Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia guilty of criminal association, money-laundering, corruption and the use of false documents, and sentenced him to 30 years

Last week, a Sao Paulo court found Abadia guilty of criminal association, money-laundering, corruption and the use of false documents, and sentenced him to 30 years in jail along with a $US2.7 million fine. The sale of goods belonging to Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, a convicted drug trafficker suspected of heading up Colombia's notoriously violent Valle del Norte cartel, included luxury vehicles, DVDs, wine, flatscreen televisions, a watch valued at $US680,000 ($729,748) - and even underwear.
The head of the Julieta Foundation charity receiving the proceeds, Lucien Delmonte, declined to give figures for winning bids but said the first day of the auction, held in Sao Paulo, was a "success''.
Police said more than 5000 people lined up overnight to enter the auction venue, a city horse-racing club.
Teargas had to be used to clear them when they protested about not getting in.
"I skipped out of work to come and I can't get in,'' complained one business owner, Graza Cesar, who said she wanted to buy clothes that had belonged to Abadia's wife.
Authorities said the auction would continue until Sunday.
Abadia, 44, has been held in a Brazilian maximum-security prison since his arrest in Sao Paulo last August.
The US is seeking his extradition to face drug trafficking, money-laundering and murder charges. The US Drug Enforcement Administration estimated he built up a $US1.8 billion fortune from his activities, said to involve smuggling heroin and cocaine into California. Abadia had been hiding out in Brazil from 2004, using fake identification papers and undergoing at least four plastic surgery operations to alter his appearance.

Juan Carlos Ramirez-Abadia accused of smuggling billions of dollars of cocaine into the United States

The Supreme Court approved an American request for the extradition of Juan Carlos Ramirez-Abadia, a Colombian accused of smuggling billions of dollars of cocaine into the United States. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will decide whether the extradition will go forward. Called the “new Pablo Escobar” by the Brazilian police when he was arrested in São Paulo last August, Mr. Ramirez-Abadia, left, is said by the State Department, which put up a reward of $5 million for him, to command a multibillion-dollar drug and money-laundering operation that extends from the United States to Europe. He faces indictments brought by United States prosecutors in New York.

Tequinho ,Edinaldo de Souza Brito Filho ,Motta Neto

Tequinho and his two brothers, Edinaldo de Souza Brito Filho and Jacques Jeronimo Motta Neto, who were charged with murders attributed to the gang.
Police said Tequinho had connections with drug lords in the city of Rio and Sao Paulo.
The drug dealers ruled the traffic in three slums in Angra dos Reis, a tourist region known as 'the Green Coast' and famous for its beaches and islands.
Police chief Francisco Lopes said that the arrests did not conclude the investigations. The police still had court orders to arrest another 20 suspects, and would analyse what they had seized to identify other gangs operating in the region.
During the operation, about 70 officers from the state and federal police departments seized weapons, drugs, money and notes left by gang members.

Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia

Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia's beach house in Brazil's Santa Catarina state fetched more than $1.1 million, while a second home in an upscale beach town near Rio de Janeiro sold for $910,000
A small ranch in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state drew $370,000, according to the Web site of auctioneer Judicial Electronic Auction.
Still for sale are the swank Sao Paulo mansion where Ramirez Abadia was arrested last August and a plot of land in Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state, worth a combined $1.5 million.
Bids were taken simultaneously online and in an auditorium in Sao Paulo, and buyers' identities were not released.
Ramirez Abadia _ nicknamed "Chupeta," or "Lollipop" _ is accused of leading the powerful Norte del Valle cartel. In 1996 he was convicted on drug charges in Colombia, and was freed from prison in 2001.
His re-arrest last year in Brazil followed a two-year investigation into Colombian drug traffickers who send large amounts of cocaine to the U.S. and Europe.

He is now being held in a federal prison in Mato Grosso do Sul state while Brazil's Supreme Court considers a U.S. request to extradite him on drug and racketeering charges.

death of a 23 year old Brasilian

death of a 23 year old Brasilian in Porto earlier this month wasn't reported in the English speaking press. He had swallowed 52 condoms of coke, 23 of which had been expelled in his hotel room and the rest found during an autopsy. The article from Brasil's Estado states the drug would result in 10,000 doses.

Davena Payne, a 19-year-old student

Davena Payne, a 19-year-old student from central London, was arrested as she attempted to board a plane at Rio de Janeiro's international airport with more than 8kg of cocaine worth an estimated £300,000.