The brother of ‘Don Diego’, who was one of the top financial managers and supervised
money-laundering for the Norte del Valle cartel accused of smuggling $10 billion
in drugs into the U.S. was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in federal
prison.
Eugenio Montoya Sanchez, 39, pleaded guilty in January to drug
trafficking and obstruction of justice charges, the latter involving
his role in setting up the torture, killing and dismemberment of a cartel
associate suspected of cooperating with authorities. In a brief
statement, Montoya expressed remorse.
“There is no justification for what I did,” Montoya said through a Spanish interpreter.
Montoya
is the brother of the purported mastermind of Colombia’s North Valley
cartel. Diego Montoya Sanchez is also in U.S. custody in Miami and has
pleaded not guilty to a 12-count federal indictment charging cocaine
trafficking, money laundering, witness retaliation and obstruction of
justice. Another brother, Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez, is serving a
22-year prison sentence in the U.S. his role in the drug cartel.
The
Montoyas are accused of overseeing a cocaine empire that smuggled
cocaine into the U.S. beginning in the 1990s. U.S. District Judge
Cecilia M. Altonaga set a July 10 hearing to consider whether Montoya
can pay restitution to the U.S. government for his drug activities.
Assistant
U.S. Attorney Michael Davis said most of Montoya’s assets have been
seized by the Colombian government and that the additional time is
needed to determine how much he should pay.
Eugenio Montoya, who
has been cooperating with U.S. authorities, previously admitted his
role as a top financial manager of the cartel. Among his duties was
handling a series of so-called “stash houses” in Colombia where about
$20 million in U.S. currency was hidden. Montoya also made numerous
real estate investments and oversaw a computer equipment business.
The
obstruction charge stems from the August 2003 killing of Jhon Jairo
Garcia Giraldo, known as “Dos Mil,” whose main job was handling pagers
and cell phones for the Montoya organization. According to court
documents, Garcia was tortured at a farm outside Cali, Colombia, on
orders from Diego Montoya to find out if he had talked with U.S.
officials during a visit to South Florida.
“Methods used included
hitting Garcia Giraldo with baseball bats in the shins and other parts
of the body, holding his head under water, and asphyxiating him with a
plastic bag over his head,” according to a statement of facts signed by
Eugenio Montoya.
Although Garcia denied being an informant, he was beaten to death and dismembered, his body parts thrown in a river.