Pubdate: Mon, 05 May 2003 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 2003 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318 Author: Catherine Wilson, Associated Press Writer TRIAL OF EX-KINGPIN STARTS TODAY MIAMI, Fla. -- One of the biggest Colombian druglords ever brought to the United States to face justice goes on trial today under security so tight that the anonymous jurors will be driven back and forth to court in vans with tinted windows to protect their identities. Fabio Ochoa Sanchez is accused of getting back into the cocaine business in the late 1990s, after serving time for his role as one of the bosses of the now-defunct Medellin cartel, one of the most powerful drug networks of the 1980s. He is the most prominent drug defendant brought to the United States since Colombia resumed extraditions in 1997. Ochoa "is responsible for the destruction of countless lives," Asa Hutchinson, then head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said when Ochoa arrived in Miami in handcuffs. "His greed and ruthless behavior are unsurpassed, even among the most notorious traffickers of the cartel era." Ochoa, who turns 46 this month, could get life in prison if convicted. He has been in a Miami jail since his extradition in September 2001. Ochoa served five years in a Colombian prison in the 1990s. Under the extradition treaty, the United States cannot try him for any of his cartel activities, including his alleged role in the 1986 hit on drug pilot and informant Barry Seal. The case against him is built instead on allegations he got back into the cocaine business by joining up with a longtime friend, Alejandro Bernal Madrigal, in an operation that smuggled as much as 30 tons of the drug into this country per month. Ochoa has denied returning to the cocaine business, proclaiming at the time of his 1999 arrest that he would be "stupid" to get into drugs again. Four to eight other figures arrested in the case are expected to testify for the government, including ringleader Bernal, who struck a deal with prosecutors in April in hopes of winning leniency when he is sentenced. He could get up to life in prison. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake