The alleged head of a large Mexican drug cartel with operations throughout the United States, including Colorado, was extradited from Mexico to Denver on Tuesday.
Alleged Mexican drug kingpin Oscar Arriola was flown by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plane from Mexico to El Paso, Texas and then to Denver.
He made his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon and is scheduled back in court on Monday.
Arriola was indicted by the federal grand jury in Denver in December 2003 after the DEA Colorado Springs office identified Arriola as the head of an international cocaine-trafficking organization that smuggled and distributed more than two tons of cocaine per month into the United States, according to court documents.
In addition, the Arriola organization allegedly collected hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds in the United States and transported the cash to Arriola and other leaders of the organization in Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
The Colorado Springs investigation began with an anonymous telephone tip to a Pueblo crime stoppers tip line regarding a ranch property near the town of Peyton, east of Colorado Springs, that was suspected of being used to store large shipments of cocaine.
During a lengthy investigation, agents determined that the Peyton ranch served as a cocaine storage and transportation center for the Arriola organization, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to investigators, the cocaine, which came to Mexico from Colombia, was smuggled in tractor-trailers from El Paso, Texas, to the ranch in Peyton.
Trucks pulled into a blue barn, where the cocaine was unloaded and stored, pending orders on delivery.
Once the cocaine was dropped in cities such as Chicago and New York, money couriers collected millions in cash.
When the money came back through Colorado, it was stored in cellophane-wrapped bundles of $10,000 and $25,000 at the Peyton ranch and at a stash house in Weld County.
It was later laundered through legitimate meatpacking, trucking and cattle-ranching businesses in Mexico, according to federal investigators.
Federal officials said today that from 2002 through 2004, DEA offices in Colorado Springs, Denver, El Paso, Chicago, New York, Albuquerque, and Mexico coordinated an investigation into the Arriola organization.
Investigators allege that the organization had an extensive cocaine distribution network in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and 14 other states.
The organization allegedly had dozens of drug and money couriers who operated around the clock delivering cocaine into the United States and then collecting money and returning to Mexico.
Law enforcement officers in the United States and Mexico seized more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine and approximately $50 million in cash and other assets, and arrested 60 key members of the Arriola organization in the United States, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
One courier told investigators that he alone had collected and transported $43 million in a 12-month period.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Arriola faces one count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and one count of importation of cocaine.
Both carry penalties of 10 years to life in prison and up to a $4 million fine. He also faces one count of money laundering conspiracy, with carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Arriola’s appearance is scheduled for Monday.
U.S. Attorney David Gaouette praised the Mexican government for extraditing Arriola as did Jeff Sweetin, the DEA Special Agent in Charge in Denver .
“We deeply appreciate the cooperation we’ve received from Mexico in the extradition of Oscar Arriola to the United States,” said Sweetin. “According to the allegations, his organization’s drug trafficking in Mexico and the United States allowed him to amass incredible wealth…”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
