(CN) - A Colombian drug lord pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder, drug trafficking and racketeering. Diego Montoya Sanchez, 48, was a top boss in the Norte Valle cartel, which sent more than 500 tons of cocaine to the United States from 1990 to 2004, federal prosecutors said.
Colombia arrested Montoya in September 2007 and he was extradited to the United States in December 2008. His group has been blamed for hundreds of deaths. U.S. officials say it accounted for more than half of the cocaine shipped to the United States after the decline of the Cali cartel.
Montoya agreed to serve 45 years and will be sentenced on Oct. 21, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
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