Norte del Valle cartel

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The Norte del Valle Cartel (NDVC) was a Colombian drug cartel from the northern Valle del Cauca . It gained significant importance after the collapse of the Medellín and Cali cartels in the second half of the 1990s. Until it was broken up by US authorities in 2012 , it was led by the two brothers Luis Enrique and Javier Antonio Calle Serna, known as “Los Comba”. At the time of its existence it was hostile to the Medellín cartel and allied with the Mexican Sinaloa cartel . His main criminal activities included the cocaine trade , contract murder, money laundering, arms and human trafficking.

Emergence

The Norte del Valle cartel is believed to have emerged after the arrest of the two leaders of the Cali cartel, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela . The background to this arrest and the official end of the Cali cartel was an agreement with the Colombian government that if the Cali cartel is abandoned, certain members of the cartel will be sentenced to no longer than five years in prison and no expropriations of essential assets will take place. To announce the end of all illegal business activities, a meeting of all senior members of the Cali cartel, their lieutenants, subordinates and business associates, was held. Carlos Alberto Rentería Mantilla, Juan Carlos Ortiz Escobar, Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía , Diego León Montoya Sánchez and Orlando Henao Montoya refused to abandon the Cali cartel and founded their own organization, the Norte del Valle cartel. The organization became so big and powerful that it was called a “mega cartel”.

Known members

  • Orlando Henao Montoya, "El Hombre Del Overol"
  • Fernando Henao Montoya, "El Grillo"
  • Arcángel de Jesús Henao Montoya "El Mocho"
  • Lorena Henao Montoya, "La Viuda De La Mafia"
  • Iván Urdinola Grajales, "El Enano"
  • Efraín Hernández Ramírez, "Don Efra"
  • Víctor Patiño Fómeque, "El Químico" or "La Fiera"
  • Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, "Chupeta"
  • Diego León Montoya Sánchez, "Don Diego"
  • Wilber Alirio Varela Fajardo, "Jabón"
  • Luis Alfonso Ocampo Fómeque, "Tocayo"
  • Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante, "Rasguño"
  • Andrés López López, "Florecita"
  • Carlos Alberto Oviedo Alfaro
  • Colonel Danilo González
  • Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla, "Beto Renteria"
  • Ramón Alberto Quintero Sanclemente, "RQ",
  • Javier Leonardo Hernández, "Canelo" or "Don Carmelo"
  • Miguel Fernando Solano, "Don Miguelito"
  • Juan Carlos Ortiz Escobar, "Cuchilla"
  • Jorge Eliécer Asprilla, "El Negro Asprilla"

activities

The FBI charged Diego Montoya with the illegal trafficking of cocaine, from manufacture to distribution in the United States . Montoya and his Norte del Valle cartel were also accused of exerting massive influence over the activities of left- and right-wing paramilitary organizations in Colombia that have been classified as terrorist groups. The RICO (US Government Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) indictment stated that the Norte del Valle cartel smuggled 500 metric tons of cocaine worth US $ 10 billion from Colombia to Mexico between 1990 and 2004 should have. In addition, the particular brutality and use of force by this organization in achieving its goals was highlighted by specifically eliminating competition, liquidating defaulting payers and eliminating suspected police informants. The interlinking with the AUC was also emphasized. A right-wing paramilitary organization active in some rural areas of Colombia and as the armed arm of the Norte del Valle cartel to protect its activities such as cocaine production and transport. The US State Department counts the AUC, together with the FARC and the ELN, among the 37 terrorist organizations abroad. Leading members of the Norte del Valle cartel allegedly bribed Colombian law enforcement agencies to prevent the extradition of Colombian drug traffickers persecuted for their crimes to the United States. The Norte del Valle carried out wiretaps in Colombia to eavesdrop on communications from rival drug traffickers and law enforcement agencies. For a long time, the NDVC had an excellent international network. It not only maintained business relationships with the Mexican mafia and armed groups in Colombia, but also with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta .

Changes in leadership

The leadership of the Norte del Valle cartel included Orlando Henao alias "El Hombre del Overol", Montìguéz Franco alias "Monty", Diego León Montoya Sánchez, alias "Don Diego", Wilber Varela, alias "Jabón" and Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, aka "Chupeta". Prior to his arrest in 2007, Diego Montoya was one of the FBI's top ten most wanted criminals. In 2003, rivalries broke out within the group. The reason for this was the secret negotiations between Hernando Gómez and Wilber Varela and the DEA about the possible extradition of gang members. Diego Montoya stood firmly against the renegades and ordered their death. After Varela was shot, he in turn started a private war against Montoya. The confrontation with its peak in the years 2003 to 2004 resulted province up to 1,000 murder victims in the northern part of Valle del Cauca. The state felt compelled to intervene and in 2004 arrested around 100 contract killers from both factions. In 2005, Varela's business partner Julio César López, alias "Ojitos", was arrested and a little later, the boss of Montoya's executioners, Carlos José Robayo Escobar, alias "Guacamayo". In 2008 Julio César López was sentenced to 45 years in prison by a New York court. His possessions, valued at over $ 100 million, were confiscated. Among them was a fiberglass submarine used by the Syndicate to smuggle drugs into the United States. Due to the increased search pressure, the remaining members were forced to enter into "deals" with the Colombian law enforcement authorities or with the DEA. For example, they offered to infiltrate the paramilitary organization AUC. In 2007, Montoya was caught. Varela was later murdered in Mérida, Venezuela . After the wave of arrests, smaller successor organizations were organized out of the syndicate. "Los Machos" formed a splinter group from Diego Montoya's bodyguards and "Los Rastrojos" came from the previous organization of Wilber Varela. A brutal power struggle broke out between the two groups, killing 1,000 people and the expulsion of numerous farming families from the strategically important Cañón de Garrapatas. The end of these two organizations was initiated in 2008.

See also

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Norte del Valle Cartel on InsightCrime.org
  2. ↑ United States announces RICO charges against leadership of Colombia's most powerful cocaine cartel. Department of Justice, May 6, 2004
  3. ^ The indictment charges that the Norte Valle Cartel used violence and brutality to further its goals, including the murder of rivals, individuals who failed to pay for cocaine, and associates who were believed to be working as informants.
  4. ^ United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
  5. ↑ Designation of the AUC As a Foreign Terrorist Organization, US State Department Arquive, Secretary Colin L. Powell, September 10, 2001
  6. ↑ Soap
  7. ↑ Lollipops
  8. ↑ FBI Archive, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, Diego Montoya ( Memento from March 15, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Extraditions play role in Colombian drug cartel's internal was on www.cocaine.org
  10. ↑ Ara
  11. ↑ Colombia cartel raid nets $ 100m, BBC News, March 11, 2004
  12. ^ The Drug Enforcement Administration International Operations, 2007
  13. ^ Colombian drugs lord found dead, BBC News, February 1, 2008
  14. ↑ stubble field
  15. ↑ ¿Is it new to the narcos for the control of the Cañón de Garrapatas? El País, January 17, 2017
  16. ↑ The End of a Cocaine Empire, Focus, July 27, 2008