This undated file photo shows Fabio Ochoa Vasquez. / AP He was initially arrested in 1990 in Colombia under a government program promising drug kingpins would not be extradited to the U.S.

At the time, he was listed among the U.S. government's "Dozen Most Wanted" Colombian drug lords. This file photo taken in November 1999 shows drug trafficker Fabio Ochoa in Bogota, Colombia.

Fabio Ochoa, center, a former member of Cartel of Medellin, kisses a relative’s hand upon his arrival at El Dorado airport in Bogotá, Colombia, on Dec. 23, 2024.

Fabio Ochoa, one of Colombia's legendary drug lords and a key operator of the Medellin cartel, has been deported back to the South American country, where he has walked free.

Ochoa and his older brothers amassed a fortune when cocaine started flooding the U.S. in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to U.S. authorities, to the point that in 1987 they were included ...

Fabio Ochoa, center, a former member of Cartel of Medellin, kisses a relative's hand upon his arrival at El Dorado airport, after being deported from the United States, in Bogota, Colombia, Monday ...

Fabio Ochoa, center, a former member of Cartel of Medellin, kisses a relative's hand upon his arrival at El Dorado airport in Bogotá, Colombia, on Dec. 23, 2024.