Colombian drug boss who once commanded thousands of fighters sentenced in Brooklyn to 35 years
A drug trafficking boss described as “the most feared narco-terrorist in Colombia” was sentenced Monday by a federal judge in Brooklyn to 35 years in a U.S. prison.
Daniel Rendon Herrera, 57, led Clan del Golfo for more than a decade, using kidnapping and murder to rule over a drug operation that trafficked tons of cocaine from Colombia through Central America and Mexico into the United States.
Rendon Herrera, also known as “Don Mario,” got his “most feared” title from Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge James Hunt when he was extradited to the U.S. in 2018.
Rendon Herrera’s organization used “sicarios,” or hitmen, to carry out murders, assaults, kidnappings and assassinations to collect drug debts and expand its territory, federal prosecutors said.
By 2009, when the Colombian National Police captured Rendon Herrera, he lorded over 16 territories and controlled thousands of paramilitary fighters, prosecutors said.
“Once the most feared narco-terrorist in Colombia, today marks the end of the criminal career of Rendon Herrera, responsible for importing tons of cocaine, fueling violence, perpetuating drug abuse leaving a wake of destruction from Colombia to the United States, and stained with the blood of rival drug traffickers and civilians who were tortured and killed by the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Monday.
U.S. District Judge Dora Irizarry handed down the sentence, which also required Rendon Herrera to forfeit nearly $46 million. His sentence will run concurrently with a 33-year sentence he received from Colombian courts.
