A former German corporal who authorities say is a deadly sniper copped a plea Tuesday to being part of a squadron of elite ex-military personnel that plotted to assassinate a federal DEA agent.
Dennis “Nico” Gogel pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to murder the agent and a confidential informant in Liberia for a $800,000 payday.
Gogel – who faces a likely sentence of up to 28 years in prison under his deal with the feds — also confessed to other crimes including attempting to import cocaine and possessing machine guns with silencers and other firearms. He had faced life in prison prior to copping a plea.
Led by Former US Army Sgt. Joseph “Rambo” Hunter, the international crew of veteran snipers and ex-counter-intelligence officers formed a security detail and hit squad for a supposed crew of heavyweight Colombian drug smugglers, who were working with authorities, the feds said.
The bloody band of brothers also included former US Army Sgt. Timothy Vamvakias, former Polish counter-terrorism expert Slawomir Soboroski, and former German military sniper Michael Filter. Vamvakias pleaded guilty in the scheme last week.
In meetings held from Asia to Africa, the fearsome unit was caught on surveillance casually discussing killing the DEA agent and informant and similar executions they had coldly committed in the past.
Like any corporate recruiter, Hunter – who served nearly two decades in the military and rose to rank of sergeant first-class while in the army – allegedly solicited actual resumes for the hit squad in late 2011 by e-mail.
The job description was simple: to perform potentially lethal but wildly lucrative security and surveillance for a Colombian drug cartel that was moving thousands of kilos of cocaine across the world.
After he assembled his cadre, Hunter allegedly arranged for a meeting with confidential informants posing as the South American drug kingpins somewhere in Asia this March.