The jailed former third-ranking member of the Cali drug cartel was shot dead Thursday while playing soccer in a prison yard.
Helmer Herrera, alias "Pacho," was killed by at least one gunman in Palmira prison in Cali, a National Prison Service spokesman said.Herrera, 47, surrendered to authorities in September 1996 and was convicted of drug trafficking earlier this year.
Herrera was playing soccer inside the prison, 180 miles west of Bogota, when he was shot. The assassin was captured by prison guards, said the spokesman, Javier Suarez.
The United States made a formal extradition request for Herrera in July 1996, but Colombian law forbade his extradition.
In the 1980s, Herrera personally directed cocaine distribution and money laundering activities in the New York City area on behalf of the cartel, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.