A Colombian cartel leader faces a minimum of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to trafficking cocaine to the U.S. in the late 1990s.

Salomon Camacho Mora, 70, told a federal judge in New Jersey Wednesday his violent drug cartel, Guajira Cartel, was responsible for organizing shipment and sale of cocaine to organizations in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman and FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford.

Camacho told the court his cartel purchased multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine from various cocaine processing laboratories located in Colombia, and transported them to various shipping ports in Venezuela.

Camacho was originally indicted in 2002, but was arrested in Valencia, Venezuela in Jan. 13, 2010, and brought to the U.S. face federal charges after being expelled by Venezuelan authorities.

As part of his plea, Camacho -- who also went by "Papa Grande," "El Viejo," and "Hector" -- agreed to forfeit $1.6 million in profit from the illegal transaction, along with eight Colombian properties.

The original indictment alleged that Camacho, along with four other individuals, were responsible for illegal drug activity from June 1998 through December 2000, according to court documents.

Throughout that period, Camacho, along with Hermagoras Gonzalez Polanco, Marcos Ivan Espinoza de Leon, Hector Fabio Garcia and Fnu Lnu -- most of whom had other nicknames -- gained a total of $35,000,000 in illegal profits from the sale of at least 9 metric tons between them.

Previously, Camacho, who had been designated a Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) by the Department of Justice, was a New Jersey FBI fugitive for more than eight years, Fishman said in a statement Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of State archives reveal there was a $5 million reward for information leading to Camacho. His associate Gonzalez Polanco was arrested by Venezuelan authorities on March 8, 2008. Espinoza De Leon was arrested in Mexico in 2010, according to Borderlandbeat.

Authorities said Camacho began drug trafficking in the 1980s, when he was a part of the Colombian Medellin Cartel, and partnered with other known traffickers.

In 1991, Camacho was indicted in the Southern District of Florida for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, according to the department of State. In 2002, he was indicted in the District of New Jersey for money laundering violations, but in 2005 the conspiracy to distribute cocaine was added to the charges in a new indictment.

Camacho could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 10, 2015.