WOMAN WHO LED DRUG RING IS SENTENCEDHED

NEW YORK -- A Colombian woman convicted of running an international drug
ring was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday by a federal judge who
cited the huge quantity of drugs her organization had sold in the United
States.

The woman, Mery Valencia, 46, was convicted on July 30 after a two-month
trial on charges of leading a conspiracy that sold 12,000 kilograms of
cocaine, with a wholesale value of more than $180 million, in the United
States from the late 1980s until 1997, when she was arrested in Brazil. She
was later extradited to the United States.

Testimony showed that the cocaine was held in "stash houses" in Florida,
Texas and California, and eventually sold in New York and elsewhere. On
Thursday, Ms. Valencia wept and apologized to Judge Kimba M. Wood of Federal
District Court in Manhattan for having "taken the wrong path" in life.

"I am very remorseful for what I did," she said through a translator, "and
I'm paying a very high price."

Ms. Valencia's organization was seen as unusual, if not unique, because its
senior leadership was almost entirely female. Of the more than 75 people
charged in connection with the investigation into her drug ring, more than a
dozen were women, the indictment showed.

Ms. Valencia also relied on women in her own family, the indictment charged,
including her sister, Luz Dary Valencia Castrillon, who is suspected of
being a manager in the cocaine conspiracy responsible for arranging to
deposit drug proceeds in U.S. banks.

Ana Maria Valencia, Mery Valencia's sister-in-law, was described in the
charges as the manager of deliveries and pickups of money in the United
States. Both women have been charged, but neither has been arrested,
officials said.

In court, Ms. Valencia's lawyer, Merrill Rubin, asked Judge Wood not to
impose a life term, given Ms. Valencia's age, and his view that a life term
would not deter other narcotics traffickers.

"If one person is removed from the scene," Rubin said, "there are five
people clamoring to get in."

But a federal prosecutor, James J. Benjamin Jr., disagreed. He cited phone
conversations of Ms. Valencia's associates that had been recorded on
government wiretaps. The conversations showed that there was much discussion
about how to avoid having her extradited, and the consequences for the ring
of a long imprisonment for Ms. Valencia, he said.

Benjamin also noted the "huge geographical temporal scope" of her operation
and the "tremendous consequences" for lower-ranking ring members who were
arrested, and for those who had used the cocaine.

Judge Wood said that although not everyone might be deterred, she agreed
with the government "that there is a reasonable likelihood of deterring some
conduct."

She also ordered Ms. Valencia to pay a $250,000 fine.

Forty-five other defendants in the case in New York have pleaded guilty to
charges that include narcotics offenses and money laundering, and more than
30 others are at large, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Mary Jo
White in Manhattan.