An incarcerated gang leader was accused of directing up to 100 criminal acts from his jail cell in the municipality of Itagui, just south of Medellin reported El Tiempo.
Fabio Edison Gomez, alias “Riñon,” is a leader of the “Calatrava” gang reportedly under the direction of “Oficina de Envigado” drug kingpin, “Valenciano.”
Riñon was initially arrested in April 2009 but authorities began investigating the gang leader in September of that year after a botched assassination attempt, allegedly ordered from his jail cell, killed a girl in Itagui.
Gomez, who reportedly began his criminal career as a paramilitary fighter under extradited Oficina de Envigado boss “Don Berna,” is also implicated in weapons deals and extortion in the working-class, Medellin neighborhoods of Aranjuez and San Antonio de Prado.
Prison authority Inpec raided Gomez’s cell Tuesday and found a Blackberry hidden in a clock shaped as the emblem of Medellin’s oldest soccer team, Deportivo Independiente de Medellin. They also found three SIM cards concealed on a shelf.
Authorities said that Gomez’s four cell mates were paid members of his security team and he used his wife to manage the assets he gained from extortion.
According to officials, prison guards allowed the gang leader to make phone calls and awarded him other privileges.
On Wednesday authorities arrested 17 collaborators of the Calatrava gang including two Inpec workers.
The local prosecutor is set to officially charge the group along with Gomez on Friday.