Colombian Cocaine Cartel Leader Sentenced To Jail: Feds

Newark, NJ - A Colombian cartel leader expelled from Venezuela to face federal charges in New Jersey for his role in an international cocaine distribution conspiracy was sentenced to 132 months in prison on Wednesday, authorities announced.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office (NJ), Colombian national Salomon Camacho Mora, 71, a/k/a “Papa Grande,” a/k/a “El Viejo,” a/k/a “Hector,” was arrested in Valencia, Venezuela, on Jan. 13, 2010, and subsequently expelled by Venezuelan authorities to the United States.

Camacho was originally indicted in September of 2002 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and had been designated a Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) by the Department of Justice.

He was a New Jersey FBI fugitive for more than eight years, authorities stated.

On Oct. 15, 2014, Camacho pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to conspiracy to commit narcotics trafficking.

According to court documents and statements, Camacho admitted that he and members of his drug organization purchased multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine from processing laboratories located in Colombia and arranged for the transportation of the cocaine to various shipping ports in Venezuela. Camacho and members of his drug organization then sold the cocaine shipments to other drug trafficking organizations operating in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

Camacho also acknowledged that others in his organization received and stored the drug shipments in Venezuela, and arranged for their maritime transportation to Puerto Rico and the United States, authorities stated.

In addition to the prison term, Walls sentenced Camacho to five years of supervised release. Camacho must also forfeit $1.6 million and eight Colombian properties that were the product of ill-gotten gains, authorities stated.