Former Heavyweight Boxer Charged With Trafficking $1 Billion of Cocaine - The New York Times

Goran Gogic, a erstwhile nonrecreational boxer, was charged successful a Brooklyn national tribunal past week with trafficking implicit 20 tons of cocaine, estimated to beryllium worthy much than $1 billion, prosecutors said.

Officials said successful a quality release that Mr. Gogic was a “major cause trafficker” who they judge conspired with an extended web of cause suppliers, vessel unit members and larboard workers to postulation immense amounts of cocaine from Colombia to Europe via U.S. ports, often utilizing commercialized cargo ships to stash the drugs.

In February, March and June of 2019, according to prosecutors, U.S. instrumentality enforcement officers seized 3 shipments amounting to 22 tons of cocaine. One shipment contained astir 40,000 pounds of cocaine, valued astatine astir $1 billion, prosecutors said. The bust, astatine the Port of Philadelphia successful June 2019, was 1 of the largest cocaine seizures connected grounds successful the United States, prosecutors said.

The worth of the different 2 seized shipments was unclear.

After a associated probe conducted by local, authorities and national agencies, Mr. Gogic was arrested connected Sunday astatine Miami International Airport portion trying to committee an planetary formation headed to Zurich, prosecutors said.

Breon Peace, the U.S. lawyer for the Eastern District of New York, said that Mr. Gogic’s apprehension and indictment represented a “body blow” to the transgression enactment the suspect belonged to.

Lawrence A. Hashish, a lawyer successful Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who said helium represented Mr. Gogic, said that the charges “came arsenic a surprise.” Mr. Hashish said his lawsuit had traveled for a boxing normal successful Puerto Rico and that determination hadn’t been an outstanding apprehension warrant earlier his accomplishment successful the United States.

“He wasn’t wanted before. His sanction was flagged, but helium was ne'er wanted before,” Mr. Hashish said. “And that’s going to beryllium a large contented with his case.”

Mr. Gogic, 43, from Montenegro, was a heavyweight boxer who fought mostly successful Germany and finished his vocation with a 21-4-2 record with 14 knockouts. His past bout appeared to person been successful 2012.

He was charged with 1 number of conspiracy to interruption the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act and 3 counts of violating the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, prosecutors said. The indictment was unsealed connected Monday successful national court, tribunal records show.

Prosecutors called Mr. Gogic’s relation “integral” to the operation, “as helium oversaw the logistics for getting the cocaine from South America to Europe via the United States,” according to tribunal documents.

Between May and July of 2019, Mr. Gogic conspired with others to postulation cocaine sourced successful Colombia and transported done U.S. ports, for the eventual extremity of organisation successful Europe, prosecutors said. At night, cocaine was ferried by speedboat to commercialized cargo ships, hoisted aboard utilizing a crane and loaded onto the vessels. The illicit deliveries were past concealed successful containers. Altogether, prosecutors said, the process was a “complex operation” of logistics that required entree to galore details, including each ship’s crew, route, real-time positioning and consciousness of the “legitimate cargo” successful the containers.

In Europe, the planetary cause conspiracy relied connected different acceptable of larboard workers to “clandestinely entree and region the cocaine from the shipping containers,” prosecutors said, adding that “significant amounts of cocaine” were seized astatine ports successful Panama, Peru and the Netherlands, arsenic good arsenic successful different countries.

Ivan J. Arvelo, a peculiar cause successful complaint for Homeland Security Investigations successful New York, said that Mr. Gogic’s apprehension sent “a connection to narco-traffickers worldwide that they are not escaped to hijack planetary maritime commerce with impunity.”

Mr. Gogic volition beryllium arraigned successful the Eastern District of New York astatine a aboriginal date, prosecutors said. If convicted, helium faces a mandatory minimum condemnation of 10 years successful situation and up to beingness successful prison.

Mr. Gogic, deemed a formation risk, is being held astatine the national detention halfway successful Miami, wherever helium awaits a bail proceeding adjacent week, according to John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s bureau for the Eastern District of New York.

Several others progressive successful the June 2019 bust successful Philadelphia person already been arrested and sentenced. Seven unit members of the shipping vas MSC Gayane pleaded blameworthy to conspiracy to person with intent to administer cocaine, prosecutors said. At slightest 3 of these individuals were sentenced past twelvemonth to much than 5 years successful prison.