerra during our meeting on November 16, 1995. At
that time, I expressed my concern that the security measures at La Picota
Prison were inadequate and could not insure the continued incarceration
of the Cali mafia leaders."
Jose Santacruz-Londono,
considered by the DEA to be one of the top three leaders of the Cali mafia,
was captured in Colombia on July 4, 1995. He is currently under indictment
for drug trafficking in the United States and has been implicated in the
murder of a reporter, Manuel de Dios Unanue, who was killed while investigating
Londonos drug trafficking activities in New York.
"This is
the Envigado scenario revisited" stated Constantine, referring to
the plush, mafia-controlled prison from which Pablo Escobar, the infamous
leader of the Medellin Cartel, escaped in 1992.
"Incarceration
in the United States is what Londono and the rest of the Cali mafia leadership
fear the most" said Constantine. "If the Government of Colombia
does not have the resources to guarantee the continued imprisonment of
these international thugs, perhaps they should consider extraditing them
to the United States where they could be safely housed in an American
prison."
|