Jose Samir Renteria-Cuero, Cocaine Trafficking, Florida 2014

Tampa, Florida – In a major blow to the Colombian cocaine trade, Jose Samir Renteria-Cuero, a/k/a “Jose Morfi,” has been sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine onboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Renteria-Cuero, 51, from Cali, Colombia, pleaded guilty on February 6, 2014, to his involvement in maritime cocaine smuggling operations from the 1980s until at least 2009.

According to court documents, Renteria-Cuero started out as a mechanic, servicing go-fast vessels (GFVs) and participating in GFV smuggling operations. He eventually acquired and built GFVs and self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) vessels and recruited mariners to participate in maritime cocaine smuggling operations.

Renteria-Cuero worked with others to transport and store cocaine in Colombia, construct and repair GFVs and SPSS vessels, and dispatch those stateless vessels from Colombia. He acted as a “general contractor,” accepting contracts to build SPSS vessels from cocaine owners in Colombia.

The cocaine was then transported aboard stateless vessels that were used to smuggle the drugs from Colombia to Mexico, via the Pacific Ocean, in international waters – knowing and intending that the cocaine would ultimately be imported unlawfully into the United States. Many of these ventures involved at least 1,000 kilograms of cocaine.

Renteria-Cuero was arrested in Cali, Colombia in March 2012, and subsequently extradited to the United States, first arriving at a place in the Middle District of Florida.

This case was investigated by the Panama Express South Strike Force, a standing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation comprised of agents and analysts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher F. Murray. The Office of International Affairs assisted with the extradition of the defendant from Colombia.

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