Colombian drug lord described as most violent since Pablo Escobar is jailed for 45 years in New York [View all]

District judge chides kingpin’s lawyers for bringing up his tough childhood by invoking her own experiences of growing up in the South Bronx

Yusra Farzan
Los Angeles
6 hours ago



Police escort Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as Otoniel, at a military airport in Bogota, Colombia, in May 2022

(Colombian Presidential Press Office)

One of the world’s most dangerous drug traffickers — accused of being second only to Pablo Escobar, in his capacity for violence – has been sentenced to 45 years in prison at Brooklyn federal court in New York as Colombian government representatives watched from the gallery.

Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, known as Otoniel, was jailed on Tuesday for charges of conspiracy to ship cocaine into the US by land and sea.

As part of his plea deal, he agreed to forfeit $216m.

Úsuga, 51, was at the helm of the drug cartel Clan de Golfo or Gulf Clan, which also operates as a paramilitary group, for over two decades. The organization uses extreme violence — including murder — to control parts of northern Colombia and are said to have law enforcement in their pocket.

Francisco J Navarro, one of the prosecutors, called Úsuga “the supreme leader” of the Gulf Clan and said his rule was violent and “without mercy.” Other prosecutors described him as “the most violent and significant” drug lord since Escobar, whose Medellin clan terrorised Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s.

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/otoniel-colombian-drug-lord-jailed-b2389908.html