Suspected Cali Boss Surrenders
A suspected leader of the Cali drug cartel surrendered to authorities Friday, becoming the second member of a younger generation of Cali bosses to give himself up this month.
Juan Carlos Ortiz, 33, turned himself in to prosecutors in Cali, 185 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota. Colombian law allows traffickers generous sentence reductions for surrendering and cooperating with authorities.
The only formal charge against Ortiz, known as “the Knife,” is for illegal possession of a weapon, the prosecutor’s office said.
Another suspected cartel member, Luis Alfonso Maquilon, was arrested early Friday in a raid on an apartment building in Bogota, police said.
Friday’s arrests follow the surrender earlier this month of a second suspected fledgling cartel leader, Juan Carlos Ramirez.
Ramirez, known as “the Lollipop,” and Ortiz are suspected of being the leaders of an emerging group of Cali drug traffickers who gained prominence after authorities jailed the drug syndicate’s top people last year.
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