US Judge Sentences Notorious Colombian Drug Lord ‘Otoniel’ to 45 Years in Prison

Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” leader of the violent Clan del Golfo cartel, is presented to the media at a military base in Necocli, Colombia, on Oct. 23, 2021. (Colombian presidential press office via AP)

A notorious Colombian drug lord once branded “more prolific” than Pablo Escobar was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Aug. 8 on multiple charges, including “engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise as a leader of the multibillion-dollar paramilitary and drug trafficking organization,” prosecutors announced.

Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, also known as “Otoniel,” 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry to 45 years behind bars for engaging in a maritime narcotics conspiracy and 45 years imprisonment for engaging in a narcotics importation conspiracy.

The sentences will run concurrently.

Mr. Úsuga David was also ordered to pay $216 million in forfeiture, although the amount is subject to an agreement between the U.S. government and the Colombian government.

He pleaded guilty to all three charges in January.

“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “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.”

According to prosecutors, Mr. Úsuga David, who’s from Colombia, was the leader of the multibillion-dollar paramilitary and drug trafficking organization known as the “Clan del Golfo” (CDG) or Gulf Clan—Colombia’s most powerful gang—between June 2003 and October 2021.

Police escorting Dairo Antonio Úsuga David, in Bogota, Colombia, on May 4, 2022. (Colombian National Police via AP/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Violent Control, Drug Wars

The organization regularly smuggled multiton shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and Central America that would then be imported to the United States, according to prosecutors.

Mr. Úsuga David “participated in conspiracies” to distribute narcotics via maritime vessels and also to “manufacture and distribute cocaine, knowing and intending that the narcotics would be illegally imported into the United States,” prosecutors said.

Mr. Úsuga David was arrested in the jungles of Colombia in 2021 following an extensive operation by Colombian military and law enforcement personnel.

He was extradited last year to face drug trafficking charges in the United States.

According to prosecutors, the CDG has almost 6,000 members, is one of the most violent and powerful criminal organizations in Colombia, and is one of the largest distributors of cocaine in the world.

The clan operates in 13 of Colombia’s 32 departments, most of which are in the northwestern part of the country, controlling cocaine processing laboratories, speedboat departure points, and clandestine landing strips, according to the U.S. State Department.

In order to maintain control over various areas, the organization employs military control, including the use of military-grade weapons, over vast amounts of territory in the Urabá region of Antioquia, Colombia, which has been a hub for drug trade and is one of the most lucrative drug trafficking areas in Colombia because of its proximity to the Colombia–Panama border and the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

The organization has regularly engaged in violent wars with rival drug traffickers, paramilitary organizations, and Colombian law enforcement authorities, officials said.

Irene Gaviria shows an album with pictures of late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar at her home in the Pablo Escobar neighborhood in Medellín, Colombia, on Dec. 2, 2015. Some 22 years after his death, Escobar is still revered by many people. (Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images)

‘More Prolific Than Pablo Escobar’

“The CDG funds its operations primarily through a multi-billion-dollar drug trafficking operation. It imposes a ’tax' on any drug traffickers operating in territory under its control, charging fees for every kilogram of cocaine manufactured, stored, or transported through areas controlled by the organization,” prosecutors said. “The CDG also directly exports cocaine, and coordinates the production, purchase, and transfer of weekly and bi-weekly multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia into Central America and Mexico for ultimate importation to the United States.”

During his time as leader of the organization, Mr. Úsuga David regularly employed hitmen to carry out acts of violence, including murders, assaults, kidnappings, torture, and assassinations against rivals or those deemed traitors to the organization, as well as their family members, according to prosecutors.

He also directed organization members to use violence, intimidation, and murder to prevent law enforcement officials from carrying out their duties and to silence various witnesses, according to prosecutors.

Those killed or assaulted included Colombian law enforcement officers, Colombian military personnel, rival drug traffickers and paramilitaries, potential witnesses, and civilians.

During his sentencing on Aug, 8, Mr. Úsuga David was dubbed “more prolific than Pablo Escobar,” the former Medellín, Columbia, cartel leader who was killed in 1993 in a joint U.S.–Colombia operation, by Judge Irizarry.

He was also previously branded the “most dangerous drug trafficker in the world” by Colombian President Iván Duque.

Still, Mr. Úsuga David apologized for his actions during his sentencing and called on the youth of Colombia to not follow in his footsteps.

“To the people and to the youth of Colombia, I advise them and warn them not to take the path that I have taken,” he said through a Spanish interpreter.