‘Cocaine cowboy’ gets 11 years in prison after 26 years as fugitive

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‘Cocaine cowboy’ gets 11 years in prison after 26 years as fugitive

April 26th, 2018

Awake Goy

A fugitive dubbed the last of Miami’s “cocaine cowboys” was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison after being a fugitive for 26 years.

Gustavo Falcon, 56, aka “Taby,” played a key role in one of the biggest drug trafficking operations of the violent 1980s smuggling era, authorities said.

He was part of a gang that smuggled 75 tons of cocaine into the U.S. and made an estimated $2 billion during a time popularized by the “Miami Vice” TV show.

“That’s a lot of cocaine,” U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno said at Falcon’s sentencing hearing. “It’s so serious. He himself knows how serious it is.”

Falcon’s extraordinary run as the last free member of the biggest cocaine ring in Miami history came to an end last year when U.S. Marshals found him living in Kissimmee. https://t.co/GW7Ypfd7T1

— Miami New Times (@MiamiNewTimes) April 25, 2018

Falcon pleaded guilty in February to a single cocaine distribution conspiracy charge.

He was captured last April, living under the alias “Luis Andre Rice,” in Kissimmee, Fla., with his wife, Amelia, aka “Maria Ava Rice,” the Miami New Times reported.

U.S. Marshals arrested Falcon while he was on a bike ride with Amelia in the quiet town about 13 miles southeast of Disney World.

In an apologetic letter to the judge, Falcon said he fled because he didn’t want to lose contact with his wife and two children, who are now grown.

“I convinced myself that it was better to leave with my wife and children,” he wrote. “I was afraid that if I went to prison for a long time, my wife would move on, and my children would grow up without a father.”