Pubdate: Tue, 04 Oct 2005
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2005, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: Elaine Silvestrini
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

PROSECUTOR SEEKS ANONYMOUS JURY

TAMPA - When Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujillo, an alleged leader in the
Cali Cartel, goes on trial in four months, a federal prosecutor wants
jurors to remain anonymous.

Valencia-Trujillo has tampered with the justice system in the past,
according to a government court filing that says he has hired "hit
teams" to kill possible witnesses and has paid attorneys to represent
drug traffickers who might testify against him.

Valencia-Trujillo's efforts resulted in the slayings of four people in
the United States at the hands of the Colombian hit teams, according
to the government court filing.

A Colombian prosecutor lost his job after admitting he improperly
helped Valencia-Trujillo's defense in exchange for a promise of money
or a job, according to the prosecution motion filed in Tampa.

The government thinks Valencia-Trujillo was the Colombian cocaine
supplier to Miami drug lords Salvador Magluta and Augusto Guillermo
"Willie" Falcon. According to The Associated Press, prosecutors said
the two made $2 billion from cocaine smuggling, turning Miami into the
drug capital of the United States in the 1980s. They were known in
Colombian drug circles as "The Boys."

Officials say Valencia-Trujillo is the biggest fish netted by
Operation Panama Express, a wide-ranging international drug
investigation based in Tampa. A multimillionaire married to a
Colombian skating star, Valencia-Trujillo was an influential -- if low
key -- leader in the notorious drug cartel.

Magluta and Falcon were cleared of drug charges in 1996 but convicted
of jury tampering for paying three jurors to acquit them. The jurors
were also convicted for selling their votes.

About the time Magluta and Falcon were arrested, the Coast Guard's
seized the freighter Harbour near Cuba in 1992. The ship was carrying
5 tons of cocaine. Everyone aboard, including former Colombian naval
officer Carlos Zuluaga, was arrested and taken to Miami.

Valencia-Trujillo feared the two investigations might lead to him,
according to the motion filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph K.
Ruddy.

"In an effort to impede the investigation and prosecution of the M/V
Harbour, Magluta and Falcon, Valencia-Trujillo provided funds for
attorneys and hit teams," the motion states. "A list was compiled of
as many as 20 suspected witnesses to be assassinated. Hit teams of
Colombians were recruited and paid to execute these suspected
cooperators. Four people were ultimately killed in the United States,
including Magluta's attorney, while attempts to assassinate three
additional witnesses were unsuccessful."

Magluta was acquitted on charges he was involved in killing attorney
Juan Acosta and drug dealers Bernardo Gonzalez and Luis Escobedo,
according to the AP.

According to The Miami Herald, Acosta was gunned down in his office
Sept. 18, 1989, weeks before he was to testify before a federal grand
jury investigating Magluta and Falcon.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Escobedo was shot to death outside a
nightclub in August 1992. Gonzalez was shot at home in June 1993.

According to Ruddy's motion, when some of the conspirators were
arrested in the United States, Valencia-Trujillo ordered an additional
execution in Colombia to "insulate himself from criminal
responsibility." It was not clear whether that execution was carried
out.

In April 1996, the motion states, Jose Castrillon-Henao was arrested
in Panama on drug charges. A major cocaine trafficker, Castrillon is
said to have run Valencia-Trujillo's maritime cocaine smuggling
operation, moving 100 tons a year into the United States over five
years. He became an informant in 1999 and is credited with helping in
the arrests of 775 people, including Valencia-Trujillo.

In 1996, Valencia-Trujillo wanted to keep Castrillon quiet, according
to the government court filing. He paid for lawyers to represent
Castrillon in Panama and later in the United States.

Valencia was arrested in Colombia in January 2003 and placed in a
high-security prison for defendants facing extradition to the United
States, according to Ruddy's motion. While there, he approached other
prisoners and obtained affidavits to help his defense "under an
implied threat of retaliation," the motion states.

A Colombian prosecutor assigned to Valencia-Trujillo's case lost his
job after he admitted to supplying a sworn affidavit to one of
Valencia- Trujillo's attorneys "in exchange for money or the promise
of future employment," the motion states. The affidavit was from Pedro
Navarrete, Castrillon's former business partner.

Navarrete has pleaded guilty to drug charges in Tampa and is scheduled
to be sentenced in December.

"A list was compiled of as many as 20 suspected witnesses to be
assassinated." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake