Two leaders and a partner of a violentdrug trafficking organization and money laundering that operated in the neighborhood of La Little Havana, Miami, They were sentenced to more than twenty years in prison.
After a nine-week trial, Ulises Cabrera, known as "Uley" and "Big Cuz", 32 years old, was sentenced to 372 months in prison; Bernardo Quiñonez, alias "Macho", 34 years old, was sentenced to 382 months and Víctor Smith, alias "OGP", 26 years old, to 330 months of deprivation of liberty, the Department of Justice of the Southern District of Florida.
The jury in charge of conducting the case convicted Cabrera on several charges related to his participation in a continuing criminal enterprise; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; money laundering crimes, among others.
Quiñonez was also charged with participation in a continuing criminal enterprise; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana; possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; He also faces a charge of shooting, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; money laundering, seven counts related to possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and one count of maintaining an establishment to distribute controlled substances.
The jury also convicted Smith of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine; conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; armed robbery and one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
As revealed in the official investigation report, from 2013 to 2018, Cabrera and Quiñonez, both from Miami, ran a criminal enterprise in charge of distributing cocaine, crack and marijuana on the streets of Little Havana.
The leader of the operation, Cabrera, supplied the cocaine and Quiñonez was a co-manager and supervisor of the people who converted the cocaine into crack inside local homes.
Smith, for his part, supervised drug sales operations on the street.
The three members also carried out intimidating acts when they felt the territory they controlled was threatened.
According to the report, Smith and other armed members, led by Cabrera and Quiñonez, mutilated and even killed several people, even wounding innocent bystanders in the midst of the shootings.
The laundering of money resulting from drug trafficking operations was done in various ways, primarily through the purchase of real estate in Opa-Locka, a city in Miami-Dade County.
In the operations, approximately one and a half kilos of cocaine, several grams of crack, more than 26 pounds of marijuana, four assault rifles, 10 pistols, 10 extended magazines, 10 semi-automatic firearms, a short-barreled rifle, a revolver and hundreds of cartridges.
The convictions and dismantling of this criminal organization were part of Operation “Havana Ghost”, a joint effort between several federal agencies that has its origins in the Safe Neighborhoods Project (PSN), a program that integrates law enforcement and communities to reduce violent crime.
This is the final verdict ofan investigationof several years. In 2019, US authorities They had offered a $30,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of Cabrera, who was a fugitive from justice at the time.
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