Two Colombian brothers who helped found the infamous Cali cartel have pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, agreed to forfeit billions in assets, and received what could amount to a life sentence.
Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, ages 67 and 63, were each sentenced by a US court yesterday to 30 years in prison.
They were the highest-ranking of more than 300 drug traffickers extradited for trial since the US and Colombia signed a new treaty in 1997.
The brothers also struck a deal with prosecutors to protect six of their relatives in Colombia from prosecution on obstruction and money laundering charges.
Twenty-eight family members will be permitted to keep some assets not tainted by drug money and could be removed from a US Treasury Department list that has kept their property and bank accounts frozen since 1995.
The Cali cartel was known for its ingenious smuggling methods: hiding the drug in such things as hollowed-out lumber, cylinders of chlorine, even shipments of frozen vegetables.
Miguel was known as "The Master" for his inventiveness in finding ways to hide drugs. Gilberto's nickname was "The Chess Player" for his role as the cartel's strategic thinker.
Their family invested in dozens of legitimate businesses around the world, including a Colombian discount drugstore chain with more than 400 stores.
The brothers agreed to forfeit to the $2.1 billion dollars in assets linked to drug trafficking, but the two probably made many times that amount during the cartel's heyday in the 1990s.
The Cali cartel became the world's leading cocaine smuggling ring after eclipsing the rival Medellin cartel, which fell apart when several top members were arrested and its kingpin Pablo Escobar was killed in a 1993 shootout with Colombian police.
Colombia continues to provide 80 per cent of the world's cocaine. Despite record eradication and extradition numbers, the supply continues to be robust, and the traffickers are said to include right-wing paramilitary chiefs and leftist rebels.
AP