By Matt Castello
ticklethewire.com
A man who represented the interests of a major Colombian drug cartel in Mexico, has been extradited to New York to stand trial, authorities said.
Pedro Antonio Bermudez, known as “El Arquitecto,” was arrested in Mexico City on Oct. 2, 2008 and remained in Mexican custody until his extradition to the U.S. on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Bermudez’s job was to ensure that cocaine sent to Mexico by the Colombian drug cartel Norte del Valle, was safely delivered to the Mexican cartels, authorities said.
Since 1990, the Norte del Valle Cartel allegedly exported more than 1.2 million pounds of cocaine — worth more than $10 billion — to the U.S., most of which came through Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
The Colombian shipments were sent by Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante, one of the leaders of the Norte del Valle Cartel, who pleaded guilty in New York in 2008 to charges including murder and narcotics trafficking. Bustamante, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2007, is awaiting sentencing.
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