Carlos Lehder Rivas, one of the founders of the Medellin drug cartel, was % supposed to be the U.S. government's star witness in the Miami trial of Panama's General Manuel Noriega, who is charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. But the prosecution's plans were turned upside down last week when Lehder, 42, claimed that the cartel gave $10 million to the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan contras.
Pasty-faced after four years and 10 months in federal prison, where he is serving a life sentence plus 135 years for drug trafficking, Lehder conceded that he had only hearsay knowledge of the payment. Responding to...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
