Washington: A drug kingpin whose cartel
once supplied over half the Colombian cocaine in the United
States pleaded guilty to trafficking, murder and racketeering
charges in a Florida court, the Justice Department said.
Diego Montoya, former leader of the Norte del Valle
cartel, pleaded guilty to importing cocaine and "obstruction
of justice by murder" in a Miami court and agreed to serve 45
years in prison, a Justice Department statement said.
The 48-year-old, who was once an FBI top-ten fugitive,
entered the plea as part of an apparent deal with prosecutors
that also saw him sign a document detailing his rise to the
top of one of Colombia's most bloody cocaine gangs.
Montoya pleaded guilty to conspiring to import "five
or more" kilograms of cocaine to the US, a fraction of his
drug empire's multi-billion-dollar trade.
Prosecutors estimate that between 1990 and 2004, the
Norte Valle Cartel exported more than 500 tonnes of cocaine,
worth in excess of USD 10 billion, from Colombia to the United
States.
According to the Montoya-signed document, drawn up by
prosecutors, he entered the drug trade shortly after his
father's death, when he was 14 years old.
Once a lowly driver, he later managed a cocaine lab
before heading the organization that emerged as heir to the
infamous Cali cartel and its rival in Medellin -- run by Pablo
Escobar.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 15:32