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Brother of Colombian drug lord pleads guilty in Miami

23 Jan 2009 19:07:16 GMT
Source: Reuters

MIAMI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The brother of jailed Colombian drug kingpin Diego Montoya, head of the Norte del Valle cartel, pleaded guilty on Friday to charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and obstruction of justice, U.S. prosecutors said.

Eugenio Montoya Sanchez was a high-ranking member of the cartel and had primary responsibility for managing its finances, according to U.S. authorities.

He was arrested by Colombian authorities in January 2007 following a shootout and extradited to Florida last June.

U.S. prosecutors said the cartel often kept up to $20 million in cash from drug sales in stash houses maintained and overseen by Montoya Sanchez.

As the cartel's money manager, he used drug proceeds to fund cocaine labs, pay employees including lab workers, drug couriers and security personnel, and invest in real estate and other businesses. In 2003, his role expanded to coordinating cocaine shipments, they said.

Diego Montoya, known as Don Diego or the Boss of Bosses, in Colombia's underworld, was extradited to Florida last month and is awaiting trial. He helped found the Norte del Valle cartel and appeared next to Osama bin Laden on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list.

Sentencing for Eugenio Montoya Sanchez in Miami was scheduled for April 3.

He was the third member of the family convicted in the case. His brother Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez and cousin Carlos Felipe Toro Sanchez both pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges in 2005 and were sentenced to 21 and 19 years in prison respectively. (Reporting by Jim Loney, editing by Alan Elsner)

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