Crime & Justice

Ex-Cali Cartel leader Gilberto Rodríguez dies in US prison: Lawyer

Miami, Jun 1 (EFE).- A former leader of the Cali Cartel Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela has died in prison at the age of 83 in the North Carolina prison where he was serving a 30-year sentence for drug trafficking, his lawyer David Oscar Markus confirmed to Efe Wednesday.

The Colombian drug lord died on Tuesday evening, his lawyer added, without going into further detail.

Rodríguez entered the Federal Correctional Institution, Butner, in North Carolina in 2006 following his extradition to the United States to face charges of cocaine trafficking.

A compassionate release request filed in 2020 on the grounds the convict has both colon and prostate cancer was turned down by US authorities.

Gilberto Rodríguez and his brother Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela were two of the founding members of the Cali Cartel in Colombia, which in the 1990s, following the death of Medellin cartel leader Pablo Escobar, took over the lion’s share of the illicit cocaine market coming out of the South American nation. EFE

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