Dairo Antonio Úsuga David

Dairo Antonio Úsuga David (born September 15, 1971 Úsuaga is also an ex-paramilitary having been a member of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). After being sought by Colombian authorities for a decade, he was captured in October 2021, the operation required the mobilization of more than 500 special forces personnel, 150 intelligence units, 50 satellite intelligence experts, 22 helicopters, and the intervention of intelligence agencies from the United States and the United Kingdom. He was extradited to the United States in May 2022. At the time of his capture, 132 warrants for his arrest had been issued, he was also responsible for the deaths of more than 200 members of the Colombian Public Force. Then-president Iván Duque stated that Úsuga’s capture “is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s”. In August 2023 he pled guilty in New York to charges related to his time as Gulf Clan leader and was ordered to pay US$216 million in forfeitures and is currently serving a 45-year sentence. He also faces coordinated charges in Florida. Otoniel and his brother Giovanni (born Juan de Dios Usuga) took control of the Los Urabeños in 2009. After Giovanni was shot and killed during a police raid, Otoniel took full leadership of the drug trafficking group. In 2015, the BBC reported that 1,200 Colombian anti-drug police were involved in the search for Úsuga. The same year a Colombian police helicopter searching for Úsuga crashed, killing 18. In 2017 the US Department of State offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Also in 2017, Colombian anti-trafficking police dropped flyers from helicopters offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. In 2017 Úsuga published a video on Facebook in which he offered to submit to a negotiated surrender.

In early 2021 Colombian authorities intensified their search efforts for Úsuga, following heightened levels of cocaine production. He was also revealed to still be involved in trafficking, though his cartel by this point was severely weakened.

He was heard in mid-February 2022 by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), where he reportedly said he had organized his surrender and worked with the Colombian army, according to leaked media reports. The police interrupted the hearing, claiming to suspect Otoniel of planning his escape. Digital recordings containing his testimony to the JEP were later stolen.

On May 4, 2022, Úsuga was extradited to the United States.

Trial In January 2023, he pleaded guilty in New York, meaning he was slated to face decades in prison for leading a violent cartel and paramilitary group.

Úsuga was sentenced to 45 years in prison in New York in August 2023. U.S. District Judge Dora Irizarry, who was the judge in charge of his sentencing, found that it was proven that he had shipped nearly of cocaine into the United States while he was serving as the leader of the crime syndicate Clan del Golfo (Golf Clan), described him as "extraordinary" and among drug dealers "who were more prolific than Pablo Escobar."

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Úsuga "ordered the reckless execution of Colombian police officers, soldiers, and civilians". In addition to his New York charges, he also faces coordinated charges in south Florida, which include conspiracy to ship vast quantities of cocaine north by land and sea.