Once Colombia’s most-wanted drug lord, the kingpin known as Otoniel faces sentencing in Brooklyn
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — For years, the man known as Otoniel was seen as one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords, the elusive boss of a cartel and paramilitary group with a blood-drenched grip on much of northern Colombia.
On Tuesday, Dairo Antonio Úsuga faces sentencing to at least 20 years in a U.S. prison. He pleaded guilty in January to high-level drug trafficking charges, admitting he oversaw the smuggling of tons of U.S.-bound cocaine and acknowledging “there was a lot of violence with the guerillas and the criminal gangs.”
The U.S. agreed not to seek a life sentence in order to get him extradited from Colombia. Instead, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are seeking a 45-year term for Úsuga, who is 51 and has a number of medical problems.