Leader of now-defunct Cali drug cartel dies in US jail

Source: Associated Press

Leader of now-defunct Colombian drug cartel dies in US jail

By JOSHUA GOODMAN
June 1, 2022

MIAMI (AP) — Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, an elderly leader of the former Cali cartel that smuggled vast amounts of cocaine from Colombia to the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, has died in a U.S. prison, his lawyer said Wednesday.

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.

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“God has a new chess partner,” the lawyer said, referring to Rodríguez Orejuela’s reputation for outsmarting his enemies and rivals, for which he earned the nickname “the chess player.”

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.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/colombia-miami-united-states-obituaries-drug-cartels-5c2f5c34c8d00818432823b6243f7d93


FILE - Colombian drug trafficker Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela leaves the Combita maximum security prison, in Tunja, Colombia, Nov. 7, 2002. Rodriguez Orejuela, who was the leader of the powerful Cali Cartel, died in a United States prison on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, confirmed his defense attorney. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano, File)