Justo Germán Rosario, Drug Trafficking, Puerto Rico 2020

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Dominican drug lord Justo Germán Rosario (CPOT No. 64), also known as ‘Papín,’ was indicted, arrested, and extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking charges filed in the District of Puerto Rico.

‘This extradition is another important step in our fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime,’ said U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow. ‘Over the past years, the District of Puerto Rico has established stronger partnerships with our neighboring countries in many areas of law enforcement, including extraditions. We will continue to strengthen those partnerships.’

Rosario was the leader of a transnational criminal organization (TCO) suspected of importing thousands of kilograms of cocaine into Puerto Rico from several strategic sites within the Caribbean, to include the Dominican Republic and Sint Maarten.

On July 15, 2020, a Federal Grand Jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment against Rosario, charging him with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States (count one). Count two of the indictment charges the defendant with importing five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States from Venezuela, Sint Maarten, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, from February to December 2017.

This prosecution is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation ‘Neptune Trident,’ with the collaboration of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The OCDETF program identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.

The Attorney General designated Rosario as an OCDETF Consolidated Priority Organizational Target (CPOT) in 2019. The Attorney General’s (AG) Interagency CPOT list is comprised of leaders who exercise ‘command and control’ of the elements of the most prolific drug trafficking/money laundering organizations that have the greatest impact on the United States’ illicit drug supply.

Agents assigned to the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF) have been investigating Rosario’s drug trafficking organization (DTO) since 1994. If convicted, Rosario faces a possible sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison.