Lima, Peru – An airline founder who was labeled Peru’s drug kingpin by the Bush administration was convicted of money laundering and cocaine trafficking Monday and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The court also ordered Fernando Zevallos to pay a fine of $29 million for conspiring with Peru’s Nortenos drug gang to ship 3.3 tons of cocaine to Mexico. Police thwarted the shipment.
Zevallos, dressed in a dapper gray suit, crossed his arms and shook his head upon hearing the verdict.
Zevallos, who maintains he was framed by corrupt Peruvian police and U.S. anti-drug agents, said he would appeal.
The guilty verdict marked the first conviction for Zevallos, who over the last 25 years has beaten charges in Peru and Chile of money laundering, witness tampering, murder and cocaine trafficking.
Zevallos still faces charges of attempted murder against several witnesses in the Nortenos case, which was tried once before and ended in acquittal in March 2002. Monday’s verdict was the result of a retrial ordered by Peru’s Supreme Court.
U.S. law enforcement officials have likened Zevallos to U.S. mobster Al Capone, saying he manipulated Peru’s courts, media and police and silences witnesses through bribes, threats and murder.
Zevallos’ inclusion on the kingpin list precipitated the collapse of his airline, AeroContinente, which in 12 years had grown to dominate Peru’s domestic aviation market. The court concluded Monday that Zevallos used the airline to launder cocaine profits.
Jorge Lopez, serving a life sentence as the convicted head of the Nortenos drug gang, testified in January that in 1991 he struck a deal with Zevallos to invest $1.5 million to launch Aero Continente and in exchange the airline would transport 40 tons of cocaine to Mexico.
In a videotaped interview aired earlier this year on Peruvian television, Lopez’s former sister-in-law, Zeledith Castillo, said Zevallos came to her apartment in 1992 to pick up the cash.
