Colombia Extradites 3rd National to U.S. on Drug Charges

On August 18, 2000, the Colombian Government extradited Alberto “The Snail” Orlandez Gamboa, the third national to the U.S. for international narcotics trafficking despite threatened violence against the Colombian Government. According to U.S. authorities, Gamboa, 44, is the leader of an international narcotics and money laundering organization known as the “Caracol Organization (“caracol” means “snail’) headquartered in Barranquilla on the north (Caribbean) coast of Colombia. A U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) charges that he has conspired to import and distribute thousands of pounds of cocaine from Colombia to New York and other U.S. destinations. In addition, the U.S. indictment charges him with smuggling cocaine to Europe and conspiring to laundering millions of dollars in drug profits...[more]