Drug lord Fabio Ochoa Vásquez released from US prison after 25 years

Fabio Ochoa Vásquez, a former drug lord with the Medellín Cartel, was released from a U.S. prison on Tuesday, Dec. 3, after serving 25 years. The 67-year-old is expected to be deported back to his home country of Colombia.

Ochoa, along with his two brothers, became billionaires in the 1980s by running a cocaine distribution operation out of Miami. He was also a former associate of notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

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He was originally named in an indictment in the U.S. for the 1986 murder of Barry Seal, a drug-smuggling pilot for the Medellín Cartel who became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In 1990, Ochoa and his brothers surrendered to Colombian authorities. At the time, Colombia did not have an extradition treaty with the United States, so the brothers were promised they would not be turned over to U.S. authorities.

Ochoa served nearly six years in a Colombian prison and was released in 1996. He was arrested again in Colombia in 1999, along with dozens of other drug lords. Colombian authorities then agreed to extradite him to the United States in 2001.

In 2003, Ochoa was convicted of drug trafficking and cocaine distribution and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Richard Gregorie, one of the prosecutors who helped convict Ochoa, told The Associated Press that authorities were never able to seize all of his family’s illicit drug proceeds and said he expects Ochoa to have a “welcome return home.”

“He won’t be retiring a poor man, that’s for sure,” Gregorie told the AP.

Ochoa’s character was also featured in the Netflix drama series “Narcos and Griselda.”