Notorious leader of the Colombian cartel ‘Otoniel’ faces a minimum of 20 years in US prison.

Colombian drug lord Dairo Antonio ‘Otoniel’ Úsuga faces a minimum of 20 years in a US prison after pleading guilty to running a multibillion-dollar cocaine empire.

Usaga, once one of the world’s most wanted drug lords, pleaded guilty Wednesday in New York to smuggling charges and admitted to running a cartel and paramilitary group that trafficked cocaine and deadly violence.

“Tons of cocaine were moved with my permission or at my direction,” Úsuga told a Brooklyn federal court.

“There was a lot of violence with the guerrillas and criminal gangs,” he added, acknowledging that “homicides were committed in military work.”

Considered Colombia’s most powerful kingpin since Pablo Escobar, Úsuga, 51, will face at least 20 years in prison when sentenced, prosecutors said.

But the US government agreed not to seek a life sentence to secure his extradition from Colombia earlier this year, according to US District Judge Dora Irizarry.

As part of his plea bargain, he agreed to forfeit $216 million.

Úsuga presided over the Clan del Golfo, which terrorized much of northern Colombia to control the main cocaine smuggling routes.

In 2011, the clan declared war on Los Rastrojos, a rival cartel, for control of the drug trade in Medellín, and in the following decade became the most powerful criminal organization in the country.

It is believed to have some 3,000 members within its inner organizational circle.

US authorities have labeled him one of the most dangerous drug traffickers on the planet, and he He was the most wanted in Colombia cornerstone.

Usaga, once one of the world’s most wanted drug lords, pleaded guilty Wednesday to smuggling charges in New York, admitting he ran a cartel and paramilitary group that trafficked cocaine and deadly violence.

Considered Colombia’s most powerful kingpin since Pablo Escobar, Úsuga, 51, will face at least 20 years in prison when sentenced, prosecutors said.

“With today’s guilty plea, the bloody reign of the most violent and prominent Colombian drug trafficker since Pablo Escobar has ended,” Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

Defense attorney Paul Nalven said Úsuga was “very sorry” and portrayed him as “a child of the cycle of violence” that has rocked Colombia throughout his life. Úsuga, who has a fourth-grade education, was drawn into guerrilla warfare at age 16, the lawyer said.

After his arrest, Úsuga asked his cartel to stop attacking the police and hopes something fruitful will come of it. six-month ceasefire that recently entered into force between the administration of President Gustavo Petro, the Clan del Golfo and four other armed groups in the hope of fostering a lasting peace.

“He would like to see a better Colombia,” Nalven said.

The Clan del Golfo, also known as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, has thousands of members dressed as military fighting rival gangs, paramilitary groups and Colombian authorities to maintain a bloody grip on their territory near the border with Panama, prosecutors said. . .

Dairo Antonio Usuga David, alias ‘Otoniel’, top leader of the Gulf clan, is escorted by Colombian soldiers after being captured, in Turbo, Colombia, on October 23, 2021.

Defense attorney Paul Nalven said Úsuga was “very sorry” and portrayed him as “a child of the cycle of violence” that has rocked Colombia throughout his life. Úsuga, who has a fourth-grade education, was drawn into guerrilla warfare at age 16, the lawyer said.

Cocaine smuggling pays for everything, including, Úsuga admitted, through “taxes” that the group collects on any cocaine produced, stored or transported through its territory.

Úsuga ordered the murder and torture of perceived enemies, offered bounties for killing police officers and soldiers, and ordered campaigns to go after them with military-grade weapons, according to prosecutors.

He showed his power by declaring “strikes” in which businesses had to close and people had to stay home, on pain of death, on cartel territory, prosecutors said.

Úsuga was named in a series of US indictments dating back to 2009. The US Drug Enforcement Administration offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest, and the Colombian government offered $800,000. Over the years, Colombian authorities have arrested or killed hundreds of cartel members, deployed more than 1,000 police officers to hunt down the kingpin, and publicized the US bounty. dropping flyers from helicopters.

but use it eluded capture until 2021 through a combination of corruption, connections to fighters on both the left and right in his country’s internal conflict (he had been part of groups on both sides), and living off the grid in the countryside. He allegedly used a different safe house each night.

Colombian drug trafficker and head of the Clan del Golfo, Dairo Antonio Usuga, also known as ‘Otoniel’, boards a plane to be extradited to the US, in Bogota on May 4, 2022.

Dairo Antonio Úsuga David (in the center of the photo) was the leader of the largest drug gang in Colombia, known as the feared Clan del Golfo. He has now been extradited to the US.

Colombian drug trafficker Dairo Antonio ‘Otoniel’ Úsuga seen inside a DEA plane before taking off from Bogotá, Colombia, to John F. Kennedy International Airport

A military convoy escorts Colombian drug lord Dairo Antonio ‘Otoniel’ Úsuga

When he was apprehended, Iván Duque said that Úsuga was “not only the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world, but he is a murderer of social leaders, an abuser of children and adolescents, a murderer of police officers.”

Úsuga was extradited to the United States last May.

Last June, Italian authorities carried out the third largest drug bust in European history, seizing 4.3 tons of cocaine from the Usaga cartel.

The massive shipment, with a street value of $255.86 million, was seized by Colombian authorities before leaving for Europe, unaware to the Clan del Golfo that their operation had been seized.