Memo Fantasma Freed from Colombian Prison

https://insightcrime.org/news/memo-fantasma-freed-from-colombian-prison/

Colombian Leader Vows To Give $4.9Bln In Drug Cartels' Assets Back To People

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/colombian-leader-vows-to-give-49bln-in-drug-1556572.html

I wonder if Colombians have started to become wholesalers in Europe ... in an anti-drug operation in Italy in the port of Trieste they transported 4 tons of cocaine and sold it wholesale to the 'Ndrangheta and other groups; i thought the 'Ndrangheta bought it in Colombia for 2000 euros for kilos

What are you wondering? Few countries have the climate to grow coca leaves under cover. Who else? Peruvians, etc. Colombians were and are still the biggest and most feared. Everyone else just brokers in cocaine - including Mexicans.

the mexicans buy cocaine mostly on the wholesale market or they buy it directly in Colombia?

Befriending a capo in the Medellin Cartel: How an undercover unit infiltrated the global drug trade

By Peter Walsh for Gangsters Inc.

In the early 1990s, British law enforcement launched a new method of infiltrating the criminal underworld. The Investigation Division of Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise – the UK’s equivalent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration – began to train a small, elite squad of officers to work undercover. In this exclusive book extract from his new and revealing autobiography, The Betrayer, Guy Stanton describes how he met a capo in Colombia’s Medellin Cartel and how they struck up an unlikely friendship.

Entire story: https://gangstersinc.org/blog/befriending-a-capo-in-the-medellin-cartel-how-an-undercover-unit

I think Peru and Bolivia are the biggest coca growing countries, but as far as criminal organizations go it's mostly Colombian criminal organizations with an increased presence of Mexican as well as Brazilian narco groups that operate in those countries. Brazilian groups are also operating from Paraguay these days. As far as drug shipments to Europe go, I think the role of Brazilian gangs is somewhat underestimated. Quite a, lot of cases can be traced back to Brazil. Dominicans too, but the Dominicans are high level brokers. I'd say the Colombians are still the biggest source of cocaine shipments to Europe.

They just freed Miguel Felix. Ain't that some shit.

Yeah, it is! lol

US court sentences Colombian drug kingpin to 35 years

https://www.laprensalatina.com/us-court-sentences-colombian-drug-kingpin-to-35-years/

The accused leader of a prominent Colombian criminal group plans to change his plea in a U.S. drug trafficking case after pleading not guilty last May, records in Brooklyn federal court showed on Friday.

Dairo Antonio Usuga, better known as Otoniel, is scheduled on Jan. 25 for a change-of-plea hearing, which normally signals a forthcoming guilty plea, before U.S. District Judge Dora Irizarry in Brooklyn.

Usuga, as the leader of the Clan del Golfo cartel, had been "one of the most dangerous, most wanted drug kingpins in the world," and smuggled "outrageous" amounts of cocaine into the United States from June 2003 until his arrest.

He faced up to life in prison on those counts, and has been jailed at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Usuga has also been indicted on drug-related charges in Manhattan and Miami. Those cases have been transferred to Brooklyn, and are part of the defendant's change-of-plea hearing, court records show.

All of Colombia's Marijuana is 'Creepy,' Until It Isn't

From Costa Rica to Chile, seizures of Colombian "creepy" marijuana have risen over the past year, but some experts are questioning whether it's the real thing or just a marketing ploy.

https://insightcrime.org/news/all-of-colombias-marijuana-is-creepy-until-it-isnt/

Rafael Moreno was murdered, but not silenced. This is how we finished his stories of Colombian corruption
Laurent Richard

To Moreno’s killers: you were wrong. This week, 32 media outlets around the world are publishing Moreno’s investigations. Killing the journalist won’t kill the story.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...no-journalist-murder-colombia-corruption

Gulf Clan: Colombia suspends ceasefire with drug cartel

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-65013430

La Oficina de Envigado (English: The Office of Envigado) is a drug cartel and criminal organization originally founded as an enforcement wing and debt collection service of Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel.
Despite being noted for its historical affiliation with drug trafficking and other organized crime activities, Oficina de Envigado's criminal activities were no longer centered on direct involvement in such activity by 2019 and are now mainly focused on providing services to lower level drug traffickers and mafia groups.
It operates throughout Colombia, but mainly in the cities of Medellín and Envigado. It also controlled extortion, gambling, and money laundering businesses within the Valle de Aburrá that surrounds Medellín. It positioned itself as the chief mediator and debt collector in drug trafficking disputes and maintained major connections with Colombian paramilitaries and guerillas.
As well as drugs, La Oficina controls a number of casinos and gambling establishments, which it uses to launder money. La Oficina also has links with local authority figures and police officers, some of whom moonlight as assassins, and it has alliances with Los Rastrojos and Los Zetas in Mexico.
In July 2019, Insight Crime stated "today’s Oficina is a coalition of mid-sized criminal organizations that provide services to transnational drug traffickers and other mafia elites, and use alliances with gangs to control territory and criminal activities in Medellín. As such, it is perhaps the most complex example of the Colombian mafia today: a tangled web of service providers and subcontractors involved in everything from money laundering and the international cocaine trade to street level drug sales and micro-extortion.

Bogota, Colombia - Former footballer Diego Leon Osorio, who played for Colombia's national team in the 1990s, has been arrested for drug trafficking for the third time, police said on Friday.

https://www.iol.co.za/sport/soccer/...ust-f8979fb1-3e78-45e1-be03-76d066cf83fc

Salvatore Mancuso Reveals AUC’s Connections in Colombia

https://insightcrime.org/news/param...so-reveals-aucs-connections-in-colombia/

Wiretapping scandal thrusts Colombian government into crisis
Leaked audio messages from a key aide to the Colombian president have raised concerns of irregular campaign financing.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/7/wiretapping-scandal-thrusts-colombian-government-into-crisis

Venezuela’s ex-spy chief extradited from Spain to US to face drug charges
Hugo Carvajal, intelligence leader under Hugo Chávez, accused of providing support to drug trafficking by rebel Farc group

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...rvajal-pollo-extradited-drug-trafficking

Son of Colombian president stole $150K from convicted drug dealer intended to donate to his father campaign, ex-wife claims

Vásquez revealed that Nicolás Petro received about $150,000 from Samuel 'The Marlboro Man' Santander, a former politician who served nearly two decades in a US prison on drug trafficking charges.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...litician-convicted-Washington-court.html

https://torontosun.com/news/crime/colombias-drug-lord-otoniel-sentenced-to-45-years-in-u-s-prison

Colombia’s drug lord Otoniel sentenced to 45 years in U.S. prison

https://insightcrime.org/news/chang...ime-colombia-connect-sentenced-to-prison

Changing Faces: Sinaloa Cartel’s Longtime Colombia-Connect Sentenced to Prison

This was another interesting piece. Thanks for this Ciment.

Sweet deal !

Notorious druglord “Chupeta " was sentenced on August 14 to twenty years in prison for, among other things, large-scale cocaine trafficking. He was a leader of the so-called Norte del Valle cartel in Colombia and later became a witness against Guzmán. Not only was he notorious as the leader of a drug cartel, he also became known for having his face altered by a plastic surgeon several times.

During his career, Chupeta (60) is said to have shipped about 500 tons of cocaine via planes, ships and semi-submarines.

With his knowledge, or at his behest, 150 people are said to have been murdered. He received a reduced sentence because after his arrest he was willing to testify against El Chapo, and against Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, the brother of “El Mayo,” the current leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

He could be released as early as 2024 if his sentence is reduced based on his good behavior. He had been in jail since 2008.

https://www.borderlandbeat.com/2024/01/brother-of-former-colombian-senator.html


Brother of Former Colombian Senator Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Smuggling After Undercover DEA Operation

https://www.barrons.com/news/colombia-ecuador-intercept-narco-subs-in-the-pacific-f4382673

Colombia, Ecuador Intercept Narco-subs In The Pacific

https://bnnbreaking.com/watch-now/c...-cocaine-in-major-santa-marta-operation/

Colombian Police Seize 2.6 Tons of Cocaine in Major Santa Marta Operation

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-gri...ed-murders-journalists-captured-ecuador/

"El Gringo" — alleged drug lord suspected in murders of 3 journalists — captured in Ecuador