User:SevenOfDiamonds/NVCartel

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  • Lorena Henao Montoya
  1. Arrested in Feb. 2000
  2. Widow of confessed trafficker Ivan Urdinola Grajales
  3. Papers found in her arrest show financial links of her and Grupo Grajales companies, including Grajales S.A. (fruit cultivation), Casa Grajales S.A. (winery), Frexco S.A. (fruit processing and exports) and Hotel Los Vinedos (La Union, Valle, Colombia)
  4. Documents in arrest show bribery of officials involved in assest forfeiture cases against her
  5. Pleaded guilty and serving in Colombia


  • Beto Renteria "Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla"
  1. Named as leader of Norte del Valle in RICO
  2. financial interest in Grupo Grajales
  3. financial front man: Mauricio Pardo Ojeda
    1. Mauricio involved in holding company that operates Case Estrella
  4. Beto Wife, Maria Nury Caicdeo Gallego, involved in Salome Grajales y Cia Ltda.
  5. Salome is named after Raul Grajales Lemos sister
  6. Casa Estrelle department store was once Casa Grajales, part of Grupo Grajales
  7. documented trafficker since 1970's
  8. Two indictments - federal
  9. 2004 DC district court with RICO
  10. 1994 South district florida with conspiracy to import, possess and distribute cocaine
  11. 5 Mil reward
  12. Designated SDNT in 3/17/05


  • Ivan Urdinola
  1. With brother head major drug trafficking org associated with Northern Valle del Cauca drug mafia (1)
  2. related by marriage to Henao Montoya family (1)
  3. Arrested in 1992 by CNP (1)
  4. Brother surrendered in 94, Fabio (1)


  • Arcangel de jesus + Jose Orlando
  1. run traffick ops out of Northern Valle del Cauca region (1)
  2. most powerful of inde groups of the north valle mafia (1) (11)
  3. Montoya group closely linked to Carlos Castano para group (1)


  • Diego Montoya Sanchez
  1. heads North Calle traffick op, running cocaine base Peru -> Colombia (1)
  2. produces multi-ton cocaine HCI for export to US/Eur (1)
  3. DEA says most significant trafficker today in Colombia (1)
  • Juan Calos Ramirez Abadia
  1. 3/96 surrendered (1)
  2. fear for personal safety (1)
  3. lenient prison sentence (1)
  • Julio Cesar Nasser David
  1. poly drug traffick and money launder org (1)
  2. based at colombia north coast (1)
  3. multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana to us via commercial shipments and maritime vessels (1)
  4. 94 DEA+swiss authorities arrested wife and seized over 180 mil in drug proceeds in secret swiss accounts (1)
  5. kingpin of North Valle (3)
  • Alberto Orlando Gamboa "Caracal"
  1. most powerful drug traffick org on North Coast (1) (8) (10)
  2. maritime and air routes to DR, Haiti, PR and other carib islands -> US, multi-ton (1) (8) (10)
  3. cocaine + mari (1)
  4. been charged with murder and kidnaping in between 1990-1999 in Colombia(4)(5) (8)
  5. Led dozen large scale traffickers in Barranquilla Colombia(4)8
  6. Extradicted in August 2000(4)(8)
  7. Used airplanes, speedboats, and ocean-going cargo ships(4)5
  8. Route Colombia -> Venezuela North Coast -> Carib -> PR -> US(4)
  9. Direct from South America by concealing that cocaine in the walls and doors of shipping containers(4)(5)
  10. Laundered by buying money orders, which were then shipped by overnight delivery to locations in the United States and Colombia(4)5
  11. purchasing properties, businesses, using black market currency exchanges(4)(5)
  12. shipped bulk quantities of United States currency to South America(4)5
  13. in May 1998, the United States Customs Service seized over $11 million in cash belonging to GAMBOA in hollowed-out truck transmissions packed in a shipping container and destined for Venezuela from Port Elizabeth, New Jersey.(4)(5)
  14. extradited August 18, 2000(4)(5)
  15. signed with his name and a thumbprint and published by Cambio Magazine, a Colombian weekly Yes, it is true that I was a drug trafficker and yes, among drug traffickers there are lords, as I know there are. I consider myself among the first ten. news magazine: “Declaration to My Colombian People,”(4)(5)
  16. MARCH 13, 2003 plead guilty(5)(8)
  17. smuggled more than 100,000 pounds of cocaine worth over a billion dollars to the United States and third countries.(5)
  18. transported much of that cocaine from PR to the New York City metropolitan area and Philadelphia in commercial airline and maritime cargo.(5)
    • SEIZURES
    1. 459 kilograms of cocaine concealed inside a shipping container of detergent, seized by the U.S. Customs Service at Port Newark, New Jersey, on February 1, 1996;(5)
    2. 539 kilograms of cocaine concealed inside a container of avocados, seized by the U.S. Customs Service at Port Newark, New Jersey on February 2, 1996;(5)
    3. 564 kilograms of cocaine located in and near a stash apartment used by GAMBOA’s organization, seized by the Yonkers Police Department in Yonkers, New York, on September 20, 1996;(5)
    4. 530 kilograms of cocaine located in a stash house used by GAMBOA’s organization, seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) in Rio Piedra, Puerto Rico, on November 21, 1996;(5)
    5. 120 kilograms of cocaine seized from a member of one of GAMBOA’s transportation groups in San Juan, Puerto Rico, by the DEA on November 21, 1996;(5)
    6. 245 kilograms of cocaine seized in a penthouse apartment used by GAMBOA’s organization in Miami Beach, Florida, by the DEA on November 21, 1996;(5)
    7. 322 kilograms of cocaine located in a stash house used by GAMBOA’s organization in Queens, New York, seized by the DEA on November 21, 1996;(5)
    8. 233 kilograms of cocaine concealed inside a container of corn oil, seized by the United States Customs Service in Newark, New Jersey, on November 29, 1996;(5)
    9. 95 kilograms of cocaine concealed in commercial airline passenger luggage seized at the airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the DEA on April 21, 1998; and(5)
    10. 25 kilograms of cocaine seized from a member of one of GAMBOA’s transportation groups in the vicinity of 34th Street in Manhattan, by members of a joint NYPD/DEA Task Force on April 21, 1998.(5)
    11. Approximately $715,232 in U.S. currency seized from co-conspirators in Lodi, New Jersey, on June 8, 1998;(5)
    12. Approximately $600,839 in money orders seized from an apartment in the Bronx, New York, on December 10, 1998;(5)
    13. Approximately $378,344 in U.S. currency seized from an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, on January 16, 1999;(5)
    14. Approximately $956,380 in U.S. currency seized from a home in Miami Lakes, Florida, on January 16, 1999(5)
  1. DEA says "the most powerful and ruthless of the Colombian North Coast traffickers" (7)
  2. aka Chiriqui(6)
  3. for conspiracy to import cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963, importation of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(1)(B), and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of narcotics trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(6)
  4. Colombia specified that he was extradited “exclusively, for acts committed subsequent to December 16, 1997” and could not be “tried or condemned for prior additional act[s]”(6)
  5. Operation Wire Cutter began in Sept. 1999 when U.S. Customs Service agents of the multi-agency "El Dorado" Task Force in New York developed information about two suspected money brokers, Hermes Torres and Norberto Romero Garavito. These individuals were believed to be laundering money for the Alberto Orlandez Gamboa, a.k.a. "Caracol" drug cartel on Colombia's North Coast and several other cartels in Colombia. (9)


  • Alberto Orlando-Gamboa, who is closely associated with the Urdinola-Grajales family and other major Colombian North Coast traffickers, controls his organization from Colombia and is responsible for the distribution of thousands of kilograms of cocaine in New York and New Jersey. Using multiple transportation groups to smuggle cocaine into Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Orlandez-Gamboa conceals cocaine inside shipping containers of fruits and vegetables being shipped to ports in the United States. In March, 1997, principal members of this organization were arrested. Over 600 kilograms of cocaine and $3 million in assets have been seized from Gamboa's cell managers in Puerto Rico.
  • [3]


  • Gabriel Puerta Parra
  1. North Valle leaders (2)
  2. two federal criminal indictments in the United States (2)
  3. DC district court (2)
  4. south district florida (2)
  5. both RICO and conspiracy to import possess and distribute cocaine (2)
  6. 10/7/04 arrested by CNP near Bogota (2)
  7. Resolves disputes between cartels (2)
  8. considered stateman (2)


  • Luis Antonio Hernandez Zea
  1. North Valle leaders (2)


  • Pacho Helmer Herrera Buitrago
  1. aka h7 (11)
  2. surrendered 9/1/96 (11) (12) (14)
  3. at Bloque de Bosqueda police base in Cali (12)
  4. known to launder most sophisticated and profitable money laundering op from NY (11) (14)
  5. Herrera entire known org = 57 ppl - 21 business (11)
  6. 4th major cali kingpin (11)
  7. Last cali captured (12) (14)
  8. 1983 went to cali and negotiated arrangement with Cali founders over supply and dist rights in NYC (12)
  9. helped open mexico for cartel through connections (12)
  10. Made a board of director of cali cartel (12)
  11. pacho controlled south cali city Jamundi and north cali cities Palmira and Yumbo (12)
  12. died november 1998? (12)
  13. target of assassination at a soccer game by Escobar. 19 killed when assassin opened fire on crowd. in response cali kille Gustavo Gaviria, escobars' cousin (13)
  14. started his criminal career selling relatively small amounts of cocaine in New York where he was arrested in 1975 and later in 1979 (14)
  15. cocaine base from both Peru and Bolivia and an excellent transportation organization which delivers cocaine base to numerous conversion laboratories in Colombia (14)
  16. DEA Intelligence reports M-19 and FARC protect remote lab sites (14)
  17. Born Aug 24, 1951; alt. DOB Jul 5, 1951 (15)


  • Jose Santacruz Londono
  1. arrested 7/4/95 (11)
  2. arrested in Bogota (11)
  3. Chepe, Don Chepe, El Gordo Chepe, The Fat Man, 07(11)
  4. 3rd ranking of the four kingpins(11)
  5. imprisoned in La Picota prison until escape in 1/96(11)
  6. escape aided by own jailers(11)
  7. killed in shoot out with CNP(11)
  8. money launder expert(11)
  9. most violent(11)
  10. centers in New York, Miami, LA, San Fran, Houston, Las Vegas and Chicago(11)


  • Intercontinental de Aviacion S.A. is a small, regional Colombian airline that has facilitated the North Valle cartel's drug trafficking and money laundering activities since the late 1980s. The network also includes two key offshore companies, Largo Leasing Limited in the Cayman Islands and Trans Pacific World Leasing Limited in Vanuatu, which are incorporated by and directly support Intercontinental de Aviacion. The other front companies announced today include a mining company, Industrial Minera y Pecuaria S.A., two financial investment firms, Accirent S.A., and Comercializadora Andino Brasilera S.A., a civil engineering firm, Inversiones y Comercializadora Incom Ltda., an airline finance company, Intercontinental de Financiacion Aerea S.A., an aircraft parts supplier, Aerocomercial Alas de Colombia Ltda., a travel services provider, Asociacion Turistica Internacional S.C.S., and a hotel management company, Cia. Constructora y Comercializadora del Sur Ltda., all of which are located in Columbia. (2)


  • Sources
  1. http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/cngrtest/ct970716.htm
  2. http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2031.htm
  3. http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/ls844.htm
  4. http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:hoVkqkvuY1YJ:www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/May05/gamboasentencingpr.pdf+site:*.gov+Gamboa+caracol&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
  5. http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:zbvMAEoHJFQJ:www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/March03/gamboaplea.pdf+site:*.gov+Gamboa+caracol&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
  6. http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:XK3qjc3tdDEJ:www.ca2.uscourts.gov:8080/isysnative/RDpcT3BpbnNcU1VNXDA1LTI3NzctY3Jfc28ucGRm/05-2777-cr_so.pdf+site:*.gov+Gamboa+caracol&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
  7. http://www.dea.gov/pubs/cngrtest/ct032599.htm
  8. http://www.dea.gov/pubs/history/1999-2003.html
  9. http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:zv57eTCSCKgJ:www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/archives/legacy/2002/12002/01162002_3.xml+site:*.gov+Gamboa+caracol&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us
  10. National Drug Control Policy: Interdiction Efforts in FL & the Caribbean: One Hundred Fifth Congress edited by J. Dennis Hastert July 17 1997
  11. Transnational Criminal Organizations, Cybercrime, and Money Laundering: A Handbook for Law Enforcement Officers, Auditors, and Financial Investigators By James R. Richards - October 20, 1998 - CRC Publishers - p21,20
  12. The Bullet Or the Bribe: Taking Down Colombia's Cali Drug Cartel By Ron Chepesiuk - Praeger Publishers - October 30, 2003 - p238, 25, 67
  13. Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography By Dominic Streatfeild - Picador Publishing - July 1, 2003 - p360,
  14. http://www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr960904.htm
  15. http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:7l48q7Fl7PkJ:www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/narco/drugs.pdf+site:*.gov+pacho+herrera&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=19&gl=us