Drug Queen `LA Senora' Extradited To U.S.

A Colombian woman accused of running a female-dominated drug-trafficking ring that distributed thousands of kilograms of cocaine in the United States since 1986 has been extradited from Brazil to face federal charges in New York and Los Angeles of narcotics trafficking and money laundering .

Known among her associates as "La Senora," Mery Valencia, 44, operated a sophisticated crime organization from her home base in Cali, Colombia. Nearly every one of her top lieutenants was a woman, and some of those women brought their daughters into the ring, according to an indictment unsealed in New York.

In Southern California, authorities said, Valencia maintained a network of stash houses where large drug shipments were stored after being smuggled across the border.

Valencia, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was flown to New York on Tuesday night from Rio de Janeiro, where she had been under arrest since 1997.

FBI agents from Los Angeles were present when Valencia was seized at the Rio airport.

She was carrying false identification papers and had undergone plastic surgery to disguise her appearance.