In this photo released by the Colombia Police Press Office, one of the country’s most wanted drug traffickers, Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, alias “Otoniel,” is escorted in handcuffs in Bogota, Colombia, Oct. 23, 2021. (Colombia Police Press Office via AP, File)
A drug lord who led one of Colombia’s most savage and violent drug cartels and who a judge compared to infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, 51, better known as “Otoniel,” was sentenced in New York on Tuesday on charges of engaging in a maritime narcotics conspiracy and narcotics importation conspiracy. The court also ordered Úsuga David to pay $216 million in forfeiture.
He had pleaded guilty in January.
During the hearing, Brooklyn U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry compared Úsuga David to convicted racketeer and mobster John “The Teflon Don” Gotti and said he was more prolific than the infamous Escobar, the New York Daily News reported.
“You used (your) intelligence, and frankly, your willingness to be ruthless, to disregard the value of human life to rise in the ranks, as you went along in your trajectory through these different organizations,” Irizarry said, the paper reported.
Victims filed impact statements with the court. Their names were redacted.
“The damage that this man named Otoniel has caused to our family is unfathomable,” relatives of slain police officer Milton Eliecer Flores Arcila wrote, Fox News reported.
Úsuga David “took away the chance I had of growing old with the love of my life,” said the widow of Officer John Gelber Rojas Colmenares, killed in 2017, the station reported. “All I am asking for is justice for my daughter, for myself, for John’s family, for his friends and in honor of my husband, that his death not go unpunished.”
Úsuga David’s attorneys argued he has medical problems, was born into poverty and was recruited into guerilla warfare at 16, Fox News reported.
In court, he apologized.
“Having been born to a region of great conflict, I grew up within this conflict,” he said in a statement, the Daily News reported. “To the people and the youth of Colombia, I would advise them not to take the path that I took. … I hope to be able to contribute any grain of sand I can contribute to peace.”
His attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that Úsuga David led one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations in the world — the 6,000-member military-clad Colombian organization known as the “Clan del Golfo” (CDG).
Otoniel “directed the exportation of massive amounts of cocaine to the United States and ordered the ruthless execution of Colombian law enforcement, military officials, and civilians,” Garland said. “This sentence sends a clear message: the Justice Department will find and hold accountable the leaders of deadly drug trafficking organizations that harm the American people, no matter where they are and no matter how long it takes.”
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Úsuga David’s nearly 20-year reign ended when he was captured by Colombian military and law enforcement forces on Oct. 23, 2021, officials said. He was extradited to the U.S. in May 2022.
Authorities said the cartel used military tactics and weapons to reinforce its power and incite wars and violence against rivals in one of the most lucrative drug trafficking areas in Colombia.
It imposed a “tax” on drug traffickers working in its territory and charged fees for every kilogram of cocaine made, stored, or transported through its zone, authorities said.
The CDG used an army of sicarios — hitmen — to carry out murders, assaults, kidnappings, torture, and assassinations.
Úsuga David oversaw all CDG activities and directed “strikes” or shutdowns of all business activities and civilian movement within designated regions of Colombia. He led retaliations against law enforcement authorities and potential witnesses and controlled drug-making facilities and trafficking routes.
“Úsuga David assumed power and territorial control over vast swaths of the Colombian coastline and personally directed members of the CDG to commit acts of violence to reinforce that power,” authorities said.
When his brother was killed in a police raid in 2012, Úsuga David shut down all businesses and ordered residents to stay home for days in towns and communities under the CDG’s control.
“For multiple days, the streets remained empty as Úsuga David ordered CDG members to execute those who did not adhere to his orders,” officials said.
He also ordered hits on rivals — and his own people.
“Úsuga David also ordered the torture and murder of a CDG member who provided information to Barrera’s organization,” officials said. “That individual was subsequently tortured, buried alive, exhumed, and beheaded post-mortem.”
Úsuga David also directed “Plan Pistolas,” campaigns to kill Colombian law enforcement and military personnel using grenades, explosives, and assault rifles.
He even offered bounties for the murder of Colombian police officers and military personnel and tried to assassinate people thought to be cooperating with law enforcement. In one case, the cartel attempted to poison a witness with cyanide and tried to kill the witness’ attorney.
“The human misery caused by the defendant’s incredibly violent, vengeful, and bloody reign as leader of the Clan de Golfo drug trafficking organization may never be fully calculated due to its magnitude, but today’s lengthy sentence delivers appropriate justice and sends a message to other paramilitary and cartel leaders that the United States will seek their arrest and extradition in order to hold them accountable in our courts of law,” said Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
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