COKE KING DETHRONED

He was supposed to be Mr. Untouchable - one of the world's 50 biggest
drug traffickers, responsible for pumping tons of cocaine into New
York City for more than a decade.

Colombian warlord Diego Murillo was so cruel that one of his nation's
largest newspapers dubbed him "The Exterminator."

He was said to have gotten a kickback from every kilo that left
Colombia by sea, and was allegedly responsible for hundreds of
political killings as leader of a drug-financed, right-wing
paramilitary organization.

None of that bravado was evident when Murillo was brought to New York
in handcuffs on May 13 to face federal drug trafficking charges that
could land him in prison for 30 years.

Gone was the swagger that made him so feared and helped him survive an
assassination attempt with a crutch in one hand and a submachine gun
in theother.

"He is responsible for thousands of kilos coming into New York City -
and those are the ones we can prove," NYPD Detective John Barry said.

Barry was part of the team of federal Drug Enforcement Administration
agents, NYPD detectives and Manhattan federal prosecutors that ended
Murillo's reign.

The soft-spoken Murillo, 47, looked more like a plumber than a drug
kingpin when he got off the DEA plane at White Plains Airport, one of
14 alleged drug traffickers extradited to the Unites States.

"The other druglords all gave him respect as they were getting on the
plane. He was the undisputed king," Barry said.

Murillo took over one of Colombia's best-known drug empires in 1993,
turning on former boss Pablo Escobar and taking over his drug routes.

Under the names Don Bernardo and Don Berna, his drugs flooded
neighborhoods from Washington Heights to Crown Heights, authorities
said. Murillo's gang allegedly supplied virtually all of the Colombian
drugs that landed in New York.

Murillo was indicted in Southern District Court in Manhattan and
extradition papers were served in July 2004. He was arrested in
Colombia in May 2005.

Few outside the case believed he would ever be turned over to the
U.S.

"We worked - and hoped it would happen," said Barry, crediting
Manhattan federal prosecutors working with immigration and law
enforcement in Colombia and Mexico.

John Gilbride, head of the DEA's New York office, said a conviction in
the case would bring about the only thing Murillo really fears:
spending the rest of his life in an American prison.