Pubdate: Wed, 27 Sep 2006
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 2A
Copyright: 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Cali+cartel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

CALI DRUG CHIEFS GIVEN 30-YEAR PRISON TERMS

WASHINGTON -- The surviving leaders of the Cali drug cartel, which 
federal law enforcement agencies say once supplied up to 80% of the 
cocaine in the USA, pleaded guilty Tuesday to trafficking charges as 
the government took steps to seize an estimated $2.1 billion in cartel assets.

As part of the plea agreement, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales 
said, brothers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela were sentenced 
to 30 years in prison, effectively ending a 20-year period in which 
they were key players in Colombia's violent drug trade.

While Miguel, 62, and Gilberto, 67, were sentenced in Miami, 28 other 
family members reached a separate pact with the government to 
surrender their worldwide assets, which court papers say include 
luxury homes, boats, investment accounts and businesses obtained with 
drug money.

Although the assets represent the largest drug-related forfeiture in 
U.S. history, there are no firm estimates of how much the brothers 
accumulated during their reign of the cartel. None of the relatives 
was named in the criminal charges.

"It doesn't get any bigger than today," said Drug Enforcement 
Administrator Karen Tandy. She said the guilty pleas represented the 
"last nail in the coffin of the Cali cartel."

Tandy said the brothers "defined the word 'kingpins' " with their 
ruthless oversight of a drug empire. Carolina Barco, Colombia's 
ambassador to the United States, said the cartel wars claimed 
hundreds of lives -- including those of prosecutors, police and 
judges -- in the South American nation.

Barco, reading a statement from Colombia's attorney general, 
described the cartel's reign as "one of the most painful chapters in 
our history."

Since the demise of the Cali group in recent years, there have been 
signs that the cocaine supply on U.S. streets has declined, said John 
Walters, director of the White House's Office of National Drug 
Control Policy. However, he said, smaller groups have taken over many 
drug-running operations.

Gonzales said the brothers imported more than 200 tons of cocaine 
into the USA over 20 years. He said the family's assets would go to 
the countries where they are seized, primarily Colombia. 
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