Fugitive Drug Lord, Reputed Assassin Indicted in U.S. : Charges: Escobar and his associate are accused in the 1989 bombing of a Colombian jetliner. Two Americans were among the 110 people killed.

Pablo Escobar, a fugitive Colombian drug cartel kingpin, and an associate reputed to be his chief assassin were indicted Thursday on federal charges of conspiring to plant the bomb that blew an Avianca Airlines jetliner out of the sky over Colombia in 1989, killing 110 people, including two U.S. citizens.

A 14-count indictment names Escobar, the Medellin cartel leader who escaped from a Colombian prison last month and is believed to be hiding out in his native Colombia, and Dandeny Munoz-Mosquera, an accused terrorist now serving a six-year federal prison term in this country for lying to U.S. federal agents and possessing a phony Colombian identity card.

U.S. Atty. Andrew J. Maloney, who filed the indictment in Brooklyn federal court, said the charges represent the culmination of an intense 11-month investigation into the activities of Escobar and Munoz-Mosquera. The investigation was launched by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in cooperation with Colombian authorities.

The indictment also charges Escobar, 42, and Munoz-Mosquera, 25, with murder, racketeering, engaging in continuing criminal enterprises and conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

The jetliner exploded in midair shortly after takeoff from Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport in November, 1989, killing everyone on board. It was bound for the Colombian city of Cali, a cocaine cartel stronghold about 190 miles southwest of Bogota. Two U.S. citizens, whom authorities identified as Carlos Andres Escobi and Astrid del Pilar Gomez, were on the flight.

Authorities said the bomb was intended to kill a suspected informant on the plane.

“By this indictment today, the United States charges that, not only is Pablo Escobar the world’s most notorious drug trafficker, he has engaged in international terrorism to further his trafficking enterprise,” said Robert C. Bonner, chief of the federal drug enforcement agency. “Escobar is the most bloodthirsty narco-terrorist in history.”

Officials said that the United States can bring the charges against Escobar and Munoz-Mosquera because two Americans were among those killed. If tried and convicted in the United States, both defendants could face the death penalty on either the charge of planting the bomb or causing damage to the plane.

The racketeering charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while the alleged narcotics violations carry minimum sentences of 10 years to life in prison.

Bonner said that U.S. officials were working closely with Colombian authorities to track down Escobar, but he acknowledged that chances were slim of bringing Escobar back for trial in this country if he is captured because the United States has no extradition agreement with Colombia.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court has authorized the practice of kidnaping foreign nationals who are wanted in the United States, Bonner said the federal government has no immediate plans to abduct Escobar so that he can stand trial in this country.

Escobar is still at large after escaping from the specially built prison near Medellin where he stayed for more than a year, enjoying such luxuries as a king-size bed, expensive art and fancy stereo and video equipment.

Munoz-Mosquera was arrested in the Queens section of New York City on Sept. 25, 1991, after lying to investigating agents about his true name. He was convicted a month later by a Brooklyn federal jury.

U.S. drug enforcement agents had learned from Colombian authorities that Munoz-Mosquera was in the United States on a mission for Escobar and the Medellin cartel, authorities said.

They also said that Munoz-Mosquera had twice escaped from Colombian jails.