Norte del Valle Cartel
The drug cartel was led by the brothers Luis Enrique and Javier Antonio Calle Serna, alias "Los Comba", until its takedown in 2008 by the authorities of Colombia and Venezuela, with cooperation of the United States DEA.
[citation needed] Its members were José Orlando Henao Montoya alias El Hombre del Overol (The Overall Man), Colonel Danilo Gonzalez, Ivan Urdinola Grajales Alias El Enano (The Dwarf) Efrain Hernandez Ramirez Don Efra (Mr. Efra), Andres Lopez Lopez Florecita (Floweret); Arcangel de Jesus Henao Montoya El Mocho, middle brother of Orlando Henao, Lorena Henao Montoya La Viuda De La Mafia (The Mafia Widow) sister of Orlando Henao, Wilber Alirio Varela Fajardo, Jabón [or Cabo](Soap), Diego León Montoya Sanchez Don Diego (Mr. Diego), Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia Chupeta (Lollipop), C.N.G.P "El Piloto" Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante Rasguño (Scratch), Victor Patiño Fomeque El Quimico (The Chemist) or La Fiera (The Beast).
Ex member of Cali Cartel, Luis Alfonso Ocampo Fomeque Tocayo (Namesake) half brother of Victor Patiño, Carlos Alberto Renteria Mantilla Beto Renteria, Ramon Alberto Quintero Sanclemente RQ, Miguel Fernando Solano Don Miguelito (Mr. Miguelito) Juan Carlos Ortiz Escobar Cuchilla (Blade) and Jorge Eliecer Asprilla El Negro Asprilla, Peter Belt (Pedro Bacos).
According to Diego Montoya's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) profile, the U.S. government accuses him of being involved in the willing production and distribution of multiple tons of cocaine into the United States.
[2] According to a 2004 U.S. government Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) indictment, between 1990 and 2004, the Norte del Valle cartel exported more than 1.2 million pounds – or 500 metric tons – of cocaine worth in excess of $10 billion from Colombia to Mexico and ultimately to the United States for resale.
The indictment charges that the Norte del 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.
According to the indictment, members of the Norte del Valle cartel even conducted their own wiretaps in Colombia to intercept the communications of rival drug traffickers and Colombian and United States law enforcement officials.
This situation led to brutal gang warfare, which left a deathtoll of more than 1,000 people between 2003 and 2004 throughout different northern locations of the Valle del Cauca department.
The consequences of such an internal vendetta led Colombian authorities to intervene in order to increase law enforcement efforts against the cartel, which resulted in the 2004 arrest of some 100 assassins in the employ of both rival factions, and in the 2005 capture of Varela's close associate Julio César López (alias "Ojitos", or "Small Eyes"), and Montoya's chief hatchetman, Carlos José Robayo Escobar (alias "Guacamayo", or "Macaw"), among others.
More than $100 million worth in properties and luxury assets was also seized, along with an almost complete fiberglass narco-submarine that would have been built by the cartel in order to smuggle drugs into the United States and other foreign countries.
Juan Carlos was arrested in December 2003 in Colombia and extradited to the United States two years later on May 4, 2005, where he was sentenced to 262 months in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Jose Dagoberto, who was the top lieutenant to Arcángel Henao Montoya, was arrested in January 2004 in Colombia and later extradited to the United States where he is in custody in New York.
José Aldemar operated as a financial officer within the Norte del Valle Cartel, responsible for the launder of its illegal proceeds.
[14] The following month brought the capture of Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga, alias "Alberto", another high-ranking lieutenant to Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante on October 31, 2006, in a shopping mall in Spain.
Bustamante reportedly offered to cooperate with U.S. authorities in exchange for protection after receiving numerous death threats while in Colombian custody.
[18][19][20][21][22] February led to the capture of Laureano Rentería, Alessandro Racca Caiado [El Piloto] of Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía.
He tried convincing authorities he was a simple construction worker hired to remodel the house and accepted a plea deal to 44 months in prison.
Laureano Renteria was responsible for managing Ramírez's financial structure including the stash house logistics and bribing of high Colombian government officials.
On September 7, 2006, Colombian police seized 65 Restrepo properties in the cities of Bogota, Cali and no state of Tolima valued at more than US$25 million.
[23] The month following the capture of Juan Carlos Ramirez-Abadia, incidentally "Chupeta", one of the main masters of Cartel Norte del Valle.
[24] The Colombian and US governments were targeting Wilber Varela, believing he would try to take over Montoya's business as well and possibly start another war with the emerging leaders.
[25] Colombian authorities believe he was murdered by his own men on orders of jailed paramilitary drug lord Carlos Mario Jimenez alias "Macaco" to end Varela's power struggle in the rival city Medellin and surrounding areas in Antioquia.
Ramón Quintero Sanclemente (alias "RQ" or "Lucas"), an old guard high-ranking member of the cartel, was arrested in Quito (Ecuador) and immediately deported to Colombia.
[30] On November 21, 2012, South Florida judge William P. Dimitrouleas sentenced Quintero to 210 months (17 years) in federal prison on charges of conspiring to import cocaine to the United States.
[citation needed] As a preventive initiative, the Colombian government has issued arrest warrants for all these men before they can organize and restructure the cartel.
[citation needed] The fourth possible candidate was 39-year-old Gildardo Rodriguez Herrera alias "El Señor de la Camisa" ("The Man of the Shirt").
Under Jimenez's conditions, the Varela organization was to leave any interests in Medellin and Antioquia and share power between Henao and the Calle brothers.
[citation needed] Gilmer Humberto Quintero was found dead inside a police station bathroom with a shot in the head.
[citation needed] After Laureano Renteria's mysterious murder in his jail cell and the capture of Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía in Brazil,[34] authorities identified Aldemar Rojas Mosquera[35] as the most likely inheritor of Ramirez's organization.
