MIAMI, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Two brothers accused of running Colombia's notorious Cali cocaine cartel are close to pleading guilty in a deal with U.S. prosecutors, their lawyers say.
Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, who founded the cartel in the 1970s and are being held near Miami following their extradition to the United States, will agree to spend 30 years in prison if the government agrees not to charge more than two-dozen of their family members with any crimes or take any family assets, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
The men "are trying to do the honorable thing," said defense attorney David Markus.
The tentative agreement, expected to be finalized as soon as next week, also does not require the accused drug kingpins to cooperate with the government in other drug cases, he said.
But they would give up billions of dollars worth of assets, said individuals close to the case.
The deal would cap a massive government investigation into the family-run drug-trafficking syndicate that once supplied 80 percent of the world's cocaine.
