01x05 - Escobar Goes to w*r

[bunniefuu]

♪

Ospina: How we doing?

Thanks for visiting

the city of medellín, man.

It's really a pleasure for us

to have tourists like you guys

Here right now.

Where are you from?

Man: Slovenia.

Ospina: Slovenia.

Oh, far away,

you came so far, man.

Thank you.

In medellín, we pay a high price

because of the cocaine business.

We pay the price

in blood and tears.

We were the m*rder capital

of the world back in 1991.

There was an average of

30 murders a day in medellín.

Hundreds of

bombs and explosions.

Pablo escobar was

one of the biggest

Drug dealers in medellín.

His net worth was

close to $30 billion us.

And pablo escobar became

like a robin hood, man.

He used to go to the

poor neighborhoods,

Giving people money,

but at the same time,

He's the g*n.

He's the motorcycle.

Do this job, do this for me.

So we tour guides are trying

to show everything with a

Little respect because

there's a lot of scars on

The people of medellín.

Okay, guys.

Here we are at the cemetery

where pablo escobar is buried.

Don't expect like,

a big monument.

Drug business is a

short career, man.

I can count on my

hand the people that

were drug dealers and like,

"oh, I retired from

being a drug dealer and

now I live a happy life."

Nah, man.

The outcome of this career

is jail, sorrow or death.

Reporter (over tv):

Shake this square world

and blast off for kicksville.

Nixon: Public enemy

number one is drug abuse.

Nancy: Just say no.

Reagan: Halting the drug

problem in america is like

Carrying water in a sieve.

Bush: Take my word for it,

this scourge will stop.

Reporter 2 (over tv): There's

now an understanding that the

w*r on drugs was

an abject failure.

Man: You have to stop and ask

yourself, how did we get here?

Trump: We will build a wall.

Cook: Well, I was home,

sleep comfortably in my bed,

And I got a call

from an investigator.

It was probably

somewhere between 1:00

or 2:00 in the morning.

And he said, "listen."

He says, "I need help.

There's been a fire.

There's an expl*si*n. I

have no idea what it is.

I think it may

be a b*mb factory.

I need someone

from major crimes."

I said, "I'll call bob sears."

Sears: I had never

of minden, new york, so I said,

"hey, kenny, can't this

wait 'til tomorrow morning?"

He says, "no, I

think we should go."

Cook: When we got there,

it was chaos.

Sears: We'd got the firemen out,

we'd got the troopers out.

We'd got the deputies out.

We had to stabilize the scene.

Cook: By sun-up, we

had all the bosses there.

We had news media.

It was, you know, huge.

We started checking

the various buildings.

Sears: And we started opening

these 55-gallon drums and we

Started smelling,

"what do we have?"

Cook: We called the lab chemist.

He said, "get outta

there immediately."

He said, "if you open

the wrong container,"

He said, "some of

the stuff will k*ll you.

You've got what

appears to be a cocaine lab."

Reporter (over tv): It turned

out to be the largest cocaine

Processing

laboratory in the country,

But nobody knew until the

trailer on the farm in minden

Blew apart in a fire

last Thursday night.

Did you see anything

suspicious going on?

Woman (over tv):

None whatsoever.

Sears: We always

associated cocaine laboratories

With south america.

This was an anomaly.

Cook: In the ten days

that they were operational,

They had processed approximately

1,600 pounds of cocaine

For transport to new york city.

Sears: We, we were angry.

How could you do this

in upstate new york?

The cali cartel had not

only penetrated new york city,

But also penetrated

upstate new york big time.

They sent their soldiers

up to minden, new york

To do their dirty work.

Reporter (over tv):

They're called

'coca dollars' or 'narco bucks'

Cash accumulated

by the cocaine cartel,

Billions of dollars earned

faster than they can be spent.

Reporter (over tv): Ruling

a global corporate empire,

Controlling every phase

of the cocaine business,

Brothers gilberto and

miguel rodríguez are forcing

Are modern business

methods on a violent trade.

Shedd: The cali cartel,

they were very smart,

Strategic thinkers.

They had cells who dealt with

money and cells who only dealt

With the trafficking and

the members of each cell

Didn't know each other.

They had quite an operation.

For example; they bought a

company that specialized in

Cement posts for farms,

and these cement poles

Were probably six feet tall.

And then they applied the

packaging of the one kilo or

One pound to fit the

inside of the cement post.

Barger (over tv): The drug

bosses based here in cali like

To think of themselves

as corporate leaders

Rather than common criminals.

Shedd: If these guys

were to do something legal,

They could be the

ceos of general motors.

Producer: You learn

english in colombia or

In the united states or?

Marroquín: Watching tv, man.

Producer: Watching tv?

Marroquín: Watching tv,

hiding all the time.

My name is sebastián marroquín,

formerly called pablo escobar.

I am the son of pablo escobar.

I grew up living a life

full of money, full of power.

My, my father, at the

time, he was perhaps one of

The richest men in colombia.

I realized very early

that he was a bandit,

Because he told me

when I was seven years old.

So, you can

imagine being a child.

Perhaps you know the meaning

of the word 'bandit,' but you

Don't realize how huge

the organization was that

My father was in charge of.

Reporter (over tv): Pablo

escobar has been identified by

American authorities

as colombia's leading

exporter of cocaine.

The escobar family

has reportedly amassed

Nearly $2 billion, smuggling

1,100 pounds of refined cocaine

Into the united

states every month.

Marroquín: We were

living in a life that

We felt power was endless.

Shedd: The medellín cartel

was very rough, very vindictive.

The cali people, they looked at

it more as a business to expand.

Marroquín: The cali cartel

took control of all the

Medellín cartel

routes in new york,

And that make my

father very upset.

Marroquín: The mónaco building

was our, our family home.

We used to live there but I

started to be so aware of the

Consequences of my father's

actions because I was forced

To hide more than he.

He was more free

than I was in that time.

(expl*si*n)

Marroquín: And my father

became even more crazy than

Ever because he felt

for one hour that all

Of his family were dead.

♪

Marroquín: I

kept saying to him,

"look, dad,

you should stop," you know.

But he was full of

excuses for violence.

Toft: Galán's campaign

was to get rid of

Trafficking in colombia.

He was vocal.

He was very

aggressive about it.

He promised the

colombian people that he

Would do away with the cartels.

Galán was gonna be

the savior of colombia.

My name's joe toft.

I was the dea agent in

charge of the bogotá office in

Colombia from 1988 to

the end of September 1994.

But when I got there, it

was actually almost like

Walking into a w*r zone.

There were bombs going

off all over the place,

Assassinations of

politicians, of judges.

Escobar had no fear

of colombian justice.

The only thing he feared was the

U. S. Government and dea.

Toft: There was no question that

he was gonna win the election.

Galán was going to be the

next president of colombia,

And escobar knew it.

(crowd cheering)

(g*nshots)

(g*nshots)

Toft: Yeah, it was chaos.

He was dragged from the

platform into a car and taken,

And later found out that

he had died in the hospital.

Toft: He was k*lled just like

everyone that got in escobar's

Way was k*lled, and the

message was very clear.

"you mess with me, you die."

Reporter (over tv): More than

100 people have been k*lled in

A plane crash near the

colombian capital, bogotá.

The plane, an

avianca airlines boeing 727

Was on a

domestic flight to cali.

Witnesses say the plane was

blown apart by two explosions.

Toft: You know,

blowing an aircraft out

Of the sky is um,

it's inconceivable.

Toft: Americans

died on that aircraft.

President bush took this

incident to clearly state to

The world that

escobar was a direct

Threat to the united states.

♪

Bush (over tv): This, this

is crack cocaine seized a

Few days ago by

drug enforcement agents in a

Park just across the

street from the white house.

It's as innocent-looking as

candy but it's turning our

Cities into battle zones and

it's murdering our children.

Reporter (over tv):

So far this year,

75 g*ng members and

their victims have died in

The wave of violence.

The police battering ram

smashing into fortified houses

Where cocaine is cooked

into the lethal crack form.

It is narcotics that is driving

this engine of destruction.

Reporter 2 (over tv):

The epidemic of crack is

Now out of control.

Man (over tv): Crack is

here to stay, like they say.

Reporter 3 (over tv): Bringing

death to american streets,

Ruining whole neighborhoods.

Bush (over tv): If

americans use cocaine,

Then americans are

paying for m*rder.

In colombia alone, cocaine

K*llers have gunned down a

Leading statesman,

m*rder*d almost 200 judges and

Seven members of

their supreme court.

We have a responsibility not

to leave our brave friends in

Colombia to fight alone.

♪

Toft: And the u.S.

Military started using

Their

surveillance aircraft, etc.

In an effort to

help locate escobar.

Toft: There were hundreds

of raids at places where he

Allegedly was and there was

evidence that he was there,

That he'd barely escaped.

Marroquín: My

father was always like,

Pushing things to the limit.

I remember many times,

"patrón, be careful,

the police is 500 meters away."

"oh, just bring my

lunch in, I'm hungry.

Tell me when they

are 200 meters."

He'd start eating his lunch and,

"patrón, patrón,

they're 200 meters away."

"oh, just let me know

when they are 50 meters."

He was, like,

always a step ahead.

He didn't care.

He didn't felt

any fear at all.

So, 50 meters before

the police arrive,

He would just walk a little

bit and he'd hide in the woods

And he watched them,

and once they get away,

He finish his lunch.

Toft: It was a very

difficult time for escobar.

Our intelligence told us he

was moving every 24 hours,

Trying to avoid detection,

from bunker to bunker.

Escobar was, I mean he was

under incredible pressure.

Reporter (over tv):

Drug kingpin pablo escobar

Apparently is about

to turn himself in.

Reporter (over tv): Colombian

officials this morning are

Calling the surrender of

trafficker pablo escobar a

Major victory in

the w*r on drugs,

But escobar also won something

that he wanted: A promise that

He won't be

extradited to the u.S.

Marroquín: He changed the

constitution of a country so

He could surrender to

the authorities easily,

Confess a couple of

crimes and be out of jail,

Like, in eight years.

Reporter (over tv): It looks

more like a spanish villa

Nestled in the mountains

outside escobar's hometown.

The plans include

a soccer field,

Spacious dining hall,

game room, private baths,

Televisions, telephones

and fax machines.

Toft: One of the

conditions was that he would

Have several of his confidantes,

His sicarios and

bodyguards with him.

He had complete

autonomy of his surroundings.

He went in and out

whenever he wanted.

So, the whole

thing was a farce.

You couldn't make this up.

Marroquín: During those days,

I heard many stories about how

He was dealing with the

drug trafficking business.

He used

commercial flights with,

You know, the complicity

of the authorities in

Medellín international airport

And miami's

international airport.

So, he used to send

800 kilos per week with

The help of the authorities.

And not a single

gram was seized.

Toft: The people that

president gaviria sent to the

Prison to arrange for the

movement of escobar to a

Different location, they

become part of the whole thing

Because they're taken hostage.

He had double walls on the

building that he built where

He stashed g*ns and money.

He broke into the wall, got

his money and got the g*ns and

Walked out of the place.

I'm pretty sure that the

army were on the take also,

Because escobar had to

walk through the army.

So, you know, I mean

the whole thing was just,

Was just unbelievable.

Reporter (over tv): Pablo

escobar was king of kings in

The colombian

worldwide cocaine business,

A man so powerful he arranged

his own luxurious prison when

He finally

surrendered to authorities.

But tonight, he is out of that

prison again after a bizarre

Showdown between his guards

and government security agents.

Reporter 2 (over tv):

Pablo escobar is,

Without a doubt, the most

powerful and ruthless of all

The drug bosses and his final

words to a colombian official

Before he escaped were,

"we are at w*r again."

Reporter (over tv): Violence

rules indiscriminately.

Twelve died and more than

200 passers-by were injured in

This recent expl*si*n.

It was the end of the daily

lunch break in an area of

Bogotá packed with banks,

shops and restaurants.

Reporter (over tv):

This time, there was no

Mistaking the

culprit's identity.

They'd left their

signature at the scene.

'pepes', or people

persecuted by pablo escobar,

Are vigilantes waging w*r

on those associated with the

Notorious drug lord.

Toft: The 'los pepes'

translation into english stood

For 'people persecuted

by pablo escobar'.

We thought it was a

vigilante group that had

Formed to fight

the medellín cartel.

And initially, we were going

to have some t-shirts printed

In the office that,

"we support los pepes".

And I'm glad we didn't do it.

Marroquín: My father's enemies,

They all got together and

they start k*lling everybody

Who helped pablo escobar.

Toft: Los pepes were waging a

dirty w*r against escobar and

Having the knowledge

of the inner workings,

They were extremely effective.

Toft: We recognized from

the intelligence that we were

Getting that escobar was

desperately trying to get his

Family out of the country.

♪

Marroquín: The plan was to

leave the country and stay a

Little while in germany

because germany agreed to

Receive one of our

cousins in the past.

Toft: We recognized that his

achilles was his family and we

Were pulling every

string we could to deny

Him entry into germany.

Marroquín: When we

arrived to germany,

They stopped the plane in the

middle of the airfield and it

Was surrounded of, you know,

police and they ask us to come

Down and we went to

explain the situation,

How violent was colombia

and our life was in danger, etc.

But the decision was already

taken by the government.

Toft: The main tool that we

had at the time to capture him

Electronically was to monitor

his conversations and to use

Directional finding

equipment to locate him.

(phone ringing)

Toft: And that's

when escobar lost it.

Up to that point, he had

been very careful about

Talking on his phone.

But he was so angry,

he was so disappointed,

He started calling, you know,

everybody he could.

(phone ringing)

Marroquín: Well, my father

started to call to our room

Many times and

every time he called,

He was just saying,

"don't call anymore."

(phone ringing)

And I kept, I insist and I said,

"look, we shouldn't stay

so long in our phone calls."

He knew that if he

stayed on the line for

More than 60 seconds,

you know, it could be traced.

(phone ringing)

(phone ringing)

Toft: There was a lieutenant

in charge of the directional

Finding equipment.

He got in the car

and he drove around,

Trying to locate him.

Then he's driving by this

street and he's telling them,

"it's here," and he looks up

on the second story and he

Sees this bearded guy

talking on the phone.

Immediately, even though he had

a different look at the time,

He said he knew

it was pablo escobar.

Toft: They immediately sent a

group of cops to raid the place.

Caught him

completely by surprise.

As he jumped off the window

onto the roof top of the house

Next to him, and he was

sh**ting back at the window

Where he had jumped off

thinking that that was the

Only place that

the cops were at.

He didn't know

exactly what was happening,

He did not realize that

his place was surrounded.

(g*nshots)

And so he ended up getting

shot a couple of times and

Went down as he was

firing back at the window.

Marroquín: And

ten minutes after,

I receive another call,

I thought it was him and

It was a journalist.

The journalist said to me,

"your dad just passed away,

It's confirmed, the

police confirm it is official,

Your father is dead."

Reporter (over tv):

Pablo escobar died in a

sh**t- out with police and

the military in medellín,

The base for his cartel that

once dominated the world's

Cocaine market.

Toft: I understand that

as soon as they k*lled him,

They started yelling,

"viva colombia."

It was a big

moment for colombia.

And he deserved it, you know,

he got what he deserved.

Marroquín: Well, I should say

that my father wasn't k*lled,

My father committed suicide.

We were in a hotel that

belonged to the colombian army,

So it was very easy to know

that the phones were tapped.

For ten years of his life, he

teach me that I should never

Use the phone.

Why is that?

Because he told me,

"look, son, every guy

that I kidnap or k*lled,

Thanks to the

phone I found them."

Suddenly, you know,

December 2nd of 1993,

This guy forgot everything

he taught to his kid.

Marroquín: And once he

understood that I think that

He committed the biggest act

of love by committing suicide

And just to set us free,

all his family.

Reporter (over tv): This

k*lling is the biggest single

Blow to international drug

trafficking in a decade,

But it does not mean that

fewer drugs will find their

Way onto the streets

of britain and america.

Authorities expect other drug

cartels will simply take over

Escobar's business.

The king may be dead,

the cocaine trade is not.

Rodriguez: My dad and uncle,

they had so much power in

Those moments,

they beat a score,

They're on top of the world.

Reporter (over tv): The

cali cartel is going global

In its quest for

profit and power.

Shedd: I don't think that the

cali cartel really understood

They were helping

destroy the medellín cartel

Man: Hurry! Over there!

Shedd: That the

cali cartel was next.