Man touted as one of biggest drug dealers ever gets 35 years
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Tuesday July 9, 2013 file photo, Daniel Barrera, center, is escorted by police to a waiting car prior to his extradition to the U.S. from the counter-narcotics base in Bogota, Colombia. Known as "El Loco," Spanish for "The Madman," Barrera is scheduled to be sentenced Mondauy, July 25, 2016, and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life after pleading guilty to a drug trafficking charge. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File) (The Associated Press)
A Colombian described as one of history's biggest cocaine dealers has been sentenced to 35 years in prison by a New York judge who calls the scope of his crimes "staggering."
Daniel Barrera Barrera is known as El Loco. He was sentenced Monday by Judge Gregory Woods, who rejected a defense lawyer's request for leniency.
Prosecutors say Barrera shipped 720 tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States and four continents.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Miami U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer says the sentencing closes the chapter on Barrera's reign as one of the largest cocaine traffickers ever.
The judge also ordered the 48-year-old Barrera to pay a $10 million fine.
Barrera was arrested in Venezuela in 2012 and was extradited to the U.S. in 2013. He pleaded guilty a year later.