News
Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 1995
Arrest
of Cali mafia leader Jose Santacruz-Londono
Thomas
A. Constantine, Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
today congratulated the Colombian Government for the arrest of Jose Santacruz-Londono,
one of the leaders of the Cali mafia. "The arrest of Santacruz-Londono
in Bogota, Colombia last night is another crippling blow to the Cali mafia.
Coupled with the arrest last month of Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela, this
action by the Colombian National Police demonstrates that the Cali mafia
is not invincible. Santacruz-Londono has long been a vicious player in
the international cocaine trade, and his arrest is welcome news to the
DEA."
Constantine said
that he hoped "the Colombian Government would keep up the momentum"
and continue their efforts against the Cali mafia. "The Colombian
National Police has done an outstanding job to date, and General Serrano
is to be commended for his leadership and dedication."
Santacruz-Londono's
cocaine distribution and money laundering operation centers around the
New York metropolitan area. In 1992, the DEA seized two cocaine conversion
laboratories in Brooklyn, New York, that were directly linked to Santacruz-Londono.
He is considered one of the most violent members of the Cali mafia, and
is an expert manager of worldwide cocaine distribution, as well as production
and money laundering.
The Cali mafia is
responsible for 80 percent of the world's cocaine supply, and has an estimated
annual income of $7 billion (8 times larger than the DEA budget). Financial
records indicate Santacruz-Londono's net worth at several billion dollars.
Records indicate
two known arrests for Santacruz-Londono. The first occurred in 1976 when
he travelled from New York to Costa Rica on a U.S. passport. The second
took place in 1977 when he was arrested in Queens, New York by the N.Y.
City Police on weapons charges. He served no jail time. Santacruz-Londono
has been a DEA fugitive since April 1980, and has been indicted four times
in the United States, most recently in the Cali lawyer case (Operation
Cornerstone) in Miami. Constantine said that he hoped that "the
Colombian Government would keep up the momentum" and continue
their efforts against the Cali mafia.
Santacruz-Londono,
the number three leader of the Cali drug mafia, was taken into custody
on July 4th by Colombian National Police at 8:00 pm while he dined at
the Carbon de Polo Restaurant in Bogota, Colombia.
Santacruz-Londono
is one of the premier drug traffickers in the world, who has been involved
in large-scale cocaine trafficking since 1970. The Santacruz organization
operates in the United States primarily in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Houston, Las Vegas, and Chicago. DEA investigations also
have tied Santacruz-Londono to drug money laundering operations in various
cities in Europe and the Americas.
In addition to drug
trafficking, Santacruz is wanted for the 1989 assassination of former
Antioquia (Colombia) Governor Antonio Roldan Betancur, and is linked to
the 1992 murder of journalist Manuel de Dios Unanue in New York.
Constantine said,
"In its war against the Cali drug mafia, the Colombian Government
is to be commended for this arrest, and for the recent arrest of Gilberto
Rodriguez-Orejuela. However, major mafia leaders like Santacruz-Londono
and Rodriguez-Orejuela must be prosecuted and punished to the extent commensurate
with their nefarious criminal acitivities, and cannot be permitted to
manage their operations from prison."
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