'Cocaine Cowboy' Gustavo Falcon pleads guilty to his role in Florida cartel after 26 years on the run

As part of the 'Los Muchachos outfit prosecutors say he trafficked $2bn (£1.41bn) worth of the drug, or an estimated 75 tonnes from Colombia into Miami in the 1980s

Falcon had been living near Orlando under a false name when he was arrested while out cycling a bike (Screengrab/YouTube/CBS Miami)

A so-called "Cocaine Cowboy" who went on the run for 26 years before he was eventually captured, has pleaded guilty for his part in an infamous cartel that operated in Florida.

Gustavo Falcon was part of the "Los Muchachos" outfit in the state that trafficked $2bn (£1.41bn) worth of the drug, or an estimated 75 tonnes from Colombia into Miami in the 1980s.

It opened up and ran that pipeline into the city for about a decade until the authorities smashed up its operation in 1991. Its ring leaders, including Gustavo’s brother Willy, were jailed for decades.

Gustavo himself slipped away from justice and fell off the radar after he went on the run amid the crackdown.

But his time as a free man came crashing down in April when police arrested him as he and his wife cycled home in Kissimmee, in central Florida, where they had been living under false names.

The authorities tracked him down to the area near Orlando after a police sketch artist identified him after comparing his driving licence photo to a historical mug shot from his cartel days.

He stood handcuffed and shackled in the dock today as he pleaded guilty in a federal courthouse in Miami to his part in the Los Muchachos drug gang, the Miami New Times reported.

“I understand,” Falcon, 56, replied several times as U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno returned him to custody at the end of the hearing, news channel Local 10 reported.

The Los Muchachos cartel earned its name after Falcon’s brother Willy and his childhood friend Sal Magluta opened up the trafficking network between Miami and Colombia in the early 1980s.

The pair earned up to millions every month by smuggling tonnes of the drug into Miami using their own powerboats, creating one of the biggest operations on the US East Coast.

Police finally closed in on the operation in 1991 and charged the pair with trafficking 75 tonnes of the drug which they said they had smuggled over the previous 13 years.

They were initially cleared of the claims in a 1996 trial – but they were re-tried in 2001 after prosecutors learned that the two traffickers had rigged the jury in the earlier case to free them.

Willy, 62, was later given 20 years in prison in the second hearing while Magluta was sentenced to 195 years.

Prosecutors said Gustavo had worked behind the scenes in his brother’s criminal enterprise, and was largely involved in totting up the balance sheet for their illicit multi-billion dollar trade.

Falcon today plead guilty to one count of conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute during his years in the Los Muchachos cartel and faces up to 20 years in prison.

He was remanded to custody for sentencing on 11 April.