U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of
Florida, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New
York and Regional Director Jay Bergman of the Andean Region of the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced today the unsealing of five
indictments in U.S. federal courts in Brooklyn, New York, and Miami charging 17
alleged leaders and associates of Colombia’s largest and most influential
BACRIM (banda criminal or criminal group), Clan Usuga (formerly referred to as
Los Urabeños). The alleged leaders and other
high-ranking members of Clan Usuga are charged with operating continuing
criminal enterprises, participating in international cocaine trafficking
conspiracies and using firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes. Clan Usuga and many of its principal leaders
have been previously designated by the President of the United States and the
Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control as specially
designated narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin
Designation Act. The Department of State
has posted a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or
conviction of alleged Clan Usuga principal leader Dairo Antonio Usuga David,
also known as Otoniel.
“The cases referenced today demonstrate that the U.S.
government, in collaboration with our international law enforcement partners,
continues to successfully combat leaders and associates of BACRIM criminal
enterprises that seek to supply narcotics to the United States,” said U.S.
Attorney Ferrer. “Together, the U.S.
Attorney’s Offices and the Colombian authorities strive to systematically
dismantle one BACRIM structure after another and eliminate the threat they pose
to our communities.”
“The indictments announced today are the result of a
sweeping national and international effort to stem the flow of drugs across the
world and into our communities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Currie. “We stand united with our partners in
Colombia in our unwavering commitment to root out the leaders of drug
trafficking criminal enterprises wherever they may be found.”
U.S. Attorney Ferrer and Acting U.S. Attorney Currie
extended their grateful appreciation to the DEA’s New York Field Division,
Miami Field Division and the Bogotá Country Office as well as the Department of
Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security
Investigations (ICE-HSI) New York El Dorado Task Force and the Colombian
National Police, the agencies responsible for leading the investigations. Mr. Ferrer and Mr. Currie also expressed
their gratitude for the invaluable assistance provided by the Colombian
Fiscalia General and the Department of Justice’s Office of International
Affairs.
“These indictments are the culmination of years of work and
far too often heartfelt sacrifice by the brave men and women of the Colombian
National Police and the Office of the Prosecutor General of Colombia,” said DEA
Regional Director Bergman. “These
indictments represent the United States’ steadfast bilateral commitment to
conclusively dismantle what is the largest and arguably the last of the
nationally structured criminal bands in Colombia.”
“Today’s indictments illustrate our commitment, along with
our international law enforcement partners to disrupt a criminal network
responsible for smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States,” said Country
Attaché Luis Sierra of ICE-HSI in Colombia.
“HSI will continue to use its unique customs authorities to attack and
dismantle these types of organizations and will aggressively pursue leads,
regardless of where that information may lead us.”
Six of the Clan Usuga leaders were charged in both Brooklyn
and Miami. Dairo Antonio Usuga-David aka
“Otoniel,” “Mao,” “Gallo,” and “Mauricio-Gallo,” is alleged to be the principal
leader of CLAN USUGA. Roberto Vargas
Gutierrez aka “Gavilan,” Carlos Alberto Moreno Turberquia aka “Nicolas,”
Aristides Manuel Mesa Paez aka “El Indio,” and Cesar Daniel Anaya Martinez aka
“Tierra,” are alleged commanders of Clan Usuga responsible for collecting drug
taxes, managing armed combatants and maintaining control over specific
territorial areas within Colombia. Also
charged in Brooklyn and Miami is an alleged manager of Clan Usuga, Ramiro Caro
Pineda aka “Nolasco,” who was in charge of collecting drug taxes, coordinating
drug shipments and maintaining control over airstrips and ports on the coast of
Colombia.
The Brooklyn indictments also charge seven other cartel
leaders, including Daniel Rendon-Herrera aka “Don Mario,” the original founder
and prior leader of Clan Usuga; Luis Orlando Padierna Pena aka “Inglaterra,”
and Jobanis de Jesus Avila Villadiego aka “Chiquito” and “Chiquito Malo,”
commanders of Clan Usuga; and Jhoni Alberto Grajales aka “Guajiro,” Orlando
Gutierrez-Rendon aka “Negro Orlando,” Gustavo Palomino Araujo aka “Camilo,” and
Eduard Fernando Cardoza-Giraldo aka “Boliqueso” – alleged leaders of drug
collections offices and paramilitary armed groups aligned with Clan Usuga.
A Miami indictment unsealed today charges Dairo Antonio
Usuga-David aka “Otoniel,” “Mao,” and “Mauricio,” Jairo De Jesus Durango
Restrepo aka “Gua Gua,” Roberto Vargas Gutierrez aka “Gavilan,” Aristides
Manuel Mesa Paez aka “El Indio,” Alverio Feo Alvarado aka “Benevides,” Oscar
David Pulgarin-Ganan aka “Nino” and “Coroso,” Ramiro Caro-Pineda aka “Nolasco” and “Hugo,” Cesar Daniel Anaya
Martinez aka “Tierra,” and Eduardo Luis Vargas Gutierrez aka “Pipon,” with
conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, knowing that it
would be imported into the United States.
Specifically, the defendants are charged with the distribution from as
early as 2002 through June 2015, in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and elsewhere.
According to a previously unsealed superseding indictment
out of Miami, beginning around October 2006 through Feb. 10, 2012, defendants
Henry De Jesus Lopez Londono aka “Mi Sangre,” “Salvador,” “Carlos Mario,”
“Brother,” “Krackin,” and “Federico,” Jhon Fernando Giraldo Usuga aka “Simon,”
and “Revenlino,” Arley Usuga Torres aka “07,” “Siete,” and “Samuel,” Jose
Carlos Londono Robledo aka “Tito” and “Wolverine,” Carlos Antonio Moreno
Tuberquia aka “Nicholas,” Edison Gomez Molina aka “El Doctor,” and Juan Diego
Giraldo Usuga aka “Menor” and “Camilo,” are charged with conspiring to
distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine knowing that it would be imported
into the United States. Gomez Molina,
Giraldo Usuga and Fernando Usuga pleaded guilty to the superseding indictment
on Nov. 26, 2013, March 20, 2014, and May 8, 2014, respectively. According to their stipulated factual
proffers, from at least October 2006 through February 2012, Gomez Molina,
Giraldo Usuga and Fernando Usuga, along with others, used airplanes and other
means of transportation to ship multiple loads of cocaine from Colombia to
Central America. The loads ranged
anywhere from 300 to 600 kilograms each.
From there, the cocaine would be delivered to representatives of other
organizations, who would take the cocaine and ultimately import it into the
United States. Each defendant admitted
that he was responsible for the shipment or attempted shipment of at least 150
kilograms of cocaine and knew that the cocaine would ultimately be imported
into the United States. Gomez Molina was
sentenced to serve 63 months in prison on Feb. 4, 2014. Girlado Usuga was sentenced to serve 63
months in prison on June 9, 2014.
Fernando Usuga was sentenced to serve 168 months in prison on Aug. 29,
2014.
In another Miami indictment, Victor Alfonso Mosquera Perez
aka “Negro,” is charged with conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of
cocaine, knowing that it would be imported into the United States. Specifically, the distribution allegedly
occurred from as early as 2008 until approximately May 9, 2014, in Colombia,
Honduras, Nicaragua and elsewhere.
According to another indictment, Andres Fernandez
Perez-Restrepo aka “Anthrax,” is charged with conspiring to distribute five
kilograms or more of cocaine, knowing that it would imported into the United
States. Specifically, the defendant is
alleged to have committed the distribution from at least as early as July 2012
through March 2, 2014, in Colombia, Honduras and elsewhere.
As detailed in one of the Brooklyn indictments, between June
2003 and December 2014, Usuga-David, Vargas Gutierrez, Moreno Turberquia,
Padierna Pena, Avila Villadiego, Anaya Martinez and others, as leaders of Clan
Usuga, conspired to import more than 73 metric tons of cocaine into the United
States. Clan Usuga coordinated the
production, purchase and transfer of multi-ton shipments of cocaine, as well as
the receipt of shipments of cocaine in Mexico and Central America, for ultimate
importation into the United States. Clan
Usuga also controlled territory in various areas in Colombia and imposed a tax
on any drug traffickers operating in those territories – a set fee for every
kilogram of cocaine that was manufactured, stored or transported through areas
under their control. The indictment
further alleges that these defendants employed sicarios, or hitmen, who carried
out acts of violence including murders, assaults, kidnappings and
assassinations to collect drug debts, maintain discipline, control and expand
drug territory and to promote and enhance the position of the organization.
In a second of the indictments unsealed in Brooklyn, Orlando
Gutierrez-Rendon aka “Negro Orlando,” is charged with leading the
Gutierrez-Rendon drug trafficking organization, a cocaine trafficking and
cocaine-debt collection organization based in Cali, Colombia, that was aligned
with Clan Usuga. According to the
indictment, the Gutierrez-Rendon’s organization was involved in multi-ton
shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, El Salvador and Panama for
ultimate importation into the United States.
The organization is also alleged to have acted as a collection agency,
using violence and murder to collect payments and outstanding debts related to
cocaine shipments on behalf of Clan Usuga.
In exchange for its role in collecting funds, the organization received
ownership interests in the cocaine shipments.
Gutierrez-Rendon is also charged with conspiring to murder rival drug
traffickers, including the murder of Samir Garcia. Between January 2006 and May 2013,
Gutierrez-Rendon allegedly imported more than 30,000 kilograms of cocaine into
the United States.
In a third Brooklyn indictment, Gustavo Palomino Araujo aka
“Soldado,” “Zarco,” and “Camilo,” is charged with leading the Palomino Araujo,
an organization responsible for cocaine trafficking, cocaine-debt collection
and a paramilitary organization based in Cali, Colombia, that was aligned with
Clan Usuga. The organization allegedly
facilitated the transfer of multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia to
Mexico and Central America for importation into the United States, controlled
territory in various areas in Colombia, imposed a tax on any drug traffickers
operating in regions under its control and employed sicarios, or hitmen, to
collect debts. Palomino Araujo is also
charged with conspiring to murder numerous drug rivals.
In the fourth Brooklyn indictment, Eduard Fernando
Cardoza-Giraldo aka “Boliqueso,” is charged with international cocaine
trafficking in connection with his role in controlling a drug debt collection
office aligned with Clan Usuga.
In all, 25 individuals have been charged in the
investigations coordinated between the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in Brooklyn and
Miami. All of the defendants face a
maximum sentence of life in prison, if convicted of the charges against
them. Certain individuals named in
indictments unsealed today have also been charged by other U.S. Attorneys’
Offices around the country. These cases
are the result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement
Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law
enforcement agencies. The OCDETF mission
is to identify, investigate and prosecute high level members of drug
trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique
abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.
The cases in the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern
District of New York are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven L.
Tiscione, Gina M. Parlovecchio and Margaret Lee of the office’s International
Narcotics and Money Laundering Section.
The cases in the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern
District of Florida are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael
Nadler of the office’s Narcotics Section.
An indictment is a formal charging document notifying the
defendant of the charges. All persons
charged in an indictment are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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