Miami media is reporting that Cuban Willie Falcon, one of South Florida’s most infamous “cocaine cowboys”, has been deported to the Dominican Republic after his bid to stay in the United States failed following his 20-year prison sentence on a drug-related money-laundering conviction. The man is described as responsible for the greatest wave of violence in Miami in its history. His story inspired the film “Scarface” starring Al Pacino in 1983.
His legal residency in the Dominican Republic was reportedly agreed upon in a deal between the Trump and Medina administrations, confirmed by Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas after the news broke in Santo Domingo. What the Dominican Republic stands to gain from the deal is not known.
Vargas Maldonado told the Dominican press that the arrangements were handled directly by the National Investigations Agency (DNI). The director of the DNI, Retired Lieutenant General Sigfrido Pared Pérez, told El Dia that Falcón is under observation at their installations. He said the DNI is investigating matters related to his past. He said that the capo can voluntarily leave the country when he considers it convenient.
Pared Perez is brother to Carlos Pared Perez, personal assistant to President Danilo Medina, and to Reinaldo Pared Perez, who is president of the Senate in the Dominican Republic. Sigfrido Pared Perez is a past minister of defense.
Falcon, 62, was deported because he was a convicted felon without US citizenship. The United States chose not to keep the convicted criminal in its territory, striking the unknown deal with the Dominican Republic. Falcon had been held in Louisiana since June 2017 by immigration authorities who at first sought to deport him to his native Cuba. But Falcon reported argued if sent to Cuba he would be killed because he had participated in several attempts with the CIA to kill Fidel Castro, Vargas told the Listin Diario.
What is known is that Falcon and his partner in crime, fellow Cuban Sal Magluta, built a South Florida empire as cocaine smugglers for the Medellín and Cali Colombian cartels as a result of which they had a flashy lifestyle of ocean-racing boats, nightclubs and trips to Las Vegas. They were accused in 1991 by a federal jury of transporting at least 75 tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States. The media says they beat the charge, having bought off the jury but were convicted at a second trial. Falcon came to a deal with the prosecution and received a reduced sentence of 20 years.
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Listin Diario
El Dia
21 November 2018
