CALI COKE CASE NOW UP TO JURY

TAMPA - After more than three months of trial, a federal jury will
begin deliberations Monday in the case of a man prosecutors say was
once one of the largest drug kingpins in the world.

Jurors are set to decide the case of [Name redacted]
, who is accused by the government of exporting hundreds, if not
thousands, of tons of cocaine into the United States from Colombia.
The prosecution alleges [Name redacted]
was a top leader in the notorious Cali Cartel.

After receiving legal instructions from U.S. District Judge Elizabeth
Kovachevich on Friday, jurors selected a foreman and determined a
schedule for deliberations that could take days or weeks.

In closing arguments that spanned three days, attorneys on both sides
painted [Name redacted]
in starkly different terms: the prosecution portraying him as a
cunning and fearsome drug lord and the defense depicting him as an
innocent, legitimate businessman. Investigation Spanned Decade

[Name redacted]
was the main target of "Operation Panama Express," a decadelong
international maritime drug smuggling investigation coordinated by
federal authorities in Tampa.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph K. Ruddy told jurors Friday that [Name
redacted]
has wreaked havoc on U.S. streets. "He has lived a life of wealth
and privilege at the expense of literally thousands of people," Ruddy
said. "Now is the time for [Name redacted]
to be held responsible for what he's done ... Justice compels you
to send him the bill."

Defense attorney Ronald Kurpiers, however, told jurors Thursday: "The
government's case doesn't hold water. ... The government has
emphasized a case against a man who didn't do anything wrong."

Kurpiers argued that government witnesses, many of whom were
criminals who testified in hopes of lenience, were working out of a
playbook assembled by the Cali Cartel. When all else fails, Kurpiers
said, the playbook requires members to make up a story about someone
else in hopes of saving themselves.

"This case is based on the lips of convicted felons," Kurpiers said.
"It's not based on documents." Prosecution Sought Inside Sources

Ruddy said although it's "distasteful," the government has no choice
but to cut deals with felons.

"The people involved in the criminal activity of the defendant are in
the best position to describe what happened," he said.

He said the only legitimate records available for the prosecution
came from outside Colombia. Inside that country, he said, records
"just happen to disappear."

Kurpiers criticized the government for not having any tapes of
telephone calls involving [Name redacted]
. Ruddy said, however, that [Name redacted]
was careful in his communications. "He never talks on the phone,"
Ruddy said. "He talks on the radio under an assumed name with codes."

Prosecutors didn't want jurors to know, Kurpiers argued, "that [Name redacted]
was a tax-paying businessman."

Quoting one of the trial witnesses, Kurpiers said, "You have to have
objective verification other than the word of an informant. This is
where the government breaks down. There is not any objective verification."

The sides also had different takes on [Name redacted]
sprawling estate, known as Casa Blanca.

Kurpiers said the defense had proved that [Name redacted]
wealth was all derived from his "legitimate, good" paper company,
Unipapel, and his horse ranch, La Luisa.

"He's a charitable, kind man," Kurpiers said. "He's a devoted family
man - that's why his house was built - a religious man."

"How does [Name redacted]
live in Casa Blanca?" Ruddy asked. "I think you heard from the
witnesses how he could afford that - through hundreds or thousands of
tons of cocaine brought into the United States, or more."