Colombian cartel leader compared to Pablo Escobar sentenced to 45 years in US prison
NEW YORK, Aug 8 - The leader of a prominent Colombian criminal group who pleaded guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 years in prison by a judge in Brooklyn who called him "more prolific" than the late kingpin Pablo Escobar.
She dismissed a defense claim that prosecutors engaged in "hyperbole" by likening Otoniel, 51, to Escobar, the former Medellin cartel leader who was killed in 1993 in a joint U.S.-Colombia operation. Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict among leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, criminal groups and the government.
Lawyers for Otoniel had sought a prison term of no more than 25 years, pointing to his acceptance of responsibility, and to an impoverished childhood when he was forced to fight as a child soldier.
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