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Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2004
Contact:
Elizabeth Jordan
Drug Enforcement Administration
(212) 337-2906
Indictments
Charging Leaders of the Norte Valle
Colombian Drug Cartel Unsealed
MAY
6 - ANTHONY P. PLACIDO, Special Agent-in-Charge,
Drug Enforcement Administration, New York and ROSLYNN R.
MAUSKOPF, United States Attorney for the Eastern District
of New York, announced today the unsealing of two indictments in
New York charging LUIS HERNANDO GOMEZ BUSTAMANTE, ARCANGEL DE JESUS
HENOA MONTOYA and WILMER VARELA, leaders of the notorious Norte Valle
Cartel (the “NVC”) in Colombia, with drug trafficking
and money laundering. Earlier today, Attorney General JOHN
ASHCROFT announced the filing of a national indictment in
Washington, D.C., identifying the NVC as a racketeering enterprise
and charging nine defendants, including BUSTAMANTE, HENAO MONTOYA
and VARELA, with violations of the RICO statute.
ANTHONY
P. PLACIDO, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent-in-Charge,
stated, “The indictments today demonstrate the powerful reach
of federal, state and local law enforcement beyond national borders.
Through the sharing of intelligence both domestically and internationally
the DEA continues with its law enforcement partners in this investigation
to ultimately decimate this drug trafficking organization at its
highest level.”
The New York indictment
targets the massive influx of drugs to the United States, and, in particular,
the New York metropolitan area. The national RICO indictment, in which
the Eastern District of New York is a participant, targets the corruption
and violence originating in Colombia that permitted the flow of these
drugs into the United States. Together, the Department of Justice and
the United States Attorneys’ Offices in Brooklyn, Miami and Manhattan
are bringing all of their resources and efforts to bear on disrupting
the flow of narcotics into the United States.
The first New York
indictment charges BUSTAMANTE with operating a Continuing Criminal
Enterprise in connection with his role as one of the leaders of the
NVC, a violent international cocaine organization headquartered in
the Northern Valle del Cauca region, near Colombia’s west coast.
This indictment also charges co- defendant HENAO MONTOYA with drug
trafficking and money laundering. The charges against HENAO MONTOYA
were unsealed on January 14, 2004 after he was expelled from Panama
to the United States. The second New York indictment, also unsealed
today, charges VARELA, a leader of the NVC responsible for the cartel’s
security and enforcement, with drug trafficking. BUSTAMANTE and VARELA
are fugitives in Colombia.
The two New York
indictments are the product of a long term investigation conducted
by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District
of New York (“EDNY”), United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (“ICE”) New York and Bogota offices, the Internal
Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the Drug Enforcement Administration
(“DEA”) New York, Miami, Panama and Bogota offices.
As described in
the indictments, the NVC is Colombia’s largest and most feared
narcotics organization. Between 1990 and the present, the NVC was responsible
for the exportation into the United States of more than 1.2 million
pounds of cocaine with a wholesale value exceeding $10 billion. The
NVC currently is responsible for the exportation of between 30% and
50% of the cocaine that enters the United States. The cartel uses violence
and brutality to further its goals; cartel members and associates routinely
murder individuals who fail to pay for drugs or whose loyalty is suspect.
In the mid-1990s,
the El Dorado Task Force, an ICE/IRS Task Force dedicated to investigating
drug money laundering, commenced an investigation into storefront money
remitter businesses in Queens, New York. Three of those businesses
were owned by Juan Alberto Monsalve, who was the cartel’s principal
drug distributor in the New York area and was directly responsible
for distributing thousands of kilos of cocaine in the New York metropolitan
area, laundering more than $70 million of drug proceeds, and ordering
multiple homicides. Monsalve pled guilty to drug trafficking and murder,
and on May 3, 2002 was sentenced by the Honorable Joanna Seybert to
a term of life imprisonment. The investigation of Monsalve and related
cases revealed the structure of the NVC and directly led to the charges
announced today in New York.
If convicted, BUSTAMANTE
and HENAO MONTOYA face a maximum sentence of life in prison. If convicted,
VARELA faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
The government’s
case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys
Bonnie S. Klapper, Carolyn Pokorny, Wayne L. Baker, Scott Klugman and Richard
Lunger.
The Defendants
Name: ARCANGEL DE JESUS HENAO MONTOYA
DOB: 10/7/54
Residence: Incarcerated
Name: LUIS HERNANDO
GOMEZ BUSTAMANTE
DOB: 3/14/58
Residence: Cartago, Colombia
Name: WILMER VARELA
DOB: 11/6/57
Residence: Cartago, Colombia
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