01x07 - After Pablo

[bunniefuu]

♪

Reporter (over tv):

Shake this square world

and blast off to 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): It's

now an understanding that the

w*r on drugs was

an abject failure.

Reporter 3 (over tv): You

have to stop and ask yourself,

How did we get here?

Trump: We will build a wall.

Woman: Woo!

(crowd cheering)

Reporter (over tv):

The opening of the biggest

Sporting event on earth.

It's called

"world cup soccer."

Toft: When escobar

was finally k*lled,

The members of the

task force started yelling,

"viva colombia!"

Crowd: Colombia! Colombia!

Colombia! Colombia!

Toft: It was a

celebratory cry that

Probably all colombia heard.

Toft: 1994 was an

election year in colombia.

The leading candidate

for the presidency,

To succeed president gaviria

was ernesto samper,

Who had been a senator of

colombia for a long time,

And he was in the same

party as president gaviria.

Toft: Suddenly a member

of the opponent of samper

Showed up at the embassy.

Man (over tape): Hello!

(speaking in native language).

Toft: And gave the

ambassador a tape.

Man: Mhm.

Toft: It contained a

conversation between a

Cartel member and a

campaign manager of samper,

Addressing monies

for the campaign.

Man: Mhm.

Toft: We had this evidence

that a cartel was basically

Interfering with an election.

To me, this was the smoking g*n.

♪

Shedd: Gilberto

rodríguez orejuela and

Miguel rodríguez orejuela were

the heads of a cartel that was

Totally different

than the other cartels.

They looked at it more

as a business to expand,

And they were involved

in the cost versus profit.

You have to learn

who your enemy is,

Otherwise, you're

not gonna win the fight.

And I studied over a

long period of time the

Rodríguez orejuelas,

and they were very smart,

Strategic thinkers,

who were always one step

Ahead of the game.

Reporter (over tv): Gilberto

and miguel rodríguez have a

Piece of several hotels, and own

cali's largest shopping center.

Reporter (over tv): And

they own cali's main passion,

The soccer team, américa.

Shedd: So, they

were to be respected.

Yes, they were

dopers and traffickers,

But you cannot

underestimate 'em.

You underestimate

people of that caliber,

You're doomed.

Reporter (over tv):

Gilberto and miguel rodríguez

Are forcing modern business

methods on a violent trade.

Reporter 2 (over tv): The

cartel forced its employees to

Fill out this application form.

Cartel hopefuls had to enter

the names and addresses of

Their entire family.

Shedd: They had to know

who your family members were,

Where were they, what

did they own, didn't own,

Cars, planes,

automobiles, trains, anything.

They had to know all

about you before you were

Trusted into the system.

Reporter (over tv): To handle

the ever-larger shipments of

Cocaine heading to

the united states,

The cartel used

container ships,

Sometimes even loading

up entire passenger jets.

Reporter 2 (over tv): It is

a marriage of convenience

Between colombia's cali

cartel and the italian mafia.

When the cold w*r ended,

a new w*r began.

Translator: The problem of

cocaine in russia began only

One or two years ago.

Cocaine is a new problem for us.

Reporter (over tv):

From moscow to madrid.

From rome to tokyo.

The cali cartel is

creating new markets.

Reporter 2 (over tv):

In raw profit, it now

Outstrips boeing,

texaco and pepsi.

Shedd: They were

planning to eventually

Become the kennedys of colombia.

Toft: We took this

to president gaviria,

And gaviria said he

was gonna take care of it

And nothing happened.

(crowd cheering).

Toft: I was so disgusted with

the fact that the cali cartel

Had played such

an important role.

But I did a

lotta soul searching,

And I couldn't say

what I was gonna say if

I stayed in the dea.

I really wanted to tell what

was happening in colombia and

Make the record straight.

I decided to share the cassette

with a news anchor woman,

And just before I left colombia,

I gave an interview with

people that I had trusted in

The media in colombia.

I created a huge

international event, I guess.

Reporter (over tv):

President samper denies

Receiving drug money,

and colombian prosecutors

Cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Reporter 2 (over tv):

Colombian president,

ernesto samper,

Was on his way to

new york to address the

United nations on a

global anti-drug strategy.

His plane was grounded after

authorities found more than

Seven pounds of

heroin hidden on board.

Colombia's justice minister

says someone planted the drugs

In order to

embarrass the president.

Samper (over tv): For me,

this is not a very common case.

It was a drug.

I was supposed to go

to the united states,

And I hope that intelligence

agencies could find not only

Who put the drug,

but why he put.

Man: Viva samper!

Calderón: The consequence of

the narco cassette scandal was

That president samper

was cornered, so he had

To go after the cali cartel.

He had to go against

those that financed him.

Salameh: In 1994

and 1995, gilberto and

miguel rodríguez orejuela

Were the biggest

criminals in the world.

And we were going after 'em.

(speaking in native language).

(speaking in native language).

♪

Reporter (over tv): Nbc news

has learned that the cali cartel

Is even building its

own fleet of submarines,

Like this one seized

off the coast of colombia.

They're designed

to carry cocaine

From colombia to puerto rico.

Once there, drugs can come into

the us with no customs check.

(speaking in native language).

Salameh: The

cali cartel had

Brought the

presidential campaign.

Feistl: President samper

had to show that,

"hey, this isn't true.

This information isn't true."

Salameh: You could

sense the tide was turning,

And it was turning towards cali.

Feistl: Main focus of

the colombian government,

As well as the

united states government,

Was to go after now

the biggest threat,

The cali cartel.

Salameh: It's the

obvious move for guys like us.

♪

My name is jerry salameh,

I'm a retired dea agent.

I served for 28 years with the

drug enforcement administration.

♪

Feistl: My name is chris feistl.

I worked for the

dea for 26 years,

Including 12 years in

colombia, south america.

(distant sirens)

The first impression I have of

working in cali is it's a city

Of spies, that

everywhere you go,

People are looking at you.

Once you step foot in cali,

the cartel knew you were there.

They knew what you were up to.

Salameh: They used to

call it the "cali kgb."

They had people

inside the phone company.

I mean, they pretty much

owned the phone company.

All the taxi drivers

were on the payroll,

Reporting

everything they observed.

Feistl: They were able to

penetrate government of colombia

Security institutions,

the military, the police.

Salameh: There were allegations

of tremendous corruption.

I mean, we knew the

tentacles that cali brought.

(speaking in native language).

Reporter (over tv):

Under u.S. Pressure,

General rosso serrano

is named police chief.

In colombia, he is the

dea's most trusted ally.

♪

Salameh: Low and behold we

developed a source that was

Able to give us a lead,

so with that lead,

We assembled our team.

♪

♪

♪

Salameh: We knew

where the guy lived.

The guy went by "el flaco,"

the "skinny guy."

Salameh: He would leave his

apartment early in the morning

And make his way to

wherever gilberto was staying.

(speaking in native language).

Salameh: He would jump in a cab,

Get out of a cab,

jump in a public bus.

He would walk.

He'd dip into a building,

come out of another door

Of the building.

If we lost him in two minutes,

we'd have to go back to our

Safe house and wait

another 24 hours to try to

Do it all over again.

We did that for a week.

And I'll never forget,

we had two female officers

On that team.

They were part of

our surveillance team.

There was this big

staircase that went up to this

Residential area on top o'

this little bit of a hill,

And people would exercise,

going up and down those stairs.

The women, they would dress in

gym clothes and go down there

And workout and so forth.

Salameh: Well, the last day,

they followed him all the way

Up on the top o' that hill.

Salameh: And we were

able to isolate that area,

And that's the

area that we raided.

♪

♪

♪

Sissons (over tv):

President clinton has hailed

The arrest in colombia

of one of the worlds most

Wanted drug traffickers,

gilberto rodríguez orejuela.

(crowd chatter)

Salameh: It was a big

get to get gilberto,

You know, the chess player,

one of the biggest criminals

In the world.

And I can only imagine

how miguel felt after that,

'cause he knew

the game was on.

♪

(radio chatter)

Feistl: In July of 1995

we were able to speak with

An individual, and he

agreed to meet with us,

But he wanted to meet in a very

remote area outside of cali.

He is the head of security at

this time for miguel rodríguez,

And he agrees to help us,

Provided that we provide him

and his family safe passage

And protection to

the united states.

He had a great deal of

information and he told us

That miguel was hiding in an

apartment in downtown cali.

(speaking in native language).

Salameh: We did an

early morning raid.

Salameh: It's a small,

three-bedroom apartment.

We spent probably 12 hours

in this apartment.

And in 12 hours we

couldn't find him.

There was an air shaft

that went along the center

Of the building, all

the way up the building,

And part of the wall in

that shaft was the wall

In the guest bathroom.

We finally figured out that

he was in that air shaft,

Behind the bathroom wall.

Just didn't know how to

access it at the time.

And I had this hammer drill.

We were drilling the

wall of that bathroom.

And we were drilling

it and drilling it.

Feistl: There were phone

calls being made that we were

Getting close

to finding miguel.

Well, once we were able

to drill through several

Inches of concrete, you

can see that the drill hit

An open air pocket.

As we're literally a few

minutes away from arresting

Him in this

hidden compartment.

We were shut down by

a colombian prosecutor,

And we are forced

to leave the building.

Salameh: And the next day, the

front page of the paper showed

The vanity of that

bathroom with the doors open,

And there was blood

spattered in there.

So, I think I hit

him with the drill bit.

Feistl: Cali cartel

employed the best architects,

The best construction workers,

and they were able to develop

Secret hiding places

within houses or apartments.

Salameh: You could

walk into an apartment.

If you didn't have the

exact location of where these

Compartments were,

you would never find 'em.

They could be

behind bookcases,

They could be anywhere,

and we had to prevent

Miguel rodríguez from

getting inside his caleta.

When you get a group

o' guys like us together,

We're not stopping

till we get our objective.

Salameh: We didn't know

exactly where miguel was.

But our informant helped us

to determine that it's probably

One of two apartment

buildings in cali that we were

Now looking at.

Over the course of, like,

a week or ten days or so,

We kept watching

those buildings.

Salameh: We determine

the profile of miguel.

He stayed up late at night.

I mean, very late at night.

So, little by little, all the

lights in the building went out.

Except for these.

And we said, "that's

gotta be it, the tenth floor."

Feistl: We were able to

contact general serrano,

Summon troops from bogotá

and launch another raid.

If we're able to get

into the apartment quickly,

This would prevent

miguel rodríguez from getting

Inside his caleta.

♪

♪

♪

And we all branch

off into different

sections of the apartment,

Trying to cover as

much ground as possible.

Within 30 seconds, we got him

in the master bedroom closet,

Trying to get into a caleta.

It was close.

I mean, we'd o' been there

for days looking for him.

Another minute or so and

they would have had that

Compartment closed up and

sealed up and it would have

Been extremely difficult,

if not impossible to locate.

Salameh: But they got him.

We got him.

Reporter (over tv): Police

raided an apartment in the

Cocaine center of

cali early today,

And caught the reputed

boss of the world's

Number one drug g*ng.

Reporter 2 (over tv):

Miguel rodríguez orejuela

Oversaw the

world's most powerful

drug smuggling operation.

Reporter (over tv): The

demise of the cali cartel may

Well constitute the most

significant police action

Against drug

smugglers in history.

Feistl: Power kinda fell to

him as the de facto leader of

The cali cartel.

Feistl: But it

was short-lived.

(g*nshots)

♪

Feistl: I think that was

a sign to him that this is

Probably not what

he signed up for.

Reporter (over tv):

This morning, miguel and

Gilberto rodríguez orejuela

pleaded guilty in a

Federal court in miami to

a charge of a conspiracy to

Import cocaine in

the united states.

They each were immediately

sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Feistl: The cocaine trade

at this point in time is

Financing a lot of the

criminal groups in colombia.

Reporter (over tv): The

cocaine w*r will only bring

More bloodshed and

strengthen the violent extremes

In this pained nation.

Calderón: I think

everybody will think colombia's

A sinking ship.

Reporter (over tv):

The paramilitaries in the

Fight compete for business.

Salameh: They

were major criminals.

Kidnapping, m*rder, drug

trafficking, the whole thing.