Notorious Dominican drug trafficker Cesar (El Abusador) Peralta Adames has plead guilty in federal court in San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to a statement from W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.
Peralta accepted he led a transnational organization that transported tons of cocaine to the United States via Puerto Rico. Peralta was in Puerto Rico where he was extradited to from Colombia. He had previously fled to Colombia from the Dominican Republic after the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified him and his organization as significant foreign narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act on 19 August 2019.
A federal grand jury indicted him on 28 November 2018 on charges of conspiracy to import heroin and cocaine into the United States.
Nevertheless, he continued to do business freely in the Dominican Republic, where he openly operated a network of entertainment centers. Among the businesses were: Flow Gallery Lounge, La Koura Club, Aqua Club, Al Panino and Peralta Investments.
From the Dominican Republic he fled to Colombia from where he would be extradited to Puerto Rico to face charges. He would subsequently enter a plea deal.
In his guilty plea, Peralta acknowledged that between 2007 and 2017 he conspired and imported cocaine from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia and the Netherlands Antilles into US territory.
He also pleaded guilty to a criminal charge in an indictment he faced in the Southern District of Florida that was transferred to Puerto Rico for sentencing purposes.
The US Department of Justice says that since 2017, the Peralta Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) has been investigated by agents assigned to the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF). The CCSF is a multi-agency OCDETF strike force comprised of federal and state law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), and the U.S. Marshals Service, with the collaboration from the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety, the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, FURA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, and the IRS.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Max J. Pérez-Bouret, Chief of the Transnational Organized Crime Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jawayria Z. Auchter.
Peralta faces a possible sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 5 May 2023 before Judge Pedro A. Delgado Hernández.
An editorial in Diario Libre speculates when Cesar Peralta will return to the Dominican Republic to enjoy his wealth, as occurred in the case of major drug dealer Qurino Ernesto Paulino who got five years in jail and kept his wealth in the Dominican Republic.
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US Justice Department
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
15 November 2022