This is how it ends for one of the world's most wanted
"Otoniel"
Dario Antonio Úsuga, Colombia's top narco, a defiant drug lord, a global kingpin with a six-million-dollar bounty on his
head. Better known under the alias Oteniel and named the boss of the Clan del Golfo — Colombia's premier
cocaine cartel — he was captured in a jungle hideout on Oct. 23, 2021, after a massive manhunt. Hunted
busted and paraded; fingerprinted, photographed, jailed and paraded again, and again. Held like
a trophy by a government ecstatic to finally get its top narco off its plate. The Mob Reporter here
with the story of Otoniel, his incredible rise and ignoble fall, whose capture last week
prompted the president of Colombia to jubilantly announce on national television an arrest he
compared to the downfall of Pablo Escobar, who was once the undisputed global king of cocaine
Let me tell you about it
His end was preceded by an immense manhunt. A seven year operation by the army, air force and police
Colombia's president called it the most forceful blow to drug trafficking this century
And it is an important achievement, one worth crowing about for the government, but comparing
him to Pablo Escobar? That for certain exaggerates Otoniel's place in the global landscape
But let's not diminish it too much. In 1993, when Escobar was finally stopped, killed
rather than captured, he was described as the wealthiest criminal in history
By contrast, the fifty-year-old Otoniel surrendered once he knew the game was up. The
government said he identified himself to soldiers and took off his shirt to show he had no weapons
"Otoniel"
It seems the soldiers were expecting more of a fight. Military intelligence knew he
traveled with eight security teams that fanned in rings around him. And perhaps reflecting that the
mission to bag him was codenamed Operation Osiris. Osiris is the Ancient Egyptian god of the dead
On Saturday, a strike force of soldiers and police, supported by 22 helicopters, swarmed his hideout in
Antioquia province, in northwest Colombia, near its border with Panama. One police officer was
killed in the operation. Authorities said Otoniel was found nearby, in the bush. When he was posed
by soldiers for their trophy photo, Otoniel was strangely wearing brand new rubber boots, which
sparked suspicion online about the legitimacy of his jungle capture, which authorities dismissed
He was then flown to a military base in Colombia's capital
Bogotá, where he was processed like any criminal — fingerprinted and photographed
Producing these memorable mug shots. He is now pending extradition to the United States
New York awaits you, chief, and so does Florida — both want to put him on trial. It'll be a big change of
environment for him. Otoniel felt at home in the jungle of the north. It's where he was born and
where he first took up arms, joining a guerrilla group when he was still a teen, entering the mess
that is the Colombian conflict — an internal war with a bewildering array of factions
both hard left and hard right, all fighting each other and the government. It was hard
to be sure whether they were using the drug trade to fund their feuds or if their feuds
were about controlling the drug trade. Perhaps it started as the first and morphed into the second
Over the years, with one group of paramilitaries or another, Otoniel rose through the ranks until
around 2009, when he found himself as the head of what has become known as the Clan del Golfo
The Gulf Clan. Under Otoniel's leadership, it spread nationwide. Sometimes rival groups
were assimilated, sometimes they were decimated, and sometimes they found ways to work together
By 2012, he was considered the country's top narco, which made him a global kingpin
and one of the world's most wanted. In 2015, it became a government imperative to shut him down
And a massive task force was formed with more than a thousand soldiers, police, and anti-drug officials
called Operation Agamemnon. It was unprecedentedly huge and it grew to some three thousand personnel
all trying to track down Otoniel. Along the way, they made thousands of arrests of his
underlings and those who helped him. One of his brothers was killed, others arrested
as was his sister and cousin. But year after year Otoniel eluded them
If they missed him, though, they often got his product. Like this time, shown here in
2017, when this immense load was found hidden in underground coves on banana farms near
his stronghold. An historic 12 tons of it. This is Colombia's then-president publicizing the seizure
I'm not sure Otoniel was having a great time on the run, though. Much of it was living hard on the
land. Otoniel shuttled about a network of remote safe houses, rustic huts cut from the jungle, and
campsites, traveling by riverboat, on foot, or by mule — never in a vehicle and never using a phone
He avoided luxury, just living simple and quiet, lying low in the jungle in hideouts and huts in
remote areas, similar to the one where he was finally caught — and that's what you see here
Otoniel's last hideaway. As he hopped from hut to hut, he must have always been looking
over his shoulder, always wondering if those with him were more interested in his safety
or in a six million dollar bounty. Terrified of being recognized, he avoided populated areas
where there would be eyeballs he did not know, did not trust, or did not control. He kept dogs with him
to alert him to anyone approaching. Sometimes, when soldiers swooped in on one of his sites
they found only signs he had once been there — including orthopedic mattresses to help ease
his back pain, caused by a herniated disc. Try riding a mule through the jungle in that condition
Authorities apparently pinpointed Otoniel's whereabouts two weeks before his capture
Colombia turned to U.S and U.K. intelligence assets, including satellites, to watch
him carefully, allowing soldiers to pierce through the jungle canopy like never before
By then, however, Otoniel's power was already waning; eroded by years on the run
In his six years as a fugitive, Otoniel's organization became diffuse. By necessity
its leadership decentralized. Every minute he squats in the bush he got weaker, and every minute
his rivals roamed the cities they grew stronger. Operation Osiris, the mission to capture Otoniel
is certainly a blow to the cartel, but it is not as momentous a moment as the killing of Escobar. I
noted earlier that Osiris is the Ancient Egyptian god of the dead — but Osiris is also the Ancient
Egyptian god of the resurrection. Now, maybe the government wasn't playing morbid word games, but
Otoniel's place in the underworld will certainly be replaced. His cartel and others like it will
soldier on, reconstituting under whoever climbs to the top of the heap — as Otoniel once did. In
fact, as Otoniel attracted all of the attention, it drew a lot of heat away from every other narco
It does seem he still has friends in Colombia, though. After his capture there were at least
two firefights where military patrols were hit in the jungle. Four soldiers were killed
The army released their names and photos. It was said to be retaliation for snatching their boss
Their boss. Still in name, perhaps. But from here on, likely not
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