Colombian drug lord gets 45-year sentence from U.S. judge

A federal judge tore into a brutal Colombian drug lord as she calling him "more prolific" than notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar and comparing him to famed mafia boss John Gotti.
Brooklyn U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry handed down the sentence for Dairo Antonio Usuga David, who as supreme leader of Clan del Golfo for nearly a decade commanded a 6,000-strong paramilitary responsible for countless killings and sending multi-ton shipments of cocaine to the U.S.
Usuga David, 51, was captured in Colombia in 2021 after an intense, years-long manhunt, and extradited to the U.S. in May 2022. He entered a guilty plea before Irizarry in January that covers indictments Manhattan and Florida.
Irizarry scoffed at Usuga David's claims that he grew up in poverty and was swept up in the conflict and civil strife that surrounded him.
The judge noted that countless people across the world grow up surrounded by violence without turning to a life of crime.
"You used (your) intelligence, and frankly, your willingness to be ruthless, to disregard the value of human life to rise in the ranks, as you went along in your trajectory through these different organizations," Irizarry said.
She also pushed back when Usuga David's lawyers tried to criticize prosecutors for comparing him to held Colombia in a brutal vise grip and was blamed for 80% of the cocaine trafficked to the U.S.
"There are many drug dealers who were more prolific than Pablo Escobar, including your client," she said.
Usuga David admitted being responsible for trafficking nearly 100 tons of cocaine to the U.S., a number that "is extraordinary, and in all likelihood probably underestimates the actual volume involved," the judge said.
That volume of drugs brought an enormous cost of human misery along with it, including "the impact to families to lose people to the overdoses, to the violence that the drug trafficking generates," said Irizarry.
"People are shooting each other in the street, people are dying in the streets, and we see it day-to-day," she said. "We have innocent bystanders, babies, old people, people on their way to work, people coming home from work, getting caught in the crossfires."
Irizarry said she remained unconvinced by letters from members of the community in Colombia extolling his virtues and good deeds.
"I would not expect them to write anything else than letters of support for fear of retribution," she said.
The judge added: "John Gotti was loved by his community. He threw block parties in Howard Beach... And in the same breath he would order somebody murdered."
The infamous , once known as the "Teflon Don," ruled the nation's largest crime family until a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted him of racketeering in 2002.
Usuga David, who also went by the name "Otoniel," led a 6,000-member militarized cartel that controlled vast swaths of territory in the Urabá region of Antioquia, Colombia.
He ordered his underlings to commit "likely uncountable murders of civilians and law enforcement officers," Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro said.
Usuga David wielded his power by occupying and shutting down entire communities. After a 2012 police raid killed his brother, he ordered his cartel's forces to shut down the towns under his control. The residents were told to stay in their homes for several days, and anyone found violating his curfew would be executed.
At one point, he put a bounty on the head of every police officer in Colombia — and dozens were killed as a result, Navarro said.
"He put a bounty of $70,000 on a police dog who aided in significant drug seizures," the prosecutor said.
In a statement to the judge, Usuga David apologized to the U.S. and Colombia, to his victims and to his family.
"Having been born to a region of great conflict, I grew up within this conflict," he said. "To the people and the youth of Colombia, I would advise them not to take the path that I took. ... I hope to be able to contribute any grain of sand I can contribute to peace."
Irizarry's sentence matched the government's request to put Usuga David behind bars for 45 years.
Under the terms of Usuga David's extradition from Colombia, the government agreed not to seek life in prison. He still faces a lengthy sentence in Colombia when he finishes his time in the U.S.
In a statement, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said: "The human misery caused by the defendant's incredibly violent, vengeful, and bloody reign as leader of the Clan de Golfo drug trafficking organization may never be fully calculated due to its magnitude."