Florida

'Cocaine cowboy' who hid for 26 years in Osceola County pleads guilty

MIAMI — After 26 years as a fugitive, the so-called last of Miami's "cocaine cowboys" has pleaded guilty to a decades-old drug charge.

Gustavo Falcon pleaded guilty Thursday in Miami federal court to a single cocaine distribution conspiracy charge. Under a plea deal, the 56-year-old Falcon could get a sentence in April of no more than 14 years if the judge agrees.

Falcon vanished in 1991 when he was charged along with his older brother Augusto "Willie" Falcon, Salvador "Sal" Magluta and others. The gang purportedly smuggled some 75 tons (68,000 kilograms) of cocaine into the U.S. and made some $2 billion in the hyper-violent 1980s "Miami Vice" era.

Falcon was arrested by U.S. Marshals in April in Osceola County, where he lived under an alias with his wife. She was not charged.

Associated Press contributed to this story