Monday, Oct. 07, 1991
American Notes Law Enforcement
Under a torrential downpour, Dandeny Munoz Mosquera spoke into a pay phone outside a Queens flower shop. A team of agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration watched him from a parked car across the street. Before he knew what was happening, Munoz Mosquera suddenly had a dozen guns pointed at his head. "We have captured the single most trusted hit man of the Medellin cartel," announced New York DEA chief Robert Bryden. Munoz Mosquera is believed to have killed 40 Colombian officers, government officials, witnesses and innocent bystanders, and may have masterminded the 1989 murder of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan.
The DEA believes he arrived in Los Angeles two weeks ago, then flew to New York City. Agents immediately launched a round-the-clock search to head him off before President Bush, top Colombian officials and dozens of other dignitaries -- any of whom might have been potential targets -- arrived in New York City for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. Munoz Mosquera will probably be extradited to Colombia to face trial on charges of murder and robbery.