Alleged Drug Kingpin Arrested In Brazil

Leader Of Colombia's Biggest Drug Cartel Faces Three U.S. Federal Indictments

(AP)  A top leader of Colombia's biggest cocaine cartel was captured Tuesday in South America's largest city after a two-year investigation into traffickers accused of sending tons of the drug to the United States and Europe.

Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, who faces three U.S. federal indictments on drug and racketeering charges, was arrested just after dawn at a house in a gated community on Sao Paulo's outskirts. U.S. officials said they would seek his extradition.

The raid was aimed at breaking up a ring that laundered drug profits in Brazil, the nation's federal police said.

Ramirez Abadia — nicknamed "chupeta," or "lollypop" in Colombian Spanish — is accused of shipping cocaine since the 1990s and ordering the murders of police and informants in the United States and Colombia.

Brazilian authorities did not immediately say if he would be sent to the United States or face charges in Brazil.

Ramirez Abadia, who had plastic surgery to avoid being recognized by authorities, has been described by law enforcement officials as a crafty and ruthless survivor.

"The news of his arrest is welcome," said Richard Mei, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Brazil. He said U.S. officials are deciding who might get a $5 million reward offered for information leading his capture.

Ramirez Abadia's Norte del Valle cartel emerged as Colombia's most powerful drug gang after the mid-1990s. In September 2004, the U.S. State Department began offering up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of its leaders. DEA officials have said Colombian traffickers were forced to flee to countries including Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Argentina as a result.

The wealth of Ramirez Abadia, 44, once reached $1.8 billion, but he is believed to be indebted to other traffickers, the U.S. State Department said.

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said in a radio interview Tuesday that Ramirez Abadia is the presumed owner of more than $80 million in cash and gold found in January under floorboards and in secret compartments in several houses in the Colombian city of Cali.

Brazilian media reported that police made 12 more arrests Tuesday and seized guns and drugs in six Brazilian states to dismantle what they described as a major drug trafficking and money laundering operation.

The gang allegedly laundered profits from Mexico and Spain by purchasing hotels, mansions, industrial property and cars in Brazil, the federal police statement said.

Cocaine is not produced in Brazil, but the country has become a major transshipment point and Brazilians are also increasingly big consumers of cocaine.

Drug lords also use Brazil to purchase chemicals essential to turning coca leaves into cocaine, said Walter Maierovitch, an expert in organized crime who once headed Brazil's anti-drug efforts.

The arrest of Ramirez Abadia is "clear evidence" of Brazil's key role in the cocaine networks rooted in neighboring nations, Maierovitch said.

The Treasury Department listed him as a "specially designated narcotics trafficker" in 2000, freezing his U.S. assets and forbidding commercial transactions with him by Americans.

Adam J. Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, last year called Ramirez Abadia "one of the most powerful and elusive drug traffickers in Colombia."

Ramirez Abadia faces federal indictments on drug trafficking charges brought in Colorado in 1994 and New York in 1995.

In 1996, a Colombian court convicted of him drug trafficking, illicit enrichment, racketeering and fraud. He was imprisoned until 2002.

In 2004, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicted the Norte del Valle organization under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and named Ramirez Abadia as a North Valle leader.

[tnt1954]

trials cost the taxpayer too much money.
and witnesses have to be endangered.
dig? what's in a grave? the person
in question, who is gravely disabled,
therefore belongs in a grave. lots of them,
dug by the laborers union and covered up
by the cement truck drivers union. yes, for
this pusher, life stunk and then he died.
as in punk rock. life stinks then ya die.

[tnt1954]

the pope is right, santa claus is comin to town.
better watch out, better not cry i'm telling you
why, santa claus is coming to town. now this
song can mean many things. mull it over
and do a 500,000 word essay by friday.
or we'll have a spot quiz on it.
for the bonus question, fill in the words
to the rest of the song. or do an arrangement
of it, for the christmas club.

[tnt1954]

the soft sell, aw c'mon try a little weed, baby,
you need love sweet love. it'll make you more
ecstatic when i let you make love to me.
like a dog who returns to eat the rest of
the bone. lollipop lounge is noted for
its suckerability. they used to call
them suckers. and remember adults, don't
take candy from strangers. the pink candy
woman is out there from soviet russia that
secretly still exists, ready to nail us to
our cross. furious. ready to poison
millions of people with poisoned candy.
she's a pole who is loved nat king cole
and paul robeson, who has a monument in the
kremlin. mary jo kopeckne was a polish red
spy, turned kennedy's wheel right into the drink.
she was sick of the fat drunken slob. prohibition
catches on. his piggish kisses. red-fascist
capitalist swine. go bi-polar, be at the north
pole and the south pole at the same time.
borscht to you. betelgeuse. chemical warfare
continues. bummer in the summer. summer is
a bummer. like that heat? nice and hot. some
do love it hot. marilyn monroe allegedly died
8-5-62. hey dude, when's nagasaki? hiroshima
was yesterday. let us move on to the sake'.
mr. naga saki.

[tnt1954]

i thought everyone was sober and clean all
over the world now. that treatment works.
that AA and NA and all the other 12 step
programs have miraculously healed everyone.
why no one even smokes anymore thanks
to smokers anonymous and nicotine anonymous.
so who in the heck buys this stuff?
its just a bogus black market bingo bango bunco.
most of it is all laundry detergent anyway.
would you sniff tide? i mean if you wanna
clean up your act, get on that real soapy
laundry detergent and blow your bubbles.
lotsa froth in the washer. then go to the
dryer, and get in the dry cycle. you'll
be wearing your own clothes nice and clean
in no time. or hers. ah crum, the red shirt
ran, its my white sox turned pink. would
you shoot bleach in your veins?

[cantshutup]

wow...that bush sure must be drooling at the thought of all that cocaine!!!! prolly enough to make 'em choke on a pretzel...(FINGERS CROSSED!!!)

[randalds]

The CEO's of Pfizer, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline, are still out there terrorizing the American populace.

Posted by hungry1968 at 11:24 PM : Aug 07, 2007

They're Bush's legal connections, now that he's (supposedly) given up the street drugs. Though with some of the incredibly stupid things he's done the first question that pops into one's mind is "Is he fu*cking HIGH!?!" or "The SOB must be STONED!!".

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by hungry1968 at 11:24 PM : Aug 07, 2007

you are such a whinner..what would you call grocery companies??let me guess they secretly starve people..oh how about this mcdonalds puts a secret drug on thier food so you would be addicted to it..

pathethic

[xzavierbrown]

I dont think we can compare rush to an entire hippie drug culture generation

[hungry1968]

The biggest "drug kingpins" are still on the loose.

The CEO's of Pfizer, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline, are still out there terrorizing the American populace.

Unfortunately, our government is perfectly complicit, sorry - I meant COMPLACENT, with their business practices.

[randalds]

Oh great, now Bush is going to be even more of an as*s now that his supply will dry up! Next thing you know he'll have us invading Colombia to insure his blow connection is stable.

[stevex47]

"to supply the left winged liberal drug culture.."

Nice hypocritical statement again neocon. Oops, but when your spokesperson Limbaugh gets busted, it's different.

You're under the influence like James Jones, Koresh and Hitler's followers. Too bad.

[xzavierbrown]

This guy is going to be hired by the Bush Whitehouse to oversee their Afghan opium operations. Maximize the Bush Crime Family profits...
Posted by JohnShaft4 at 04:53 PM : Aug 07, 2007
+ report abuse

*******
well somebody has to supply the left winged liberal drug culture..

[rushlimpdrug]

". . He was imprisoned until 2002. . "

did he get out on good behavior?

[forthepeopl1]

WELL SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[johnshaft4]

This guy is going to be hired by the Bush Whitehouse to oversee their Afghan opium operations. Maximize the Bush Crime Family profits...