Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2006 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: Vanessa Blum, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) ALLEGED LEADERS OF CALI COCAINE CARTEL PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN MIAMI MIAMI William Rodriguez Abadia, alleged to be the leader of the violent Cali cocaine cartel, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The 40-year-old son of indicted Colombian drug suspect Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela voluntarily surrendered Monday to U.S. authorities in Panama. He was then flown to Miami. Rodriguez Abadia's U.S. defense lawyer, Humberto Dominguez, said his client was tired of living as a fugitive but did not want to turn himself in to law enforcement officials in Colombia, where he could have been imprisoned for months awaiting extradition to the United States. At Wednesday's hearing, the Colombian national agreed to be held in the Miami Federal Detention Center until his trial in September.Prosecutors accuse Rodriguez Abadia of running day-to-day operations for the Cali cartel after the 1995 arrests of his father Miguel and uncle, Gilberto Rodriguez Orehuela, in Colombia. According to the government's case, Rodriguez Abadia, an attorney by training, stepped in after the arrests to coordinate the organization's massive drug shipments, oversee its finances, and run its money laundering operations. Rodriguez Abadia's father and uncle were extradited to the United States in 2004 and 2005 and face charges in the same conspiracy. At the height of its reign, federal authorities say the brothers pulled in $7 billion a year and supplied 80 percent of the world's cocaine. The cartel developed innovative ways to smuggle the drug, hiding it in concrete posts, frozen vegetables, coffee and lumber, among other things. It also pioneered sophisticated ways to launder drug money, using businesses that appeared legitimate. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake