A 26-year-old Colombian described by prosecutors as the top assassin of the Medellin drug cartel was convicted yesterday of using false identification and lying to Federal agents who tracked him from Miami and seized him at a Queens phone booth in September.
The man, Dandeny Munoz-Mosquera, faces up to six years in prison on the two charges when he is sentenced on Jan. 13 by Judge Jack B. Weinstein of Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The judge said in court yesterday that if the Government, at a pre-sentencing hearing, substantiated its allegations about Mr. Munoz-Mosquera's involvement in the killings of 40 or more police officers and in other killings, the sentence was likely to be the maximum. Judge Weinstein also suggested that in the meantime Mr. Munoz-Mosquera be held in a "high-security prison."
His lawyers continued to maintain that the man convicted was not a notorious hit man but another Colombian, Luis Fernando Hernandez, although they conceded that he was carrying identification in a third name. The lawyers, Richard A. Canton and Richard Jasper, also contended that under new sentencing guidelines the maximum sentence was no more than six months on each count.
The conviction, after only a few hours' deliberation in the two-day trial, drew sighs of relief from the authorities. Investigation Still Active
"We're pleased; it gives us some breathing room," said Andrew Maloney, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, who described the investigation as "very active." He said that while investigators still did not know why Mr. Munoz-Mosquera had come to the United States. Even if none of the killings took place on American soil, Mr. Maloney said, there may be grounds to charge the Colombian with a conspiracy that "carried over to U.S. territory."
The verdict was also hailed by the Drug Enforcement Administration, whose agents arrested Mr. Munoz-Mosquera on Sept. 25. "We're glad to hear it," said John Dowd, a spokesman for the agency in New York. Tip Alerts Authorities
Federal authorities had expressed fears this week that, lacking evidence linking Mr. Munoz-Mosquera to violent crimes in the United States, they might have to let him go. Instead, he was charged with falsely telling agents he was someone named Esteban Restrepo-Echavarria and showing them identification in that name.
He is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.
A tip several months ago alerted Federal agents that Mr. Munoz-Mosquera was leaving Bogota for the United States, just as President Bush and other world leaders were preparing to arrive in New York City for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly.
D.E.A. agents tracked the Colombian to New York, where he was arrested at 103d Street and Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights.