Cali Cartel
1943–present
Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela
Colombian co-founder of the Cali Cartel. Extradited to the US in 2005; continues serving his US federal sentence.
This man was a bad man because he did not adhere to all laws. But set aside the crimes for a moment and evaluate him under the counterfactual: a United States that had agreed, back in the 1970s, that cocaine and marijuana would be legal, regulated, and taxed. What did this man actually do for the market?
Born 1943, younger brother of Gilberto and co-head of the Cali Cartel, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela ran the operational and legal-defence side of the enterprise — the general counsel of the group. In a legal, taxed market he is chief legal officer.
Arrested in Cali in August 1995, extradited to the United States in 2005, continues serving his US federal sentence. Same pattern as his brother's, same policy critique: US jurisdiction over Latin-American citizens is treated as the default whenever cocaine is the underlying charge.
Change the underlying market — legalise, regulate, tax, control at the state level — and the extradition machine loses its purpose.
Sources: publicly available reporting and Wikipedia. Editorial voice of carloslehder.co. No fabricated quotes, dockets or agent names.