Colombian drug trafficker Eugenio Montoya, whose cartel exported almost 70 percent of cocaine sold in the United States and Europe, was sentenced in a Miami court Tuesday to 30 years in prison. Montoya, who was extradited to the United States from Colombia last year, struck a plea deal with prosecutors in which he avoided trial by pleading guilty to drug trafficking and obstruction of justice charges.
Montoya was formerly a leader of the Norte del Valle cartel in Colombia, which replaced the notorious Cali and Medellin cartels in the 1990s. He is one of a growing number of cartel bosses to be captured or extradited over the past year, including his brother, Eugenio Montoya Sanchez, and cousin, Carlos Felipe Toro. Both men were brought to Miami in 2005, convicted and sentenced to 21 and 19 years in prison respectively. In 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) put Montoya on its Ten Most Wanted list of notorious criminals.
The Norte del Valle cartel chiefly operated in south-western Colombia. In its heyday, the cartel had more than 500 tons, or 10 billion dollars' worth of contraband drugs sent to the United States each year, according to US Justice Department data. Colombian authorities said Montoya's extradition late last year came as the price of cocaine in the United States was on the rise, its level of purity sharply down, due to what they said are successful drug eradication efforts.