01x01 - The First King of Cocaine

[bunniefuu]

CARLOS [IN SPANISH]:

INDISTINCT

GARY [IN SPANISH]:

MICHAEL:
When I say "undercover,"

I mean you are just there
on your acting skills.

And you're acting for your life.

I had been posing
as a drug dealer

for maybe 20 years.

I understood
how to read criminals.

There's an immense market for
cocaine out there in the world.

Immense.

And DEA had no idea about it.

Roberto Suárez was the biggest
drug trafficker on earth,

by far.

CHRISTIAN: I came across
some intelligence documents,

and they showed that
there was a connection

between certain drug dealers
in South America and old Nazis.

EDUARDO [IN SPANISH]:

CHRISTIAN: Klaus Barbie.

He was called
the "Butcher of Lyon."

He had ordered the deportations
of thousands of Jews.

MAN [IN GERMAN]:

[IN GERMAN]

CHRISTIAN: He became
a successful businessman

who was so well positioned

that his contacts were even
useful to Roberto Suárez.

[IN SPANISH]

CHRISTIAN: There
was a network of Nazis

in South America.

Some of them even had the dream

of creating something
like the Fourth Reich.

How was Klaus Barbie involved

in Roberto Suárez's
cocaine trafficking?

And what happened
to the undercover agent

who tried to stop them?

CHEERING

MICHAEL: When President Nixon
declared w*r on drugs in 1971...

America's public enemy
number one in the United States

is drug abuse.

MICHAEL: ...created the Drug
Enforcement Administration,

I thought, "Wow.
What a way to go."

"Fighting on the front lines
of the drug w*r."

I was a true believer.

In 1979, I was sent to Argentina

as a Drug Enforcement
Administration senior agent

at that point.

My purpose in being there

was to identify and destroy
drug traffickers,

wherever I found them.

I will never forget that moment.

Lucy came into the office.

They had security
at the embassy.

They told me she's an informant.

And she said,

"I'm gonna give you
the man controlling cocaine.

His name is Roberto Suárez."

She says, "This man is the
biggest drug dealer on earth."

Lucy, she was a Bolivian woman
who had been in the US

and been deported
for selling drugs.

She was very quick,

very aggressive, very sharp,
very smart.

She says, "I'm going to give you
this case."

And I said, "Why me?"

And she said,
"I know all about you."

I already had a reputation.
Great undercover agent.

This guy
who could play any role.

I understood
how to read criminals.

She heard all the stories
about me.

And the stories were real.

I had been posing
as a drug dealer

for maybe 20 years.

This was like a second skin.

Really what I did
was seduce people.

What I realized is,

I was acting with people
who would k*ll me

if they saw a flaw in my act,
inches from my face.

And I loved it.

I loved the thrill of it.

Seducing them,
getting them to like me.

And that protected me.

[IN SPANISH]

MEN LAUGH

MICHAEL:
Lucy, she said,

"Roberto Suárez controls
all the cocaine in the world."

Lucy said,
"He is a hero in Bolivia."

Because everybody makes
their money growing coca leaves,

making pasta básica,
which is the cocaine base.

And Roberto Suárez,

he's unifying all of them
into one structure.

Something goes bad for one,
it goes bad for all.

PHONE RINGS

MICHAEL:

MAN:

GARY:

EDUARDO:

GARY:

[IN SPANISH]

EDUARDO:

GARY PRADO [IN SPANISH]:

THE POLICE ARE AGAINST
COCAINE TRAFFICKERS

GARY PRADO:

GARY:

I was told,
"We don't have any information

on anybody by the name
of Roberto Suárez."

I had four or five conversations
like that

with headquarters personnel.

I called a lot and was told,

"We don't have anything.

Could it be
the informer's lying to you?"

I don't think so.
This is all real to me.

MAX: Mike had a lot of conflicts
in his career.

He was up in New York.

He had some problems there.

Conflict with supervisors.

He kind of got frustrated,
and stuff like that.

In 1978,
I was assigned to Argentina.

Mike, he'd been
on the job longer than me,

and he thought
he should be a supervisor.

He came in.

And at first,
we didn't hit it off at all.

Max and I were
the whole show in Argentina.

And Max was this Texan
with a drawl

and these piercing blue eyes.

He was so likeable.

We were two different people,

and our approach to things
were two different things.

His style worked good
with a lot of people.

My style worked good
with a lot of other people.

So in that, I guess,
we didn't have any problems.

MICHAEL: For the Suárez case,
I needed money.

I needed funding.

I needed authorization
from DEA headquarters.

He's not even
in the DEA computer.

There's something
radically wrong.

MAX: Roberto Suárez?

I heard the name,

but we didn't really have a case
going on him at the time.

GARY:

GARY:

GERARDO:

CHRISTIAN:
There was this mysterious German

who had emigrated
to Bolivia in the 1950s.

His name appeared in some
American intelligence files,

and that made me curious.

He had connections

to arms trading companies
in Latin America

and all over the world.

For Roberto Suárez,

he was somebody
who could help him

with these extremely good
connections abroad.

He was also highly respected
in the Bolivian military.

His name was...

Klaus Altmann.

EDUARDO:

GARY PRADO:

CHRISTIAN: At the end
of the 1920s,

Ernst Röhm,
the founder of the SA,

trained the Bolivian military.

German families generally had
a very high social status,

especially
in the Bolivian military.

They were among the richest

and most influential families
in Bolivia.

ALVARO [IN SPANISH]:

CHRISTIAN:
In his early years,

Klaus Altmann lived a very
secluded life in the jungle.

As if he wanted to hide.

KLAUS [IN GERMAN]:

JULIANA [IN GERMAN]:

In the mid-50s,
Klaus Altmann moved to La Paz.

And there in La Paz,

he became a very well-connected
businessman

who was later so well positioned

that his contacts were even
useful to Roberto Suárez.

GARY:

CHRISTIAN:
I started collecting files

on n*zi w*r criminals
who had fled to South America.

Mengele,
the doctor at Auschwitz,

and Eichmann,
are the most well-known names.

But there are many more.

All these Nazis were
well connected in South America.

Some of them even had the dream

of creating something
like the Fourth Reich.

To bring their ideology back,
far away from Germany.

Then I found a CIA file

linking n*zi w*r criminals
to the cocaine trade.

And Klaus Altmann
is mentioned in it.

And that really surprised me,

because that's something
that is hardly known.

And so I did more research.

And with every stone
that was turned over,

more connections came to light.

How was Klaus Altmann involved
with Roberto Suárez?

And what role did Michael Levine
play in all of this?

MAX: The first contact
that I had

was a person that claimed to be

from a big group of dopers
in Bolivia.

Well, it turned out to be
Roberto Suárez's group.

You don't know
who they're connected to.

That's what we try to identify,
the source and the organization.

This case was a small case,
and then it got bigger.

MICHAEL: One of the top
officials for the DEA

in charge of operations
in South America,

he was the only guy
to come forward and say,

"This merits the attempt to plan
an undercover operation

to bring Roberto Suárez
into Miami

and charge him with the drugs."

My boss had enough clout in DEA
headquarters to make it happen.

Lucy set up a meeting
with Marcelo Ibáñez,

the right-hand man
for Roberto Suárez.

He was tall for a Bolivian.
Broad-shouldered.

He and I just hit it off.

I was thinking,
"What do you want?

I will give it to you.

And if you don't know
you want it,

I'll put something up
that you will want."

I knew that they were afraid
of Colombians.

I introduced the idea of

"Don't deal through Colombians.
Deal through me.

We'll cut the Colombians out
together."

GERARDO:

GARY:

The deal I came up with,

now, looking back,
was sheer genius.

Bolivians,
they just wanted to do business.

Colombians were dangerous.

Bolivians are more
pastoral people,

peaceful people.

So we both had the same feeling
about dealing with Colombians.

And the Colombians were taking
the big part of the money.

I told him,
"I have a laboratory in Miami,

and we'll convert it there.

Get me coca base up to Florida,
and I'll convert it."

I wanted to do 500 kilos.

He said, "500 kilos is nothing."

He said, "You got to do
at least a thousand kilos."

Roberto Suárez was the biggest
drug trafficker on earth,

by far.

That's the picture
I was getting.

And the DEA
didn't even know who he was.

I said,
"Let me see how it goes."

INDISTINCT

They liked that.
I'm not too anxious.

We settled on...



CROWD [IN SPANISH]:

CROWD CONTINUES CHANTING

GARY PRADO:

GARY:

CHRISTIAN: Roberto Suárez was,
for sure, an anti-communist.

He was a successful businessman

who tried to gain
even more money.

CROWD:

CROWD CONTINUES CHANTING

Roberto Suárez
had the financial means

to support the coup.

It was of great interest to him

that there was
this change of power,

because under
a military government,

he could run his drug business
much better.

Klaus Altmann wanted the coup
for other reasons

that were related to his past.

His true identity was not known.

And this identity
was better protected

in a military government
than in a democracy.

Klaus Altmann remained
undiscovered for a long time.

Until a German journalist,
Beate Klarsfeld, appeared.

Together with her husband,
Serge Klarsfeld,

she made it her life's work
to hunt down n*zi w*r criminals.

And Klaus Altmann
became her biggest case.

BEATE [IN GERMAN]:

DE HOYOS [IN FRENCH]:

[IN GERMAN]

DE HOYOS [IN GERMAN]:

[IN GERMAN]

BEATE:

Klaus Barbie was
a wanted n*zi w*r criminal.

He was the head of the Gestapo
in Lyon

during the Second World w*r.

He was known to have
committed terrible crimes.

He had ordered the deportation
of thousands of Jews

to extermination camps.

DE HOYOS [IN GERMAN]:

[IN GERMAN]

expl*sive! BANCHERO CASE
HUNTING AN EXECUTIONER

GARY:

When Klaus Barbie
was exposed back then,

there was a brief outcry
in Bolivia.

But it quickly died down again.

The extradition requests
from France all came to nothing,

because Klaus Barbie
was protected in Bolivia.

He had powerful friends
even in government circles.

For Klarsfeld,
it was disappointing.

But her hands were tied.
She couldn't get to him.

EDUARDO:

CHRISTIAN:
I think it scared him.

He feared those n*zi hunters
who knew about him now.

That's why a military government
was much better for him.

Because in such a system,
he was better protected.

Roberto Suárez
wanted to make a coup happen

because he could make
a lot of money,

both for Bolivia
and for himself.

And the drug deal
with Michael Levine

could provide him
with the cash in hand

to put his plan into action.

RICHIE: So, Miami was the
cocaine capital of the world.

Colombian traffickers.
Cubans. sh**t-outs.

I'm working undercover
in a street group in Miami.

Mike calls me up and says,

"Hey, Richie, I want to bring
a case to Miami."

I'd already met Mike.

He had come to the office.

I liked Mike right away.
He was good.

I mean, he was better than good.
He was excellent.

Richie Fiano was a Bronx boy.

I was just happy to see him.

We just trusted each other.

RICHIE: He says, "I got a case

that I think you guys
might be interested in.

It's on Roberto Suárez Senior."

I had never heard of Suárez.

He says, "The guy does
a thousand kilos a month."

When you mention
a thousand kilos

or 500 kilos in 1980,

you say to yourself,
"It probably won't happen."

But if anybody
can make the case,

Mike can make it.

I say, "What do you need?"

MICHAEL:
DEA was supposed to set it up.

Rent me a house,

give me an undercover team
of Spanish-speaking agents,

give me luxury cars.

RICHIE: He says,
"I need a house.

They're big salsa dancers,

so I need some women,
some hookers.

Top-shelf booze,

because these guys
drink all that stuff."

And I say, "All right.
Let me see what I can do."

JOHN: I was able
to get the property.

As a special agent,

I guess you could say part
of my initial role

was sort of
a stage set director.

It's like doing a movie set.

That can be difficult.

Especially back then, because
our resources were minimal.

MICHAEL: Ibáñez and Suárez
were supposed to come

and be guests
at my house in Florida.

When I got there,

the house they had given us
was a little track home,

with a pool like a duck pond.

That's not a pool.

My mafia crew
with old rental cars.

Only one spoke Spanish,
of 14, 15.

DEA acted like
they wanted it to fail.

PHONE BEEPS

What the f*ck is going on?

MICHAEL:

Mike was having
some difficulties.

MICHAEL:

MAX: He said, "It's not going
as well as I would like it."

Until they got the money.

JOHN: One of the assignments
I received was

to go down to
the Miami Federal Reserve Bank

and sign out $9 million
in US currency.

That was to be the flash roll.

Money that is shown to a suspect
in a drug investigation

to show that you, in fact,
do have the funds

to purchase the drug proceeds.

GARY:

RICHIE: Mike was reporting
that he was a mafia figure

who had an organization
that, in the United States,

could distribute multi-hundred
kilograms of cocaine.

That was the objective.

I fit very well into it,

even though I wasn't
a Spanish speaker.

By talking and my actions,

they could tell, "These guys
are probably wise guys."

If you look like smart money,
you deal with smart money.

I always took that to heart.

I did the hooker logistics.

There was a strip joint
on Sunrise Boulevard.

I said, "I'm entertaining
some Bolivians. Come on up."

In everybody's mind is,

"These guys
are probably wise guys,

and they're looking to make
a cocaine connection."

We just told the girls,

"Hey, look, you get paid
for socializing, dancing.

Anything else is on you."

That was kind of
the bottom line.

We rented a warehouse.

We had the chemists
from the Miami division

set up a working laboratory.

JOHN: We had technical people
from our tech unit down there

to help wire the place

and have it set up for any
recordings that we could make.

RICHIE: So we thought
we were in pretty good shape.

But Suárez doesn't show.

I think,
by Suárez not showing up,

it showed that maybe

there's some bullshit
that's involved here.

Who's the main trafficker?
And all that other stuff.

Only Marcelo showed up.

But again, I had been involved
in cases where sh*t happens.

And you still get it done.

LATIN MUSIC PLAYING

Mike says, "We've got everything
ready for a party.

The whole nine yards."

And he says, "All I want to do
is go to sleep.

I don't want to party.

I just want to discuss business
and go back home."

I think he might have been
afraid

of being in the United States.

I think Ibáñez
wanted to do the deal,

but I think he had to talk
Suárez a little bit into it.

MICHAEL: He wanted the case
to happen so bad.

And that's what I do well.
Seduction.

RICHIE: I think his relationship
with Lucy

was such that
she calmed him down

for all that stuff, you know?

And he liked Mike.

He thought this would make him
look better

in the eyes of Suárez.

"Hey, I just did
a thousand-kilo deal

with the American mafia."

AYDA:

AYDA:

MICHAEL:
I remember sitting down

in the living room of the
so-called undercover house.

I was sitting
with the three pilots.

RICHIE: Dave Kunz, Dave Gorman,
and we had Rich Vandiver.

Vandiver was a combat veteran
in Vietnam,

a Marine Corps jet pilot
and fluent Spanish speaker.

I had found out that I was going
to be a part of this thing

the day before.

I met Marcelo Ibáñez,

who was the direct
representative

of the Suárez group in Bolivia.

A nicely dressed,
educated person.

I was the guy who was
in charge of the pilots,

being sure that
they were experienced.

MICHAEL: It was all of us now.

Marcelo, me, Richie.

We're all working
to make this happen.

We became a team

pretty much trying to destroy
Roberto Suárez. [LAUGHS]

And they didn't know that.

Marcelo,
he had been seduced totally.

He wanted it.
He wanted it more than I did.

The plane they gave us
was a 35-seat,

old twin-engine plane.

Certainly not a plane

that a good dope-peddling
organization would use.

I'm not a pilot,

but I looked at the plane
and I said, "Oh, man."

RICHARD: It was a Convair 240.

It was powered
by two 2,100 Pratt & Whitney.

I think they were Wasp engines.
Radial engines.

Internal combustion, not jet.

Not built for the kind of runway
we took it into.

It was not built for that.

MICHAEL: DEA had given them
a plane

that had been used
a month earlier

to ferry corrupt Bolivian cops
around Bolivia.

A cattle plane.

Wrong plane. The plane
is not for jungle landings.

What was the risk?

Well...

As soon as we left the country,
we had no cover whatsoever.

MICHAEL:
I didn't think it was dangerous.

I thought it was
f*cking suicidal.

And I told them that
in the living room.

I said, "This is crazy.
They want you guys to die."

I said, "I'm telling you,
you could back out right now."

RICHIE: These were all
great pilots.

Mike, I had a lot of faith
in how he made cases,

so I basically was okay.

MICHAEL: They reacted like,

"No, we went too far already.
We're going."

The three of them, three pilots,
they chose to go.

I said, "I will not think
badly... I would not..."

And they said, "We're going."

That's what you see in w*r.
"I'm going over the hill."