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Press Release

Colombian Cartel Leader Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison For Trafficking Narcotics Sold In The United States

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. - 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 today to 132 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

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 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.

On Oct. 15, 2014, Camacho pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to Count Seven of a superseding indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit narcotics trafficking. Judge Walls imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

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.

He 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.

In addition to the prison term, Judge 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. 

U.S. Attorney Fishman praised special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark; IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski in Newark; and the New Jersey National Guard Anti-Narcotics Task Force for the investigation.

U.S. Attorney Fishman also thanked the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs for providing assistance in this matter. Additionally, he thanked the Venezuelan agencies Oficina Nacional Anti Drogas (ONA), Servicio Bolivariano de Intelligencia Nacional, (SEBIN), Servicio Administrativo de identificacion migracion y Extranjeria, (SAIME) and the Colombian law enforcement authorities for their assistance in Camacho’s arrest and deportation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam N. Subervi of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: William Clay Esq., Miami

Updated February 24, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking
Press Release Number: 16-013