Latin America

By Sofia Cox, Tatiana Arias and Sahar Akbarzai, CNN
Published 8:08 PM EDT, Tue August 8, 2023



Dairo Antonio Úsuga David was captured in Colombia in October 2021 and later extradited to the US.
Colombian National Police Press Office/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
CNN
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Notorious Colombian drug lord Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, also known as “Otoniel,” was sentenced to 45 years in prison Tuesday “for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise as a leader of the multibillion-dollar paramilitary and drug trafficking organization known as the Clan del Golfo, federal prosecutors announced.

“Otoniel led one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations in the world, where he directed the exportation of massive amounts of cocaine to the United States and ordered the ruthless execution of Colombian law enforcement, military officials, and civilians,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The sentence, Garland said, sends a clear message that US officials will “find and hold accountable the leaders of deadly drug trafficking organizations that harm the American people, no matter where they are.”

Úsuga was also sentenced to 45 years for engaging in a maritime narcotics conspiracy and 45 years for engaging in a narcotics importation conspiracy, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a news release. The sentences will run concurrently, the release said. As part of his sentence, he will also have to pay $216 million in forfeiture, prosecutors added.

. . .

“To maintain control over CDG territory, Úsuga David and the CDG employed an army of ‘sicarios,’ or hitmen, who carried out acts of violence, including murders, assaults, kidnappings, torture, and assassinations against competitors and those deemed traitors to the organization, as well as their family members,” the release said.

More:
https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/08/us/otoniel-dairo-antonio-usuga-david-sentence-prison/index.html