News (Media Awareness Project) - US NY: Colombian Accused of Heading Drug Cartel Is Charged In |
| Title: | US NY: Colombian Accused of Heading Drug Cartel Is Charged In |
| Published On: | 2000-08-22 |
| Source: | New York Times (NY) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-03 11:47:29 |
COLOMBIAN ACCUSED OF HEADING DRUG CARTEL IS CHARGED IN THE U.S.
A Colombian man, accused of heading an international drug cartel that prosecutors alleged shipped thousands of pounds of cocaine to the United States and Europe, faced criminal charges in federal court in Manhattan yesterday afternoon, three days after his extradition to the United States.
The man, Alberto Orlandez-Gamboa, who prosecutors have said is the head of the Caracol drug cartel, has been charged with conspiring to transport the cocaine and with conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars in profits from drug sales.
United States prosecutors said he was the third drug suspect extradited from Colombia since that country amended its constitution in December 1997 to allow extradition to the United States. Mary Jo White, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was the first person accused of heading a drug organization to be extradited from Colombia in more than a decade.
Ms. White said the United States is seeking the extradition of 80 other suspects from Colombia.
Extradition to the United States has been a controversial subject in Colombia, and the action involving Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa required approval from the highest levels of Colombia's government. The United States formally requested extradition in August 1999, after Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York.
On Aug. 9, 2000, the Colombian Supreme Court issued an order approving the extradition, and the next day the president of Colombia, Andres Pastrana, and his cabinet signed a resolution providing for the action. Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was flown from Bogota to Miami on a Drug Enforcement Administration jet on Friday.
Attorney General Janet Reno issued a statement yesterday commending the Colombian government and saying the action "sends a strong message to drug dealers that there are no safe havens."
In court yesterday, Mark F. Mendelsohn, an assistant United States attorney, said newspaper ads had recently appeared in Cali, Colombia, threatening violence against Colombia's supreme court and senior political officials if Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was sent to the United States.
According to the indictment, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa headed the Caracol drug cartel from Barranquilla, Colombia, directing his subordinates to carry out bribery and violence including kidnappings and assassination.
The indictment charges him with crimes dating to 1992; although he was arrested and jailed in Colombia in June 1998, prosecutors charged he continued to run the cartel from prison. While in prison, prosecutors said, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa directed the delivery of $1.5 million from the United States to Colombia.
Prosecutors said Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa also used Caracol, which means snail in Spanish, as a personal nickname.
The indictment charges that the Caracol organization imported cocaine to a variety of places in the United States, and prosecutors said the drugs went to New York, Miami, Philadelphia and Puerto Rico. They said the organization used cargo ships, speed boats and aircraft to transport the cocaine.
At times, the drug was concealed by packing it with sawdust, mustard and cough medicine to hide the smell. The organization also smuggled cocaine in shipments of cement, in sealed cans and inside ceramic tiles.
After a hearing before a federal magistrate yesterday, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was ordered held without bail. If convicted on all charges, he faces life in prison.
His lawyer, Martin Schmukler, said Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa intended to plead not guilty to the charges against him. "I don't think the charges can be substantiated at all," Mr. Schmukler said. "At the very time they were committed, he was already in custody."
Mr. Schmukler said that, under the extradition agreement, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa can be charged only with acts that occurred after the Colombian constitution was changed in 1997.
At a news conference after the court appearance, Ms. White said the extradition agreement would not hurt the prosecution of the case.
Mr. Schmukler also said his client had nothing to do with any advertisements that appeared in Colombian newspapers regarding the extradition. He said that there had been an entrenched resistance to extradition for many years, and that similar ads had run after other cases.
He said that Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa runs an automotive business in Colombia and scoffed at prosecutors' charges that his client ran an international narcotics cartel from a prison cell.
"Jail is not a place to conduct illegal activities," he said.
A Colombian man, accused of heading an international drug cartel that prosecutors alleged shipped thousands of pounds of cocaine to the United States and Europe, faced criminal charges in federal court in Manhattan yesterday afternoon, three days after his extradition to the United States.
The man, Alberto Orlandez-Gamboa, who prosecutors have said is the head of the Caracol drug cartel, has been charged with conspiring to transport the cocaine and with conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars in profits from drug sales.
United States prosecutors said he was the third drug suspect extradited from Colombia since that country amended its constitution in December 1997 to allow extradition to the United States. Mary Jo White, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was the first person accused of heading a drug organization to be extradited from Colombia in more than a decade.
Ms. White said the United States is seeking the extradition of 80 other suspects from Colombia.
Extradition to the United States has been a controversial subject in Colombia, and the action involving Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa required approval from the highest levels of Colombia's government. The United States formally requested extradition in August 1999, after Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York.
On Aug. 9, 2000, the Colombian Supreme Court issued an order approving the extradition, and the next day the president of Colombia, Andres Pastrana, and his cabinet signed a resolution providing for the action. Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was flown from Bogota to Miami on a Drug Enforcement Administration jet on Friday.
Attorney General Janet Reno issued a statement yesterday commending the Colombian government and saying the action "sends a strong message to drug dealers that there are no safe havens."
In court yesterday, Mark F. Mendelsohn, an assistant United States attorney, said newspaper ads had recently appeared in Cali, Colombia, threatening violence against Colombia's supreme court and senior political officials if Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was sent to the United States.
According to the indictment, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa headed the Caracol drug cartel from Barranquilla, Colombia, directing his subordinates to carry out bribery and violence including kidnappings and assassination.
The indictment charges him with crimes dating to 1992; although he was arrested and jailed in Colombia in June 1998, prosecutors charged he continued to run the cartel from prison. While in prison, prosecutors said, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa directed the delivery of $1.5 million from the United States to Colombia.
Prosecutors said Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa also used Caracol, which means snail in Spanish, as a personal nickname.
The indictment charges that the Caracol organization imported cocaine to a variety of places in the United States, and prosecutors said the drugs went to New York, Miami, Philadelphia and Puerto Rico. They said the organization used cargo ships, speed boats and aircraft to transport the cocaine.
At times, the drug was concealed by packing it with sawdust, mustard and cough medicine to hide the smell. The organization also smuggled cocaine in shipments of cement, in sealed cans and inside ceramic tiles.
After a hearing before a federal magistrate yesterday, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa was ordered held without bail. If convicted on all charges, he faces life in prison.
His lawyer, Martin Schmukler, said Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa intended to plead not guilty to the charges against him. "I don't think the charges can be substantiated at all," Mr. Schmukler said. "At the very time they were committed, he was already in custody."
Mr. Schmukler said that, under the extradition agreement, Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa can be charged only with acts that occurred after the Colombian constitution was changed in 1997.
At a news conference after the court appearance, Ms. White said the extradition agreement would not hurt the prosecution of the case.
Mr. Schmukler also said his client had nothing to do with any advertisements that appeared in Colombian newspapers regarding the extradition. He said that there had been an entrenched resistance to extradition for many years, and that similar ads had run after other cases.
He said that Mr. Orlandez-Gamboa runs an automotive business in Colombia and scoffed at prosecutors' charges that his client ran an international narcotics cartel from a prison cell.
"Jail is not a place to conduct illegal activities," he said.
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