Cocaine Kingpin |Gets 45 Years in Jail

(CN) - A Miami federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a former drug kingpin to 45 years in prison for trafficking massive quantities of Colombian cocaine into the United States from 1990 to 2004.

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga also ordered 48-year-old Diego Montoya Sanchez, known as "Don Diego," to pay $500,000 in restitution.

In August, Montoya pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine, racketeering conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors say Montoya once headed the North Valley cocaine cartel, which exported 1.2 million pounds of cocaine worth $10 billion from 1990 to 2004.

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