Colombian drug lord described as most violent since Pablo Escobar is jailed for 45 years in New York

[Judi Lynn]

District judge chides kingpin’s lawyers for bringing up his tough childhood by invoking her own experiences of growing up in the South Bronx

Yusra Farzan
Los Angeles
6 hours ago



Police escort Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as Otoniel, at a military airport in Bogota, Colombia, in May 2022

(Colombian Presidential Press Office)

One of the world’s most dangerous drug traffickers — accused of being second only to Pablo Escobar, in his capacity for violence – has been sentenced to 45 years in prison at Brooklyn federal court in New York as Colombian government representatives watched from the gallery.

Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, known as Otoniel, was jailed on Tuesday for charges of conspiracy to ship cocaine into the US by land and sea.

As part of his plea deal, he agreed to forfeit $216m.

Úsuga, 51, was at the helm of the drug cartel Clan de Golfo or Gulf Clan, which also operates as a paramilitary group, for over two decades. The organization uses extreme violence — including murder — to control parts of northern Colombia and are said to have law enforcement in their pocket.

Francisco J Navarro, one of the prosecutors, called Úsuga “the supreme leader” of the Gulf Clan and said his rule was violent and “without mercy.” Other prosecutors described him as “the most violent and significant” drug lord since Escobar, whose Medellin clan terrorised Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s.

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/otoniel-colombian-drug-lord-jailed-b2389908.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombian drug lord 'Otoniel' sentenced to 45 years in prison by US court

By Sofia Cox, Tatiana Arias and Sahar Akbarzai, CNN
Published 8:08 PM EDT, Tue August 8, 2023



Dairo Antonio Úsuga David was captured in Colombia in October 2021 and later extradited to the US.
Colombian National Police Press Office/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
CNN
—
Notorious Colombian drug lord Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, also known as “Otoniel,” was sentenced to 45 years in prison Tuesday “for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise as a leader of the multibillion-dollar paramilitary and drug trafficking organization known as the Clan del Golfo, federal prosecutors announced.

“Otoniel led one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations in the world, where he 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,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The sentence, Garland said, sends a clear message that US officials will “find and hold accountable the leaders of deadly drug trafficking organizations that harm the American people, no matter where they are.”

Úsuga was also sentenced to 45 years for engaging in a maritime narcotics conspiracy and 45 years for engaging in a narcotics importation conspiracy, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a news release. The sentences will run concurrently, the release said. As part of his sentence, he will also have to pay $216 million in forfeiture, prosecutors added.

. . .

“To maintain control over CDG territory, Úsuga David and the CDG employed an army of ‘sicarios,’ or hitmen, who carried out acts of violence, including murders, assaults, kidnappings, torture, and assassinations against competitors and those deemed traitors to the organization, as well as their family members,” the release said.

More:
https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/08/us/otoniel-dairo-antonio-usuga-david-sentence-prison/index.html