Feds: Colombian brothers ran large drug operation from prison

Associated Press ^ | December 23, 2003 | Ken Thomas

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MIAMI — Two brothers who helped found the Cali cartel resumed running their billion-dollar drug operation from inside their Colombian prison cells, federal authorities said Monday in announcing their indictments.

The 12-year investigation into the drug trafficking and money-laundering operations of Miguel Rodriguez-Orejuela and Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela was one of the largest in U.S. history, U.S. Attorney Marcos Jimenez said. The brothers and nine associates were named in federal indictments that were unsealed Monday.

"The Cali cartel led by the Rodriguez-Orejuela brothers have been poisoning the streets of America for too many years," Jimenez said.

The brothers have been incarcerated for their leadership of the Cali cartel since the summer of 1995, after a massive probe by U.S. and Colombian officials. Federal authorities said investigators, who had continued looking into the operation, received information two years ago that the brothers had resumed running the cartel from prison.

The indictment alleges that from 1990 until July 2002 the defendants conspired to import cocaine into the United States and conspired to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, importing the drugs hidden in concrete posts, frozen vegetables, lumber, ceramic tiles, coffee and chlorine cylinders.

As part of the indictments, authorities said they would seek the forfeiture of $2.1 billion generated in the operation and the extradition of all 11 suspects. Jimenez said the multibillion dollar figure was "a very safe estimate of the amount of money these individuals earned over the last 14 years."

"In it's heyday, the Cali cartel was believed to be responsible for about 80 percent of the cocaine shipped to the United States. It was also responsible for countless murders and a reign of terror in Colombia," said Jesus Toreros, interim special agent in charge with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.

Jimenez said the cartel was marked by the killing of witnesses and paying off of individuals "to make sure they were never brought to justice."

In addition to the Rodriguez-Orejuela brothers, Colombian authorities have arrested one of their associates, Luis Edward Cuartas-Pardo, who allegedly served as the cartel's accountant, and an additional indicted man, whose identity officials are still trying to verify.

While incarcerated in Colombia, authorities said the two brothers were running the cartel through Miguel Rodriguez-Orejuela's elder son, William Rodriguez-Abadia, who controlled day-to-day operations.

Besides the four men, authorities said seven others were indicted on conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. They include: Guillermo Restrepo Lara, who allegedly served as the cartel's chief enforcer; Heriberto Patino-Rios and Luis Ocampo-Fominque, who both allegedly worked as the cartel's drug transportation supervisors; and German Navarro, a Colombian lawyer who allegedly coordinated briberies.

Also indicted were Daniel Serrano, an alleged money supervisor for the brothers; Harold Velez-Restrepo, who allegedly helped buy residencies, offices and facilities for the cartel; and Luis Evelio Lopez, who allegedly oversaw 'stash houses' for cartel members.

Seven of the men, including the two brothers, were charged with conspiracy to launder money. Six of the men, also including the two brothers, were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. Authorities did not immediately have ages or locations of the men. It was not immediately known if they had retained attorneys.

The brothers were originally charged in a wide-ranging 1995 indictment that named 59 people, including six lawyers, in a top-to-bottom attack on the Cali cartel. Four lawyers, including three that had worked for the Justice Department, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and agreed to cooperate.

The indictments, which were originally handed down Sept. 28 and unsealed Monday, were the latest development in a drug investigation called "Operation Cornerstone," which has led to the seizure of nearly 55 tons of cocaine and $15 million in U.S. currency, officials said.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a statement, said prosecutors would continue to work to dismantle the cartel.

"However long it takes, wherever it takes us, we have a duty to dismantle these drug organizations piece by piece and member by member," Ashcroft said.

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I have no reason to post this other than a weakness for Colombian gangster stories.

The Orejuela's make Escobar and the Ochoa's look like small potatoes.