Cocaine Cowboy Pleads Guilty To Spare Wife From Prosecution

MIAMI, FL — Gustavo Falcon, the last of Miami's so-called Cocaine Cowboys, pleaded guilty in U.S. district court on Thursday to cocaine-related offenses after managing to elude authorities for 26 years. In exchange, prosecutors will not pursue charges against Falcon's wife, who lived with him and their two children in the Orlando area, according to his attorney. Falcon had been living under the name Luis Andre Reiss.

The infamous Cocaine Cowboys were chronicled in a 2006 documentary by the same name. The film explored the rise of Miami's drug trade in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Falcon’s conviction arises out of his participation in the cocaine trafficking organization headed by his older brother, Augusto Guillermo Falcon, a/k/a “Willie,” and Salvador Magluta," according to federal prosecutors. "From the early 1980s through mid-October 1991, the Falcon-Magluta organization was an extraordinarily prolific cocaine trafficking organization based in the Southern District of Florida and elsewhere."

Prosecutors said that cocaine ledgers seized from a residence controlled by Magluta recorded the distribution of 8,921 kilograms of cocaine in the amount of $142,509,800 between Jan. 1, 1990 and Oct. 15, 1991.

Gustavo Falcon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was arrested during a bike ride with his wife in April.

The guilty plea was announced on Thursday by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy A. Hummel, Special Agent In Charge Adolphus P. Wright of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami Field Division and U.S. Marhsal Amos Rojas, Jr. of the United States Marshals Service.

"In the mid-1980s, the Falcon-Magluta organization established a base in Southern California. From that base, the organization distributed cocaine in the Southern California area and moved large tractor-trailer loads of cocaine from California to various destinations in the United States, including the Southern District of Florida," prosecutors said. "On almost a daily basis, the organization’s local distribution operations in Southern California received between $50,000 and $200,000 in cash drug proceeds."

Prosecutors said that the brother of Falcon’s wife was a Falcon-Magluta organization cocaine trafficker. "In 1986, the defendant’s brother-in-law told the defendant that he had a client in California that he needed to supply with cocaine," prosecutors explained. "The defendant gave his brother-in-law the names of two organization members working in the Los Angeles area and told his brother-in-law that one of them would be able to supply any cocaine he needed."

Falcon's brother-in-law was arrested in Los Angeles in December of 1986 and returned to South Florida. "In late 1987, Falcon asked his brother-in-law to receive large shipments of cocaine transported from California and introduced him to the organization member responsible for delivering the cocaine to a farm in west Miami-Dade County," prosecutors said. "The tractor-trailers arrived every one to two months and generally contained 1,000 kilograms of cocaine per load. After the loads were delivered to the farm, the defendant’s brother-in-law then would transport the cocaine to stash houses in the South Florida area."

In late 1989, Falcon contacted another organization member and offered him $10,000 per month to stash "large quantities" of cocaine in his house.

"After this organization member accepted the defendant’s offer, he received and stored organization cocaine through 1991," prosecutors said. "A search of that organization member’s house in early January 1992 yielded 3.093 kilograms of cocaine from his attic."

Falcon was one of 10 Falcon-Magluta members to be indicted in April of 1991. Also named in the indictment were Willie Falcon, Salvador Magluta, and Falcon's brother-in-law at that time.

"After the indictment was unsealed on May 20, 1991, Falcon and others learned of the charges against them," prosecutors said. "In mid-September 1991, Falcon obtained a false Florida driver’s license in the name of 'Luis Andre Reiss.'"

He had been in hiding until last April when U.S. Marshals tracked him down to Kissimmee, Florida. Falcon was taken into custody by U.S. deputy marshals on April 12, 2017.

Falcon's sentencing is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. on April 11 before U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno.

Orange County Corrections via AP