Cali Cartel Leader Arrested

Police arrested another leader of the Cali drug cartel Tuesday night while he ate dinner in a Bogota restaurant, a police spokesman said.

Jose Santacruz Londono, 52, alias “Chepe,” is believed to be the No. 3 figure in the cartel that supplies 80 percent of the world’s cocaine. The U.S. government says he is responsible for consolidating the gang’s distribution network in New York.

Two leaders of the cartel surrendered to authorities last month. On June 9, police arrested Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, considered the strategic planner of the cartel.

Santacruz was spotted by a bodyguard for Gen. Jose Serrano, national police chief, who by coincidence had gone to eat in the same restaurant, said police spokesman Victor Pinzon.

“I guess he didn’t think he would ever get caught,” Pinzon said. “He was wrong.”

Police said a fingerprint check confirmed they had caught him.

Santacruz, who had been a wanted man for years, has been linked to the New York case of the 1992 murder of journalist Manuel de Dios Unanue.