News
Release
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2004
UNITED STATES ANNOUNCES RICO CHARGES AGAINST
LEADERSHIP OF COLOMBIA’S MOST POWERFUL COCAINE CARTEL
State Department Announces Reward for Suspect Apprehension
|
DEA Administrator Karen Tandy
and Attorney General John Ashcroft |
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney
General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray
of the Criminal Division, DEA Administrator,
Karen Tandy, FBI Director Robert Mueller, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Assistant Secretary Michael Garcia, IRS Commissioner Mark
Everson, and U.S. Attorneys Roslynn Mauskopf of the Eastern District
of New York, Marcos Jimenez of the Southern District of Florida and David
Kelley of the Southern District of New York announced today the unsealing
of RICO charges against nine leaders of Colombia’s most powerful
cocaine-trafficking organizations, including a cartel allegedly responsible
for exporting more than 500 metric tons of cocaine worth more than
$10 billion from Colombia to the United States.
Three of the charged
defendants have been designated as among the “most
wanted” international drug trafficking targets by federal law enforcement.
In addition, one of the defendants has been added to the FBI’s “Ten
Most Wanted” Fugitives list.
State Department
Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Robert Charles also announced
that the United States government
is offering
rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the apprehension
of these defendants.
According to the
RICO indictment, filed April 29, 2004 in U.S. District Court in the
District of Columbia by the Narcotic
and Dangerous Drugs Section
of
the Criminal Division, and unsealed today, the defendants were the leaders
of a Colombian cocaine cartel known as the “Norte Valle Cartel,” which
operated principally in the Norte Valle del Cauca region of Colombia.
According to the indictment, the defendants worked together with various
Colombian
drug transportation specialists to transport multi-ton loads of cocaine
from Peru,
Colombia and other locations within South America to the Valle del Cauca
region. The defendants allegedly then used trucks or airplanes to transport
the cocaine
to the Pacific Coast port city of Buenaventura. The cartel members allegedly
also associated themselves with Mexican transportation groups that shipped
the cocaine loads to Mexico via speed boats, fishing vessels, and other
maritime conveyances, for ultimate delivery to the United States.
According
to the indictment, between 1990 and the present, the Norte Valle Cartel
exported more than 1.2 million pounds – or 500 metric tons – of
cocaine worth in excess of $10 billion from Colombia to Mexico and
ultimately to the United States for resale.
The indictment charges
that the Norte Valle Cartel used violence and
brutality to further its goals, including the murder of rivals, individuals
who failed
to pay for cocaine, and associates who were believed to be working
as informants.
As alleged in the
indictment, the cartel members used the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia
(the “AUC”), a
terrorist paramilitary organization, to protect the cartel’s
drug routes, its drug laboratories, and its members and associates.
The AUC is one of 37 Foreign Terrorist Organizations identified
by the State Department. Leaders
of the Norte Valle Cartel allegedly bribed and corrupted Colombian
law enforcement and Colombian legislators to, among other things, attempt
to block the extradition of Colombian narcotics traffickers to the United
States to be prosecuted for their crimes. According to the indictment,
members of the Norte Valle Cartel even conducted their own wiretaps in
Colombia to intercept the communications of rival drug traffickers and
Colombian and United States law enforcement officials.
According
to the RICO indictment, the alleged leaders of the Norte Valle
Cartel charged today operated in Colombia, Mexico and the United
States and included,
among others:
- WILBUR
ALIRIO VARELA, a/k/a “Detergente,” a/k/a “Jabon”
- DIEGO LEON MONTOYA-SANCHEZ
- LUIS
HERNANDO GOMEZ-BUSTAMANTE, a/k/a “Rasguno”
- ARCANGEL
HENAO-MONTOYA, a/k/a “El Mocho”
- JUAN
CARLOS RAMIREZ-ABADIA, a/k/a “Chupeta, and
- CARLOS
ALBERTO RENTERIA-MANTILLA, a/k/a “Beto Renteria.”
The
indictment also charges: GABRIEL PUERTA-PARRA, a/k/a “Doctor
Puerta,” an
attorney and counselor who resolved internal disputes within
the Norte Valle Cartel and represented the interests
of the cartel members and associates in
disputes with rival Colombian cartels; JORGE ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ-ACERO,
a/k/a “El
Mono Ciquenta,” a former high-ranking official with
the Colombian National Police, who acted as an enforcer for
the Norte
Valle Cartel; and JAIRO APARICIO-LENIS,
a/k/a “Don Pedro,” one of the cartel’s
money launderers.
Only ARCANGEL
HENAO-MONTOYA is in custody in the United States.
HENAO-MONTOYA was arrested in Panama on Jan. 10, 2004,
and is currently in custody in New
York.
To date,
law enforcement officers in the United States, Mexico and Colombia
have seized more than 48,000 pounds
of cocaine
from the Norte Valle Cartel.
The RICO
indictment unsealed today was the result of a joint investigation
by the Narcotic
and Dangerous Drug
Section of
the Criminal Division
and three United States Attorneys’ Offices – the
Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of
New York, and the
Southern District
of Florida.
In addition, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue
Service, and U.S.
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
worked cooperatively with law enforcement in Colombia
and in the United States to achieve the results announced
today.
“This
case further reinforces our message to all drug dealers: regardless
of where you are,
we will find you, prosecute you, and punish you,” said Attorney General
John Ashcroft. “The Norte Valle Cartel was as deadly as
it was dangerous. For years they have dumped drugs into this
country
and ruined
lives. Now, with
today's announcement, we have these defendants running for their lives."
“Today,
we have ripped out the foundation of the largest and most powerful
drug cartel in Colombia,” said DEA Administrator
Karen Tandy. “We
have indicted the ringleaders of a criminal organization
responsible for bringing into the United States one-third
to one-half of the
cocaine that
reaches our
shores. The combined efforts of Colombia and U.S.
law enforcement have put these traffickers on notice:
like the Medellin and Cali
cartels
before them, their
time is running out.”
FBI Director
Robert Mueller said, “The indictments unsealed today
are the result of an extensive international investigation,
and show what can be accomplished when the FBI,
DEA,
IRS, ICE and other partners work together,
each bringing particular expertise to bear. Now,
through the FBI’s
Ten Most Wanted Fugitives program, we are bringing
to bear the eyes and ears of
the general public to help us locate Montoya.
We are well on our way to dismantling the Norte
Valle
Cartel and removing the
threat
it presents
to our national
security.”
Michael
J. Garcia, Department of Homeland Security Secretary for U.S.
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
(ICE), stated, “Today’s announcement
clearly demonstrates the value of following
the money trail in criminal investigations.
ICE’s involvement dates back to 1997,
when agents from New York raided three money
remitting
stores in Queens. Evidence
from
those
raids seven years
ago ultimately led to three of the major cartel
players charged today. Protecting U.S. financial
systems against exploitation
by criminal
organizations and other
groups is a critical mission of ICE and the
Department of Homeland Security.”
Mark
Everson, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner,
said, “IRS Criminal
Investigation plays a unique role in federal
law enforcement’s
counter-drug effort; we target the money
associated with the criminal organizations.
The
combined skills of numerous federal, state
and local law enforcement agencies produce
a formidable force in the war on drugs, and
we are pleased that IRS
Criminal Investigation is part of this effort.”
If
convicted, all the charged defendants face
a maximum sentence of 40 years imprisonment
on the
two RICO
charges. In addition,
all of the charged defendants
face an additional maximum sentence of
up to
life imprisonment on the cocaine importation
and distribution
charges.
OTHER CHARGES
LUIS HERNANDO
GOMEZ BUSTAMANTE and ARCANGEL HENAO-MONTOYA also have been
charged
in the Eastern District
of New York in a
25-count superseding indictment unsealed
today. The defendants are charged with
participating in an international drug
trafficking conspiracy
and money laundering
conspiracy, and with substantive
counts of cocaine importation, possession
and distribution and money laundering.
BUSTAMANTE also is charged
with engaging
in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise.
Charges against HENAO were unsealed
in January, when he was expelled from Panama
to New York
after his
arrest in
Panama
on January 10, 2004. BUSTAMANTE is
a fugitive.
In addition,
WILMER VARELA has been charged in the Eastern District of
New York in
a six-count indictment,
unsealed
today, with participating in a drug
trafficking conspiracy and an international
drug
trafficking conspiracy and with substantive
counts of drug trafficking.
The charges arise out of an investigation
into the drug trafficking activities
of the Norte Valle Cartel in the
New York
and Miami
areas.
Charges
in the Southern District of Florida unsealed today include
an indictment
filed in March, 2004,
against GABRIEL
PUERTA-PARRA, charging him with
conspiracy to import cocaine into the United
States and conspiracy to possess
cocaine with
intent to
distribute. In
addition, the
Southern District of Florida unsealed
an eight-count indictment charging
DIEGO
MONTOYA with conspiracy to import
cocaine, conspiracy
to possess
cocaine with the
intent to distribute, conspiracy
to launder drug proceeds, and five
substantive counts of money laundering.
Finally,
an indictment unsealed today in the Southern District
of New York
today
charged DIEGO MONTOYA
with conspiracy
to commit narcotics trafficking
and conspiracy to commit money
laundering.
The charges
contained in the RICO indictment and the other
indictments
are merely
accusations, and
the defendants
are presumed innocent unless
and until proven guilty |