United States v. Lehder-Rivas

JOHNSON, Senior Circuit Judge:

I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE

A. Background Facts

From early 1978 through 1981, Carlos Enrique Lehder-Rivas (Lehder) served as leader of a cocaine smuggling organization which utilized as its major base for operations the island of Norman’s Cay in the Bahamas. Lehder’s planes, or those of his pilots, transported cocaine from Colombia to Norman’s Cay in loads ranging from 150 to 500 kilograms. Later, on a second leg, *1515usually with different planes and different pilots, the cocaine was flown into Florida or south Georgia. From there the cocaine was driven to “stash houses”…