A notorious Colombian drug kingpin known as “El Loco” was hauled into Manhattan federal court today on charges of manufacturing hundreds of tons of cocaine a year and trafficking it to America and other countries — laundering tens of millions of dollars in the process and funneling some of the cash to terrorists groups.
Sporting a black-and-white polo shirt and gray pants, Daniel “El Loco” Barrera was low-key while communicating his not guilty pleas at a federal court arraignment hearing through a Spanish-speaking interpreter. He was remanded and remains in custody on the drug-trafficking charges while awaiting a similar hearing Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court. His lawyer did not ask for bail.
Barrera, 44, faces up to life in prison, if convicted. He also faces charges in federal court in Miami.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna Dabbs told Judge Alvin Hellerstein that much of case’s evidence is related to seizures of cocaine off the coast of Florida and Venezuela, adding “we have photographs and documents related to the seizures.”
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a release that Barrera’s “behemoth cocaine organization” produced up to 400 tons of cocaine annually and used some of the revenues to fund the rival terrorist groups Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia.
“This was truly cocaine with blood in its background,” he said.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has called Barrera “the last of the great capos.”
Barrera was arrested Sept. 18 in Venezuela by US Drug Enforcement Administration agents stationed in Colombia. The agents then shipped him back to Colombia, which extradited him to the United States on Tuesday.
Authorities have said the kingpin ran drug-trafficking routes in Colombia, shipping the cocaine from there or Venezuela on ships to Central America, Mexico, Brazil and other nearby nations.
From there, it was sent to the United States and other locations.
Authorities said Barrera purchased raw cocaine base or paste from the FARC – the world’s largest supplier of cocaine and which has been engaged in bombings and other violent acts in Colombia — and converted it into powder at laboratories he owned and operated in an area of Colombia once controlled by the since-demobilized terrorist group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia or AUC.
Officials have said Barrera had several cosmetic surgeries and tried to burn off his fingerprints with acid to conceal his identity.