Posted on Fri, May. 07, 2004
COLOMBIAN DRUGS
U.S.: Indictments a blow to cartel
U.S. officials said they struck a crippling blow against Colombia's largest drug cartel, indicting and searching for nine leaders as Colombia seized more of the group's property.
BY FRANK DAVIES
fdavies@herald.com
WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft Thursday announced the indictment of nine top leaders of Colombia's largest drug cartel, responsible for up to half of all the cocaine smuggled into the United States, according to top officials.
The racketeering and smuggling indictments and the continuing manhunt for top drug traffickers will cripple the Norte del Valle cartel, Ashcroft and drug enforcement officials said.
''We are disabling the single largest source of cocaine to the United States,'' Ashcroft said, after the indictments were unsealed in Washington. He also conceded that some of the ringleaders
``will be difficult to apprehend.''The cartel exported more than 1.2 million pounds of cocaine since 1990 through Mexico into the United States, worth more than $10 billion, the indictments say.
That total is ''roughly equivalent to the combined
budgets of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Prisons,'' said Karen Tandy, DEA chief.
(snip/...)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/8610423.htm?ERIGHTS=44795714900605653miami:&KRD_RM=3mkmlmmlnkjppmjjjjjjjjjsko|
On edit, adding:Luis Hernando Gomez-Bustamante (aka "Rasguno") is a major North Valle trafficker closely aligned with the Henao-Montoya Brothers. Although they have worked together for decades, Gomez runs a separate and distinct criminal organization. He owns cocaine HCl conversion laboratories in the Valle Del Cauca region, many of which are concealed on his farms. He also is involved in smuggling cocaine to the U.S. via aircraft. Gomez is wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States.
(snip)
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1998_hr/ct980226.htm