{"id":16747,"date":"2015-10-23T16:57:23","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T23:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747"},"modified":"2015-10-23T17:08:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-24T00:08:16","slug":"an-international-drug-trafficking-kingpin-sentenced-to-30-years-in-federal-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747","title":{"rendered":"International Drug Trafficking Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON D.C.<\/h2>\n
\n

\"courtroom_02\"<\/a>A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison , according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Gregory Joel Sitzmann,<\/strong> 65, operated a drug dealing and money laundering organization for at least 14 years out of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Bahamas, France, Italy, Spain and other countries, officials said.<\/p>\n

Sitzmann, who was born in Iowa, had most recently resided in Colombia.<\/p>\n

He was found guilty by a jury on May 21, 2012, of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, according to officials.<\/p>\n

The verdict followed a six-week trial in the U.S. District Court.<\/p>\n

\u00a0U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman<\/strong> also ordered Sitzmann to pay a $500,000 fine.<\/p>\n

According to the government\u2019s evidence, these are the facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sitzmann used and conspired to use numerous individuals and artifices to transport hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia and Mexico into the United States and into numerous countries around the world.<\/p>\n

For example, officials said Sitzmann used commercial airplanes, and luggage, automobiles and trucks with secret compartments to move the drugs.<\/p>\n

Evidence showed that Sitzmann has been involved in drug smuggling and money laundering since at least the 1980s and that he provided hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to a Hells Angels motorcycle gang<\/strong> in Montreal throughout the 1990s.<\/p>\n

He maintained corporations and bank accounts in Panama, Switzerland, Luxembourg<\/strong> and elsewhere to facilitate his money laundering and the purchase of assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cGregory Joel Sitzmann was a career wholesale cocaine trafficker who operated an international drug conspiracy at the highest levels that involved over 1,300 kilograms of cocaine,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips.\u00a0<\/strong> \u201cHe directly acquired cocaine from the drug cartels of Colombia and Mexico to transport into the United States and other countries around the world.\u00a0 Now, after years of eluding justice, he has been convicted and will spend an appropriately significant amount of time in prison for his crimes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sitzmann was indicted on Aug. 7, 2008 \u00a0for activities that took place during the 1990s and at least until 2004.<\/p>\n

The day after the indictment, Sitzmann was deported from France to the United States, where Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations’ special agents arrested Sitzmann.\u00a0 He has been in custody ever since.<\/p>\n

The defendant delayed trial for years, utilizing numerous attorneys while alternating with demands to represent himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON D.C. A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison , according to authorities. Gregory Joel Sitzmann, 65,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[299,1807,492],"class_list":["post-16747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-homeland-security","tag-international-drugs","tag-money-laundering"],"yoast_head":"\nDrug Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years for Narcotics Trafficking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison .\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drug Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years for Narcotics Trafficking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison .\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-23T23:57:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-24T00:08:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"584\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"International Drug Trafficking Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-23T23:57:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-24T00:08:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747\"},\"wordCount\":400,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Homeland Security\",\"International Drugs\",\"Money Laundering\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747\",\"name\":\"Drug Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years for Narcotics Trafficking\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-23T23:57:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-24T00:08:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison .\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=16747#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg\",\"width\":584,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Drug Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years for Narcotics Trafficking","description":"A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison .","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Drug Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years for Narcotics Trafficking","og_description":"A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison .","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2015-10-23T23:57:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-24T00:08:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":584,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"International Drug Trafficking Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison","datePublished":"2015-10-23T23:57:23+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-24T00:08:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747"},"wordCount":400,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg","keywords":["Homeland Security","International Drugs","Money Laundering"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747","name":"Drug Kingpin Sentenced to 30 Years for Narcotics Trafficking","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-23T23:57:23+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-24T00:08:16+00:00","description":"A federal judge today sentenced an international drug kingpin and money launderer who operated in several countries to 30 years in prison .","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16747#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security.jpg","width":584,"height":360},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16747"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16759,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747\/revisions\/16759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}