Mejia-Velez v. United States

KORMAN, District Judge.:

On March 11, 1992, Manuel de Dios Unanue, a journalist and former editor of New York's largest Spanish daily, was having a drink at a restaurant in Queens when he was shot twice in the head. United States v. Mejia-Velez , 855 F.Supp. 607 (E.D.N.Y. 1994). De Dios was murdered at the direction of the Cali cartel, an association of drug-dealing families based in Cali, Colombia. Because of his scathing exposés on the cartel, de Dios was singled out for execution by the head of one of the families, who issued a contract offering $50,000 for de Dios's death.

Ultimately, the…