Major link between Colombian drug gang and European mafia captured
Source: Colombia Reports
Major link between Colombian drug gang and European mafia captured
Monday, 19 March 2012 17:07
Sarah Kinosian
Colombian authorities have captured an alleged middleman between major Colombian drug tracking organization "Los Rastrojos" and leading European drug cartels, reported local media Monday.
Rafael Ivan Zapata Cuadros, alias Rasgao, is believed to have been the main link between extradited AUC leader Salvatore Mancuso and the Italian mafia, helping them create new cocaine-smuggling routes to Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Venezuela and Austria.
Colombian Gen. Luis Alberto Perez told reporters that police arrested Zapata Sunday in Puerto Berrio in the northwestern Antioquia department, about 250 kilometers north of Bogota.
Zapatas was wanted in 160 countries at the time of his arrest and has since been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Italy for drug-related crimes.
Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22926-police-capture-major-link-between-colombian-gang-and-european-mafia-.html
Salvatore Mancuso is in prison in the United States, has been interviewed by
60 Minutes on CBS, and has given testimony concerning Chiquita Banana's operations in Colombia, and Drummond Coal Company, whose base is in Birmingham, Alabama, on charges of hiring their death squads to assassinate union workers.