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Leader of Colombian Drug Cartel and Former FBI Top Ten Fugitive Pleads Guilty to Drug, Murder, and Racketeering Charges
LEV L. DASSIN, Acting United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, JEFFREY H. SLOMAN, Acting United
States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, LANNY A.
BREUER, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of
the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of
Investigation Executive Assistant Director THOMAS J. HARRINGTON,
and Acting Administrator MICHELE M. LEONHART of the United States
Drug Enforcement Administration announced that DIEGO MONTOYA
SANCHEZ, 48, one of the leaders of the Norte Valle Colombian drug
cartel and a former Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI")
top-ten fugitive, pleaded guilty today in Miami to drug
trafficking, murder and racketeering charges.
MONTOYA SANCHEZ appeared before U.S. District Judge
CECILIA M. ALTONAGA in Miami, where he pleaded guilty in two
pending federal cases. In the first case, which was indicted in
the Southern District of Florida by the U.S. Attorney's Office,
MONTOYA SANCHEZ pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to
import more than five kilograms of cocaine into the United States
and one count of obstruction of justice by murder.
In the second case, which was indicted in the District
of Columbia jointly by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the
Southern District of New York ("SDNY") and the Criminal
Division's Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section ("NDDS"), MONTOYA
SANCHEZ pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in a
pattern of racketeering activity. The SDNY/NDDS Indictment was
transferred to the Southern District of Florida for the guilty
plea.
Following the decline of the Cali Cartel in the
mid-1990s, the Norte Valle Cartel emerged to become Colombia's
most prolific cocaine trafficking cartel. Based upon FBI
estimates, at its peak the Norte Valle Cartel was responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine exported from Colombia to the United
States. According to the SDNY/NDDS Indictment, between 1990 and
2004, the Norte Valle Cartel exported more than 1.2 million
pounds, or 500 metric tons, of cocaine worth more than $10
billion from Colombia to the United States.
According to the statement of facts submitted in
conjunction with today's hearing, MONTOYA SANCHEZ was a
high-level Colombian drug trafficker for more than two decades.
In the mid-1980s, MONTOYA SANCHEZ ran cocaine laboratories that
served many significant traffickers. In the late 1980s, MONTOYA
SANCHEZ expanded his organization's operations into smuggling
plane loads of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. According to the
statement of facts, by the early 1990s, MONTOYA SANCHEZ had
switched to maritime smuggling. During the course of the next 15
years, MONTOYA SANCHEZ's organization routinely smuggled cocaine
loads between 1,000 and 6,000 kilos at a time using go-fast boats
and fishing boats, among other methods.
By the late 1990s, MONTOYA SANCHEZ and WILBER VARELA
emerged to become the Norte Valle Cartel's two leading kingpins.
Mounting tensions between the MONTOYA SANCHEZ and VARELA
organizations led to a two-year war between the organizations in
which each targeted the other's members for murder. The MONTOYA
SANCHEZ-VARELA war, which lasted from fall 2003 until fall 2005,
resulted in hundreds of deaths, including those of innocent
civilians.
At today's hearing, MONTOYA SANCHEZ admitted that his
organization's practices included using violence and murder
against people his organization feared were cooperating with law
enforcement. MONTOYA SANCHEZ specifically admitted to the August
2003 murder of a one-time organization member who was feared to
have been cooperating with authorities.
In May 2004, the FBI added MONTOYA SANCHEZ to its list
of ten most wanted fugitives. On Sept. 10, 2007, Colombian
authorities mounted an operation on a believed MONTOYA SANCHEZ
hideout at a ranch in a rural area outside of Zarzal, Valle del
Cauca, Colombia, and captured MONTOYA SANCHEZ hiding in a creek
bed approximately 700 yards from the ranch. MONTOYA SANCHEZ was
extradited from Colombia to Miami on Dec. 12, 2008.
LEV L. DASSIN, Acting United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York stated, "The prosecution of Montoya
Sanchez is a milestone in the efforts to dismantle the Norte
Valle Cartel, one of the world's most powerful and dangerous
drug-trafficking cartels. Montoya Sanchez's arrest and
extradition marked the end of his long campaign of violence and corruption. We are grateful to our partners at the DEA and in the
Colombian government for their tireless work in this
investigation."
JEFFREY H. SLOMAN, Acting U.S. Attorney for the
Southern District of Florida, stated, "From the prosecution and
conviction of the leaders of the Cali Cartel, to the conviction
of Ze’ev Rosenstein and his Israel-based Ecstasy network, to
today's dismantling of the Norte Valle Cartel, the Southern
District of Florida has had a long and successful history in the
war on drugs. We will continue to focus our energy, and the
expertise of our prosecutors, to help our law enforcement
partners stem the tide of drugs flooding our streets and
poisoning our society."
"Diego Montoya Sanchez was the leader of a dangerous,
violent drug organization," said THOMAS J. HARRINGTON, Executive
Assistant Director of the FBI. "Outstanding cooperation between
Colombia and the United States was key to his capture, the
capture of others, and the effective dismantling of the North
Valley Cartel. The FBI and its law enforcement partners, both
here and overseas, will continue to work together to eliminate
other international organized crime threats."
"Montoya Sanchez's path to the top of the Norte Valle
Cartel was marked by decades of extreme violence. That path has
now ended in a prison cell, where the man who personally helped
direct multi-ton shipments of addictive and destructive narcotics
into American cities and towns will be held for his crimes," said
Assistant Attorney General LANNY A. BREUER of the Criminal
Division. "This conviction is a major victory in the joint
effort by Colombia and the United States to disrupt and dismantle
these drug trafficking organizations, made possible through
extensive cooperation with our partners in the Southern District
of Florida, the Southern District of New York, the DEA and the
FBI."
"This notorious leader of the extremely violent Norte
Valley Cartel is where he belongs: behind bars for murder, drug
trafficking and racketeering," said Acting DEA Administrator
MICHELE M. LEONHART. "Due to the skilled and brave work by the
men and women of DEA and the Colombian National Police, justice
has been served for the many victims of his cartel's extreme
violence and the tons of cocaine that ended up on American
streets. Now he is in prison, no longer able to use his power to
destroy others or benefit from his ill-gotten gains."
MONTOYA SANCHEZ is the fourth member of his family to
be convicted as part of the case out of the Southern District of Florida. In January 2009, MONTOYA SANCHEZ's brother, EUGENIO
MONTOYA SANCHEZ, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to
import more than five kilograms of cocaine into the United States
and one count of obstruction of justice by murder and was
subsequently sentenced to 30 years in prison. In November 2005,
MONTOYA SANCHEZ's brother, JUAN CARLOS MONTOYA SANCHEZ, and his
cousin, CARLOS FELIPE TORO SANCHEZ, both pleaded guilty to one
count of conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine
into the United States. They were sentenced to terms of 262 and
235 months in prison, respectively.
According to in-court statements during the hearing,
DIEGO MONTOYA SANCHEZ agreed to serve a 45-year prison term for
the crimes outlined in the court documents. Sentencing has been
scheduled for Oct. 21, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. before Judge ALTONAGA.
The Southern District of Florida Indictment is being
prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office and was investigated by
the FBI. The SDNY/NDDS Indictment was the result of a
multi-district investigation and is being prosecuted jointly by
SDNY and NDDS, and was investigated by the DEA. The aspects of
the prosecution being handled by SDNY are being handled by the
Office's International Narcotics Trafficking Unit. The Criminal
Division's Office of International Affairs and NDDS Judicial
Attachés in Bogota, Colombia provided significant assistance in
both cases. U.S. law enforcement received invaluable assistance
in its prosecution of DIEGO MONTOYA SANCHEZ from the Government
of Colombia, the Colombian National Police and the Colombian
Army.
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