Fugitive on the Run For Binghamton Drug Conspiracy Caught After 20 Years

A man accused of planning to run drugs from New York City to Binghamton is in custody after being on the lam for around 20 years.

Prosecutors with the United States Northern District say 51-year old Julio Recio from the Dominican Republic was extradited from Spain and brought to Syracuse November 21 to start serving a 15-year prison sentence that was imposed in 1999.

Recio was arrested in Binghamton 20 years ago and charged under federal indictment.  He pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge and was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Thomas McAvoy to 30-months in prison. He was ordered to self-report to the United States Bureau of Prisons to start serving his sentence.

That’s when things went off the rails. Recio never showed up, instead fleeing the United States and evading law enforcement officials until the United States Marshals Service recently identified him traveling between the Dominican Republic and Spain under an assumed name.

He was arrested in Spain in January but its taken months for the case to work through the international extradition process, getting back to New York State.