The leader of the Colombian gang Clan del Golfo, “Otoniel”, who was extradited to the United States in May 2022, pleaded guilty to international cocaine trafficking in a court in New York on Wednesday, where he faces a life sentence.
• Also read: The Colombian extradited to the United States “Otoniel” is not involved in international drug trafficking
• Also read: Colombia extradites drug lord Otoniel to the United States
At the end of the hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, Dairo Antonio Usuga, aka Otoniel, 51, wearing a blue short-sleeved inmate shirt, read a statement admitting to smuggling more than 96 tons of cocaine into the United States via Central America and Mexico.
After acknowledging that his organization, which may have numbered as many as 6,000 men, committed murders as part of “military work,” he also claimed that the clan “provided security for laboratories and drug dealers, collected drugs and taxes” for the Cocaine pass through areas under their control.
“If convicted, Usuga David faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and up to life in prison. As part of the plea bargain, he also accepted a $216 million foreclosure order,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Breon Peace.
Otoniel, who has ruled since 2012 at the helm of the organization formed by remnants of far-right paramilitary groups, pleaded guilty to running a continuing criminal enterprise, a cocaine manufacturing and distribution conspiracy, and a maritime drug trafficking conspiracy, including a Charge contained in a proceeding in a federal court in Florida.
His extradition in May 2022, seven months after his arrest in Colombia, was followed by a bloody campaign to assassinate police officers in his country. But in August 2022, after the election of left-wing President Gustavo Petro as Colombia’s head of state in favor of negotiations with several armed groups, Otoniel called on his gang to put an end to this wave of murders.
According to the DEA, the United States anti-drug agency, the Gulf cartel worked with Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels to smuggle drugs into the United States.
According to the agency, 90% of drugs entering the US market come from Colombia and are often mixed with fentanyl, a potent and deadly substance added by Mexican cartels.
In 2021, the United States recorded 108,000 drug overdose deaths, a record.