Voice ID Snares Drug Kingpin in Brazil

Colombia's Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia arrives to a federal police station after being arrested in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007. Abadia, a top leader of Colombia's biggest cocaine cartel, was captured Tuesday in South America's largest city after a two-year investigation into traffickers accused of sending tons of the drug to the United States and Europe. Abadia, who faces three U.S. federal indictments on drug and racketeering charges, was arrested just after dawn at a house in a gated community on Sao Paulo's outskirts.(AP Photo/Marcio Fernandes-AGENCIA ESTADO) BRAZIL OUT (Marcio Fernandes - AP)

Alambert said Ramirez Abadia, 44, arrived illegally in Brazil four years ago and acknowledges using profits from cocaine shipments by his Norte del Valle cartel to buy businesses that police say included cattle ranches, industrial property, mansions and hotels. A $1 million yacht, jet skis and bullet proof cars were among the property seized.

Ramirez Abadia told his lawyer he left Colombia for Brazil because he feared he might be killed by rival drug gang members and was not involved in any drug trafficking in Brazil. The nation is a major transshipment point for cocaine sent from other South American nations, and Brazilian domestic cocaine consumption is growing dramatically.

American officials say they will soon file a request to extradite Ramirez Abadia to face racketeering charges under a 2004 indictment _ charges that could bring a lengthy sentence but not the death penalty. Colombian authorities have hinted they may also seek custody.

Brazil's Supreme Court will decide, a process that could drag on for months or even years. Brazilian law bans sending foreign suspects back home if they face the death penalty or a sentence of more than 30 years.

Ramirez Abadia is also expected to face Brazilian charges of money laundering, gang formation and use of illegal documents while in the country, but Alambert said his client hopes American and Brazilian authorities will make a deal so he can be sent directly to the United States to serve time in prison. Alambert said Ramirez Abadia fears he would be killed in Colombia.

The Norte del Valle cartel emerged as Colombia's most powerful drug gang in the mid-1990s, and in September 2004, the State Department began offering up to $5 million for information leading to its leaders' arrest.

That's about when Ramirez Abadia _ nicknamed "Chupeta," or lollipop _ moved from Colombia to Brazil and underwent at least two plastic surgeries to alter his appearance.

His personal wealth once reached $1.8 billion _ although the State Department says he's apparently indebted to other traffickers _ and Brazilian authorities have compared him to the infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, who bombed shopping malls and even commercial aircraft while fighting extradition before he was killed in Colombia.

Ramirez Abadia made about the same amount of money as Escobar and was ruthless in attacks on rivals, according to the director of Colombia's judicial police, Col. Cesar Augusto Pinzon, who said Ramirez Abadia is responsible for 100 murders in Colombia, including 30 members of the extended family of Victor Patino, a rival whose relatives were butchered and thrown into the Cauca river.

Ramirez Abadia indicated after his arrest that he would cooperate with drug investigations, but has since changed his mind because he fears relatives in Colombia would be targeted, Alambert said.

"He told me yesterday it's not worth it," Alambert said. "He said, 'They can send me away, I'll take the blame, but it's all mine.'"

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Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.