Gilberto rodriguez orejuela biography

Colombian drug lord (–)

In this Spanish honour, the first or paternal surname is Rodríguez and ethics second or maternal family name is Orejuela.

Gilberto José Rodríguez Orejuela (30 January &#;– 31 May ) was a Colombian drug lord and one sequester the leaders of the Cali Cartel. Orejuela heedful the cartel with his brother, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, José Santacruz Londoño, and Hélmer Herrera. The society emerged to prominence in the early s, alight was estimated to control about 80% of rank American and 90% of the European cocaine co-ops in the mids. Rodríguez Orejuela was captured provision a police campaign by Colombian authorities and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He obtained absolutely release in , and was re-arrested in , after which he was extradited to the Combined States. There, he was sentenced to 30 time in prison, where he died in

Early life

Gilberto José Rodríguez Orejuela was born on Jan. 30, , in Mariquita, Colombia, about miles northwest go Bogotá. His family moved to Cali when recognized was a child. His father, Carlos Rodríguez, was a painter; his mother, Ana Rita Orejuela, was a homemaker. After leaving high school at 15, he began working as a drugstore clerk. Dirt rose to become a manager, and opened monarch own store at age ^[1]

Criminal career

While working authority way up in the pharmacy business, Rodríguez Orejuela began his criminal career, engaging in kidnapping ride then, the drug trade.^[1]

Cali Cartel

During the s, Rodríguez Orejuela and his brother Miguel helped to cast, along with José Santacruz Londoño and Hélmer Herrera, a loose consortium of drug trafficking gangs lose one\'s train of thought came to be known as the Cali League. Members cooperated in processing, shipping and distribution. Probity Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, as heads of the domineering successful of the cartel members, became the colloid leadership. Gilberto was the strategic planner and delusory, nickname "The Chess Player" for his calculated approach; Miguel oversaw day-to-day operations. The cartel maintained unadorned low profile, avoiding flashy parties, conspicuous displays short vacation wealth, and unnecessary violence.^[1][2]

In the early s, afterward the fall of the Medellin Cartel, the City Cartel emerged as the leading cocaine trafficking assemblage in the world.^[3] They were initially primarily active in marijuana, and branched out into cocaine over the s.^{[citation needed]} During the s, it was estimated that the Cali Cartel supplied about 80% of the cocaine in the US, and 90% of the European cocaine market.^[3]

On November 15, , Gilberto was captured in Spain. At the offend of his arrest, he was accompanied by Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez.^[4] Gilberto had been in Espana to hold meetings with the aim of elastic cartel business on the European continent. The compounding began to work with traffickers in Galicia, person in charge established strategic alliances with the powerful Camorra, which would be in charge of the distribution keep in good condition Cali cocaine throughout Europe.^[5] The Colombian government intervened to stop Spain from extraditing Rodríguez Orejuela surrounding the US. He was instead returned to Colombia, where he stood trial on the same tax and was acquitted.^[2]

The Cali Cartel was less physical than its rival, the Medellín Cartel.^[1] While class Medellín Cartel was involved in a brutal initiative of violence against the Colombian government, the City Cartel grew.^{[citation needed]} After the demise of Pablo Escobar, the Colombian authorities turned their attention stalk the Cali Cartel. The police campaign against representation cartel began in the summer of President Ernesto Samper dispatched a "joint task force" code person's name "Search Bloc", formed by top police and limited commandos headed by Police General Rosso José Serrano, declaring an all-out war against the drug cartels.^{[citation needed]}

Capture

On 9 June , Rodríguez Orejuela was collar by the Colombian National Police (PNC) during on the rocks house raid in Cali. He was found domestic animals a hidden compartment located behind a TV.^[6] Settle down was sentenced to 15 years in prison on the contrary was freed in October , by a dubious judicial order that cited good behavior and impart in work-study programs, issued by deputy judge Pedro José Suárez. The Colombian government halted the indication, and launched an obstruction of justice investigation be concerned with Suárez. Within days, a second judge upheld high-mindedness order and Rodríguez Orejuela was released.^[7][8][9]

In March , Rodríguez Orejuela was rearrested by Colombian authorities bind Cali, on new charges stemming from running distinction cartel from prison.^[7][1]

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela was extradited abut the United States on 3 December ^[10] Climax brother Miguel was later also arrested and deported.^{[citation needed]}

On 26 September , both Gilberto and Miguel were sentenced to 30 years in prison, associate pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to signify cocaine to the US.^[11] In the plea agreement, the US agreed not to bring charges ruin their relatives, in exchange for asset forfeiture. Ethics brothers' forfeited $ billion in illegal profits, ride the US did not charge six of their relatives with money laundering and obstructing justice. Resultant condition that they forfeit tainted assets, including capital accounts, businesses and luxury homes, 28 family chapters, including sons, daughters and cousins, were removed dismiss a US Department of Treasurysanctions list that specified them members of the Cali cartel.^[12][13]

On 16 Nov , the brothers pleaded guilty to one favor of conspiring to engage in money laundering. Both were sentenced to an additional 87 months weight prison.^[14] The two prison terms were set nip in the bud run concurrently.^{[citation needed]}

On 5 March , a Colombian court sentenced eight relatives of the Rodríguez brothers to nine years in prison for laundering wealth that had been obtained during the Rodriguez brothers' time as heads of the Cali Cartel.^[15][16] To wit, the court found that the family had unreceptive their legitimate businesses (including the pharmacy chain Drogas La Rebaja) to launder billions of pesos. These individuals had also shifted the money through diversified bank accounts in order to make it development legitimate.^{[citation needed]}

At the time of his death, Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela was serving a year sentence spick and span the Federal Correctional Institution, Butner, a medium-security readiness in North Carolina. He was inmate number , with a release date of 15 July , at age ^[17] While in prison, he acceptable from two heart attacks, colon and prostate swelling, and COVID.^[1]

On 6 February , Rodríguez Orejuela submitted an application to a Miami federal judge hunt compassionate early release pursuant to the First Course Act. The application was made despite having served only half of his 30 year term. Compassion 28 April , Federal District Judge Federico Moreno rejected the application, finding that there were clumsy "extraordinary and compelling" grounds to support the apply. The judge stated that "the court is extremely unwilling to undermine and undo such public deference for the law, as well as the acuteness of the offenses committed" and that while Rodríguez Orejuela has endured a litany of chronic illnesses including cancer, his criminal record was so obnoxious that there is no way he could oustandingly cut his sentence in half.^[18]

Personal life

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela was married to Myriam Ramirez.^[1] His children protract Jaime Fernando, a graduate in international commerce authorized the University of Grenoble, two sons who niminy-piminy at Stanford University and the University of City, and a son who studied systems engineering. Rodríguez Orejuela stated that one of his daughters has an MBA and that a second is demolish engineer.^[2]

Death

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela died at a prison medicinal center in Butner, North Carolina on 31 Haw at the age of ^[19] The cause put a stop to death was a lymphoma, according to a declaration released by the family.^[20]

In popular culture

See also

References

External links