In 2020, a judge had denied Rodríguez Orejuela, who was in his 80s, early release on compassionate grounds from a prison in Butner, North Carolina. His attorney, David O. Markus, had said at the time that the former drug kingpin was suffering a range of health problems.
“We were very sad to learn about his passing last night,″ Markus said Wednesday. ″Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.” Rodríguez Orejuela and his brother, Miguel, built a huge criminal enterprise that succeeded the Medellin cartel once run by drug lord Pablo Escobar. Both operations used violence and killings extensively for intimidation and enforcement.
The Rodríguez Orejuela brothers were captured in 1995 and imprisoned in Colombia. At that point, Colombian law prohibited the extradition of its nationals. But under pressure from the U.S, Colombia lifted that ban in 1997. The brothers were found to have been continuing to traffic from prison and criminal charges were filed in Miami and New York. In 2004, Gilberto was extradited; Miguel was extradited the next year.
Ouuuuukay?
Justice delivered!
RIP....
Casper Gomez
The old US makes deals with drug traffickers to expedite drug trafficking in order to fund covert 'interventions' then arrest the same drug traffickers, give them 500 year sentences so they don't talk when they've outlived their usefulness technique. USA
Wonder if this will make it into another storyline for Narcos?