A man known as the world’s “most dangerous drug trafficker” was sentenced to 45 years in U.S. prison Tuesday.
For years, the notorious drug lord Dairo Antonio Úsuga exerted control over the Gulf Clan, a ruthless cartel and paramilitary group that dominates Colombia, according to CBS News.
Dairo Antonio Úsuga ordered killings of perceived enemies – one of whom was tortured, buried alive and beheaded – and terrorized the public at large, prosecutors say. https://t.co/u0fEozvuex
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 8, 2023
Colombian President Iván Duque in 2022 likened the 51-year-old drug lord, commonly known as “Otoniel,” to Pablo Escobar, notorious for leading the Medellin drug cartel before he died in 1993. Duque further said Úsaga is a “murderer of social leaders, abuser of boys, girls and adolescents, a murderer of policemen.”
Úsaga confessed to charges of high-level drug trafficking in January, acknowledging his involvement in extensive smuggling of cocaine into the U.S., CBS reported. The infamous kingpin also recognized the violence associated with “the guerillas and the criminal gangs” under his control. (RELATED: DOJ Announces Crackdown On Alleged Members of DC Drug Trafficking Gang)
“I apologize to the governments of the United States and of Colombia and to the victims of the crimes that I have committed,” Úsaga said via a court interpreter, according to the outlet.
Defense attorneys portrayed the drug lord as merely a product of his environment, CBS continued. Úsaga told the court he had “been born into a region of great conflict” and that he “grew up within this conflict.” Still, U.S. District Judge Dora Irizarry dismissed environmental factors as a valid justification for such crimes, emphasizing Úsaga’s personal agency.
TOPSHOT – A picture of Colombian drug lord Dairo Antonio Usuga, aka Otoniel, is displayed on a screedn as Eastern District of New York Attorney Breon Peace (out of frame) speaks during a press conference about his extradition in New York City on May 5, 2022. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
“Otoniel” forged alliances with an array of Colombian factions and combatants, including the Gulf Clan, in a bid to dominate crucial smuggling routes, according to CBS.
Attorney General Merrick Garland characterized Úsaga as helming an expansive cocaine trafficking network while “order[ing] the ruthless execution of Colombian law enforcement, military officials, and civilians,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.
Úsaga had been under U.S. indictment since 2009 and remained Colombia’s most-wanted criminal up until his 2021 arrest, according to CBS. The U.S. ultimately waived a life sentence for Úsaga to secure his extradition from Colombia.