Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela | |
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| Born | 30 January 1939 Mariquita, Tolima, Colombia |
| Died | 31 May 2022 (aged 83) Butner, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Other names | El Ajedrecista ("The Chess Player") |
| Organization | Cali Cartel |
| Parent(s) | Carlos Rodríguez Ana Rita Orejuela |
| Relatives | Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela (brother) |
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Gilberto José Rodríguez Orejuela (30 January 1939 – 31 May 2022) was a Colombian drug lord and one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel. Orejuela formed the cartel with his brother, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, José Santacruz Londoño, and Hélmer Herrera. The cartel emerged to prominence in the early 1990s, and was estimated to control about 80% of the American and 90% of the European cocaine markets in the mid-1990s. Rodríguez Orejuela was captured after a 1995 police campaign by Colombian authorities and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He obtained early release in 2002, and was re-arrested in 2003, after which he was extradited to the United States. There, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, where he died in 2022.