After 26 years, last 'cocaine cowboy' back in Miami court
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - This undated file photo provided by Orange County Corrections shows Gustavo Falcon, the last of South Florida's "Cocaine Cowboys". Falcon was arrested Wednesday, April 12, 2017, some 26 years after he went on the lam, while on a 40-mile bike ride with his wife near the Orlando suburb where they apparently lived under assumed names. Falcon makes his first court appearance in Miami, Tuesday, April 25, 2017. (Orange County Corrections via AP, File) (The Associated Press)
The last of the "cocaine cowboys" who investigators say smuggled vast amounts of the drug into the U.S. is due back in a Miami courtroom 26 years after fleeing an indictment.
Court records show 55-year-old Gustavo Falcon will appear Tuesday afternoon. Falcon was arrested earlier this month near Orlando, where he had been living under an assumed name with his wife.
Falcon vanished in 1991 when he, his older brother Augusto "Willie" Falcon, Salvador "Sal" Magluta and others were charged in a major federal indictment. The gang purportedly smuggled at least 75 tons of cocaine into the U.S. and made some $2 billion during the hyperviolent "Miami Vice" era.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gustavo Falcon faces a cocaine conspiracy charge that carries a potential life prison sentence. He has not yet entered a plea.