DOMINICAN FUGITIVE JOSE ORTEGA DE LEON EXTRADITED

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 002127 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR DSEARBY, L/LEI FOR TORRES AND MUELLER DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR CRIM/OIA ORJALES AND ESTABROOK US MARSHALS SERVICE PLEASE PASS TO JIM SCHIELD DEA FOR OF,OFI,DO,DCO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CJAN CVIS KCRM SNAR DR SUBJECT: DOMINICAN FUGITIVE JOSE ORTEGA DE LEON EXTRADITED TO THE U.S. REF: A. 2005 STATE 114065 ¶B. 2005 STATE 91614 ¶1. On June 22, 2006, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agents returned Jose Ramon Ortega de Leon (aka Chico) to Westchester, NY for trial before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he is the subject of superseding indictment number S7 04 CR 1353 (KMW), filed March 15, 2005. As detailed in the indictment, Ortega de Leon, a reputed member of the Paulino Castillo criminal organization, participated in the importation of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine from the Dominican Republic for distribution in the United States. ¶2. Following the 2005 issuance of a Dominican arrest warrant based on a U.S. Government request for extradition, Ortega de Leon was apprehended at Las Americans International Airport on March 19, 2006, by officers of the Dominican National Directorate for Drug Control's Fugitive Unit. Ortega de Leon had been returning from a extended visit to Cuba at the time of his arrest. Ortega de Leon challenged his extradition before the Criminal Chamber of the Dominican Supreme Court on a vaiety of grounds, but was ruled extraditable on Jun 16, ¶2006. His extradition was properly confirmd by presidential decree on June 19, 2006. 3.Ortega de Leon is the 20th fugitive extradited to te United States during FY-2006 and the 10th extrdited during this calendar year. HERTELL