Top Colombian drug lord "Don Mario" indicted in U.S.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:15pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Colombia's most-wanted drug lord, a former paramilitary fighter accused of thousands of murders, was charged on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court with drug trafficking and supporting terrorism, U.S. prosecutors said.

Daniel Rendon-Herrera, known by the alias "Don Mario," was charged with conspiring to support the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) rightist paramilitary group, which the U.S. State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization. He also was charged with conspiring to import thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States.

Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin unsealed the grand jury indictment against Rendon-Herrera and five others on Tuesday. If convicted, Rendon-Herrera faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The once-feared cocaine baron was captured last week, with authorities saying he was hiding under a palm tree in the jungles of northern Antioquia province. He is in custody in Colombia.

"The charges against Rendon-Herrera and his capture represent significant steps in the fight against the most dangerous narco-terrorist groups," Dassin said in a statement.

Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, declined comment when asked if U.S. authorities had requested extradition.

Colombian Defense Minster Juan Manuel Santos told reporters at the time of the arrest that Rendon-Herrera, who once offered his gunmen a $1,000 reward for each policeman they killed, is responsible for at least 3,000 murders.

His ruthless style recalled that of Colombia's best-known drug baron, Pablo Escobar, who waged war against the state in the 1980s until he was gunned down by security forces on a Medellin rooftop in 1993.

Rendon-Herrera is the brother of a jailed paramilitary warlord known as "El Aleman," or "The German," a nickname he earned for his reputation of enforcing strict discipline among his troops.

Rendon-Herrera is accused of running cocaine trafficking in the area controlled by his brother in the 1990s, when right-wing paramilitaries battled leftist guerrillas for control of rural Colombia.

The South American country, the world's largest cocaine producer, has become less violent under President Alvaro Uribe, who has used billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to battle the guerrillas and disarm the paramilitaries.

Much of the cocaine is smuggled to the United States through Mexico, where thousands of people have been killed by Mexican cartels that have taken over from Colombian gangs as the dominant drug traffickers in the Americas.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Michelle Nichols)

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I'm out of touch on the drug lords. What happened to the Medellin Cartel?