---
title: "Who Is ‘Cholo Chorrillo’ and Why His Name Keeps Surfacing in Panama’s Criminal Cases?"
date: 2026-05-12
author: ""
url: https://panamadaily.news/2026/05/12/cholo-chorrillo-panama-criminal-cases/
categories:
  - "Crime"
  - "News"
  - "Politics"
tags:
  - "Cholo Chorrillo"
  - "drug trafficking"
  - "Jorge Camargo Clarke"
  - "La Joyita"
  - "money laundering"
  - "Panama crime"
---

# Who Is ‘Cholo Chorrillo’ and Why His Name Keeps Surfacing in Panama’s Criminal Cases?

## What Happened

Jorge Rubén Camargo Clarke, known by the alias “Cholo Chorrillo,” has become one of the most closely watched figures in Panama’s criminal justice history. His name first gained wide attention in 2005, when he was linked to the Bagdad gang, a criminal group tied to the broader organization El Pentágono and connected in multiple cases to homicides and drug thefts.

Over the years, Camargo Clarke has been investigated, prosecuted, detained, and later extradited, with cases spanning drug trafficking, money laundering, gang activity, and prison violence. His trajectory shows how organized crime cases in Panama can move from neighborhood gang links to major national and international investigations.

## Legal Cases in Panama

In 2010, the Drug Prosecutor’s Office investigated him during Operation Ley Patriótica II, though the defendants in that case were later dismissed by the Eighth Criminal Court. In July 2012, he was sentenced to five years in prison for gang-related crimes.

In April 2018, the Seventh Criminal Court granted him house arrest and a travel ban after a request from lawyer Shirley Castañeda, who is now a deputy with the Realizing Goals party in the National Assembly. Later that same year, the Liquidating Court for Criminal Cases sentenced him to 70 months in prison for money laundering.

In 2023, Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice refused to admit a cassation appeal filed by his defense against the 70-month sentence. That decision upheld the lower court ruling in the long-running case.

## Connection to the La Joyita Prison Massacre

Camargo Clarke was also linked to the 2019 massacre at La Joya prison, where 12 inmates were killed and 13 others were injured in what authorities determined was a gang dispute. The Prosecutor’s Office theory in the trial that began this week against 12 defendants is that an alleged order from “Cholo Chorrillo” triggered the confrontation on December 17, 2019.

During the investigation, some inmates said an internal split within the Bagdad gang led to the clash. Authorities later seized AK-47 rifles, 9mm pistols, a .380-caliber firearm, and a .38 revolver from inside the prison. The case prompted tighter security at La Joya and renewed scrutiny of how weapons entered the facility.

## Extradition and U.S. Conviction

In 2022, Camargo Clarke was detained in Costa Rica, where he had taken refuge. At the time, he was being investigated in Panama for drug trafficking under Operation Neptuno. He was extradited to the United States in March 2023 to face federal charges.

A federal court in Los Angeles later found him guilty after an international investigation involving U.S. and Panamanian authorities. He faced charges related to international drug trafficking and was tied in court proceedings to the movement of multiple metric tons of cocaine headed for the United States.

His case reflects the growing reach of cross-border prosecutions targeting figures accused of moving narcotics through Central America and into the U.S. market. In Panama, his name remains closely associated with gang violence, prison security failures, and major anti-crime investigations.