Quirino Paulino Castillo cried when he was sentenced to be extradited to the United States. “Dear God, have pity on me,” he exclaimed.
The former army captain and accused drug trafficker had earlier said good-bye to his family and friends after he heard the sentence from Supreme Court secretary Esperanza Pichardo. The sentence had 43 “wherebys” and 46 pages. The verdict seemed obvious from the start. On Saturday, the accused drug lord, called the “Don” on the tapes of phone conversations, was moved to the Las Americas International Airport where he was transferred to a US Drug Enforcement Administration jet that was waiting for him. Dozens of Police and National Drug Control Department officers succeeded in tricking reporters to believe their charge would depart via the military air base of San Isidro. One group of armed escort personnel went with a “fake” Quirino, all decked out in helmet, flack vest and with hung head to San Isidro Airbase. Meanwhile the real Quirino was put on board the DEA plane which took off at 1:30 Saturday afternoon from the Las Americas terminal. His arraignment is set for this morning before a judge of the Southern District for New York in New York City. According to court papers filed here with the Supreme Court and in New York at the Southern District, Quirino is facing five counts of conspiracy and smuggling. The indictment cites Code 21/18 of the US Code, sections 959,963 and 846/1936. According to El Caribe newspaper, the charges will go before a grand jury this morning.