Posted By: NYMafia
500 Keys...14 years! - 04/11/24 07:46 PM
Extradited Colombian National Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison For Conspiring To Import Cocaine Into The United States
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that LIBIA AMANDA PALACIO MENA was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S. PALACIO MENA pled guilty on December 21, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman, who imposed today’s sentence.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Libia Amanda Palacio Mena's sentence marks a significant blow to drug trafficking networks, demonstrating our steadfast commitment to dismantling criminal enterprises. Through the collaborative efforts of law enforcement, this Office and our partners uncovered the complex network Palacio Mena and others orchestrated alongside FARC operatives and other violent drug trafficking organizations. This outcome underscores that those who conspire to flood our streets with narcotics will face stiff consequences for their actions.”
According to court documents and statements made during court proceedings:[1]
PALACIO MENA conspired with her co-defendants and other individuals associated with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (“FARC”) — a violent organization based in Colombia that was dedicated to the overthrow of the Colombian government and responsible for the production and distribution of the majority of the cocaine that eventually reached the U.S. — to source and distribute tons of cocaine destined for the U.S. PALACIO MENA negotiated with individuals she believed to be narcotics traffickers from a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization (the “Mexican DTO”) seeking to establish a cocaine supply line from Venezuela to the U.S. These individuals, however, were actually confidential sources working at the direction of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (the “DEA”).
In dozens of communications recorded during the investigation, PALACIO MENA presented herself to the Mexican DTO as a broker for large cocaine and weapons transactions. PALACIO MENA touted her connections to, among others, Colombian political leaders, the FARC, and the Cartel of the Suns — a group of high-ranking Venezuelan officials who abused the Venezuelan people and corrupted the legitimate institutions of Venezuela to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into the U.S. in partnership with the FARC. After exploring working with various drug traffickers and introducing the confidential sources to several possible partners for sourcing and transporting cocaine, PALACIO MENA ultimately introduced the confidential sources to one of her co-defendants, who agreed to use his political and logistics connections in Colombia to assist the venture.
In December 2021, to prove their bona fides and establish the quality of their supply, PALACIO MENA sold the confidential sources a five-kilogram sample of extremely pure cocaine from a FARC-associated farm outside of Medellín. PALACIO MENA was arrested in Colombia in February 2022, in the midst of negotiating a much larger partnership with the Mexican DTO, which they envisioned entailing the shipment of approximately 500 kilograms of cocaine per week.
* * *
In addition to the prison term, PALACIO MENA, 50, of Medellín, Colombia, was sentenced to four years of supervised release.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit and Bogota Country Office, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Judicial Attaché’s Office in Bogota.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
This case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas S. Bradley, Kaylan E. Lasky, and Kevin T. Sullivan are in charge of the prosecution.
[1] Communications, conversations, and statements discussed and quoted herein are described in substance and in part, and many of these conversations occurred in Spanish.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that LIBIA AMANDA PALACIO MENA was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S. PALACIO MENA pled guilty on December 21, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman, who imposed today’s sentence.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Libia Amanda Palacio Mena's sentence marks a significant blow to drug trafficking networks, demonstrating our steadfast commitment to dismantling criminal enterprises. Through the collaborative efforts of law enforcement, this Office and our partners uncovered the complex network Palacio Mena and others orchestrated alongside FARC operatives and other violent drug trafficking organizations. This outcome underscores that those who conspire to flood our streets with narcotics will face stiff consequences for their actions.”
According to court documents and statements made during court proceedings:[1]
PALACIO MENA conspired with her co-defendants and other individuals associated with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (“FARC”) — a violent organization based in Colombia that was dedicated to the overthrow of the Colombian government and responsible for the production and distribution of the majority of the cocaine that eventually reached the U.S. — to source and distribute tons of cocaine destined for the U.S. PALACIO MENA negotiated with individuals she believed to be narcotics traffickers from a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization (the “Mexican DTO”) seeking to establish a cocaine supply line from Venezuela to the U.S. These individuals, however, were actually confidential sources working at the direction of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (the “DEA”).
In dozens of communications recorded during the investigation, PALACIO MENA presented herself to the Mexican DTO as a broker for large cocaine and weapons transactions. PALACIO MENA touted her connections to, among others, Colombian political leaders, the FARC, and the Cartel of the Suns — a group of high-ranking Venezuelan officials who abused the Venezuelan people and corrupted the legitimate institutions of Venezuela to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into the U.S. in partnership with the FARC. After exploring working with various drug traffickers and introducing the confidential sources to several possible partners for sourcing and transporting cocaine, PALACIO MENA ultimately introduced the confidential sources to one of her co-defendants, who agreed to use his political and logistics connections in Colombia to assist the venture.
In December 2021, to prove their bona fides and establish the quality of their supply, PALACIO MENA sold the confidential sources a five-kilogram sample of extremely pure cocaine from a FARC-associated farm outside of Medellín. PALACIO MENA was arrested in Colombia in February 2022, in the midst of negotiating a much larger partnership with the Mexican DTO, which they envisioned entailing the shipment of approximately 500 kilograms of cocaine per week.
* * *
In addition to the prison term, PALACIO MENA, 50, of Medellín, Colombia, was sentenced to four years of supervised release.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit and Bogota Country Office, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Judicial Attaché’s Office in Bogota.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
This case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas S. Bradley, Kaylan E. Lasky, and Kevin T. Sullivan are in charge of the prosecution.
[1] Communications, conversations, and statements discussed and quoted herein are described in substance and in part, and many of these conversations occurred in Spanish.