01x02 - The Narco Reich

[bunniefuu]

EDUARDO [IN SPANISH]:

GERARDO [IN SPANISH]:

[IN SPANISH]

CHRISTIAN: Klaus Barbie was,
of course, concerned

about these n*zi hunters
who knew about him.

And he simply could not allow

a democratic left-wing
government to come to power,

because that meant a greater
risk of being extradited.

EDUARDO:

GERARDO:

VLADIMIR [IN SPANISH]:

[IN SPANISH]

GARY:

GERARDO:

[IN SPANISH]

GARY:

GERARDO:

The Novios de la Muerte,
The Fiancés of Death.

The name originally came
from their leader,

Joachim Fiebelkorn.

They were a mercenary group
mainly consisting of criminals,

adventurers and neo-Nazis.

But they also consisted of
former members of the SS

who had fought in World w*r II.

These individuals brought
certain mental attitudes

and ideological training
with them to Bolivia.

The Novios de la Muerte
were certainly shaped

by an extreme
right-wing ideology.

GARY:

EDUARDO:

sh**ting

GERARDO:

GARY:

[IN SPANISH]

MAN:

GARY:

The ultimate master plan
for his cocaine trade

was to establish a direct
connection to the United States.

Michael Levine had offered

to take over
the entire process himself.

For Roberto Suárez,

that was, of course, lucrative,
an absolute jackpot.

The idea was that Michael Levine
would take care of everything.

He would pick up
the cocaine base from Suárez

and fly it over to the US.

Roberto Suárez assumed

that he was now making
the big deal

with the American mafia.

RICHIE: The plan was that
our contact, Marcelo Ibáñez,

would come down with us.

We would land in Manaus, Brazil,

pick up another passenger,
who would guide us in

to the landing strip.

And we would have the money.

$9 million
in safety deposit boxes

in a bank in South Miami.

Well, we take off.

The two pilots,
Dave and Chicken,

were upfront in the c*ck.

RICHIE: We fly to Barbados.

They say, "Okay,
you've got to hold up there

for, like, three days.

Because the dope's not ready."

So now we're thinking...

Marcelo's making calls
to Bolivia.

And after three days
or four days,

we wind up flying from Barbados
to Manaus, Brazil.

Right on the Amazon.

RICHARD: We checked in to
this beautiful hotel down there.

Marcelo and I are at the bar.

I think we were having
caipirinhas.

He says,
"Do you want some coke?"

"No. No, I don't want any coke."

He said, "I have noticed that
none of you guys do cocaine."

I said, "I have to maintain
an overtly legal operation,

because everybody
and his brother,

the DEA, the customs,
the FBI, you name it...

So I'm very damn careful.

I don't use it,
and I'm damn certain

that I got pilots and people
that work for me

that don't use it.

Any of it."

He was very happy.

He said, "I don't understand
how people

can turn over


to somebody who's crazy
on dope," you know?

RICHIE: Marcelo,
he kept talking to Bolivia.

What got me leery was all these
phone calls he's making.

Marcelo was really trying
to push

the people on the other end
of the phone,

who we believed to be Suárez.

MICHAEL: I stayed in Miami,
waiting for the drugs to come.

The stress is constant.

I was always aware that this is
such a dangerous job.

Fear, worry.

They just didn't know
what was going on.

They had no idea.

RICHIE: What was going on?

If this was a scam?

If they were gonna try
and rip us off?

RICHARD: I told him,
"Look, Marcelo,

let me tell you something.

This is a very complicated thing
we're doing here."

And I said, "The longer we delay
this damn thing,

the more the risk goes up."

RICHIE: Then, all of a sudden,
they bring another guy in.

An old cousin,
Renato Roca Suárez.

And he's supposed to
guide the plane into the finca.

So I'm not as concerned,

because he's sitting down
with the pilots,

going through the map.

MAN: Bag full.

Terrain. Terrain.

RICHIE: It's a landing strip
for a ranch.

The pilots are concerned.

The runway is really,
really rough with potholes

and not made
for a plane of that size.

There's guys
coming out of the forest

with machine g*ns
and stuff like that.

You're thinking, "Oh, man.
What's going on now?"

We had some weapons
on the plane.

A submachine g*n and some
hand grenades and stuff.

But basically,

that's what we were
worried about, a kidnapping.

RICHARD: If anything
had happened on that strip...

there were, like,


It would have been over
pretty damn quick.

And then I heard this aircraft.

A 210,
which is a single-engine Cessna.

Roberto Suárez Junior came in.

He came in and landed,
and taxied over.

And Marcelo went over, and
they had a little conversation.

Then Marcelo comes back

and tells us
that it's not ready.

"The dope's not ready yet.

Can you come back
in a day or two days?"

And I'm thinking, "Holy sh*t.
This is a typical dope deal.

All of a sudden,
it falls to pieces."

So, at that time,
the stress level is pretty high.

My reputation's on the line.

Mike's reputation's on the line.

You know, we took off
and went back to Manaus.

We got up
early the next morning.

Everything was set.

We took off
and went back to the airstrip.

Same thing. Twenty, 30 people
come rolling out.

And Roberto Suárez Junior
comes around and lands.

So I walked over there.

He said,
"This is not the whole load.

I got another airplane coming in
with the rest of your dope."

RICHIE: I think it was
Marcelo says,

"Look, we can only get


That was the best we can do.

We checked the thousand kilos

but it wasn't really
good stuff."

"So... Hey, 350?
I'm good with 350."

The pilots weren't sure

if we're gonna be able
to get off the ground

with the extra 350 kilos.

That was a worry.

RICHARD: They start
cranking the engine.

I'm just sitting there, going,
"Please start. Please start."

Then she fired. She started.

We almost get to the end
of the runway,

and we get stuck in the mud.

So I hear Dave come up
with the power,

and he's putting power
on that beauty.

And we get airborne,
and we clear the trees.

There was a sigh of relief.

Even if we crash now, as long as
there's some dope left in here,

we're good,
because it wasn't a scam.

A righteous dope deal from
two righteous organizations.

I felt really afraid
that the pilots were gonna die.

RICHARD: We had a radio.
A shortwave radio.

MAN: Flight loaded.

RICHARD: We could ask
for a phone patch.

MAN: Hello?

We called Mike.

RICHIE: I say, "Hey, Mike."

He says,
"Hey. What's going on?"

And I say, "Hey, man.
We got the package.

It's 350 kilos.

You can go ahead
and release the money."

And he says, "Yeah, fantastic."

We got the drugs.

Everybody was happy.

PHONE RINGS

MICHAEL: I got the call
from Suárez.

He had his men in Florida
waiting to get paid.

That was in his voice,
I remember.

He was very concerned.
He wanted to just be paid.

I'm trying to find it.

Roberto Suárez,
attempt phone call.

PHONE RINGS

MICHAEL: Suárez says, "Hello?"

"Yes. Mike speaking.

We're going to get in touch
with your friend here

to do the transfer."

The money.

"Agreed, Mike.

I'm gonna be grateful that you
do it as early as possible."

"Wish you well."

"And my respect
to all the family."

"Same to you, my brother. Bye."

MICHAEL: Coming to pick up
the money

was Alfredo "Cutuchi" Gutierrez,
an airplane dealer from Bolivia.

And Gasser, son of
the richest family in Bolivia.

Notorious right-wingers.

RICHIE: John Lawler played
the bank officer at the desk.

My role was,
when Mike showed up,

I would escort them
back to the vault area

where they could get into
the safety deposit boxes.

I remember opening
the cases with the money.

And me saying, "Do you want me
to help you count it?

Do you want me to help you
get it out of the country?"

And they said, "Don't worry.
We've got that handled."

JOHN: I saw him going for
his weapon, and I did, too.

Mike and I drew our firearms
and placed them under arrest.

That's a difficult thing for
the undercover agent actually,

to make an arrest,

because he's convinced
these people

he's not
a law-enforcement officer.

But it went down very quietly.

Agents get into firefights

usually with
the low-level traffickers.

High-level people like this,
they've got other ways.

We took them down
to the Miami Field Division

for processing.

The main goal is to use that
as evidence

against the Suárez organization

and try to get
the top-tier people.

GARY:

GERARDO:

GARY:

CHRISTIAN:
This drug deal was a trap.

Nevertheless, Roberto Suárez
stuck to his plan.

On one hand,
to lift Bolivia out of poverty,

and on the other,
to make even more money

and establish the narco state.

The narco state
was a state model

in which drug traffickers,

the military
and intelligence officers

worked together
to control the country.

Klaus Altmann played
a significant role in this plan.

GERMAN [IN SPANISH]:

EDUARDO:

VLADIMIR:

GARY PRADO:

CROWD CHANT

GARY:

EDUARDO:

MARIA [IN SPANISH]:

EDUARDO:

VLADIMIR:

JOURNALIST:

GARY PRADO:

CHRISTIAN:
Due to the upcoming elections,

the military feared that
a left-wing communist government

would take the power.

And it was fairly certain that
the US would not prevent a coup.

RICHARD: We arrived
to great fanfare.

Mike was there.
John Lawler was there.

RICHIE: All the agents
from the group,

and some from the division.

Mike's standing there.

Got his sunglasses on,
short-sleeve shirt.

And he's got champagne.

I couldn't have been happier.

MICHAEL: The drugs arrived.
Everybody was happy.

We went out, took photographs,
drank champagne.

RICHARD:
It broke several records.

That champagne
tasted really good.

RICHIE: I looked at Mike.
He gave me a hug,

and he says, "Hey, we did it."

And I say,
"Actually you did it."

And he says,

"If it wasn't for you
going down there,

this thing may have
never happened."

We were damn lucky. Yeah. Yep.

FEMALE NEWSREADER:


were stuffed in 32 trash bags
and wheat sacks from Bolivia.

RICHIE: For the most part,
it's jealousy.

But some guys, they don't want
to see you make a 350-kilo case.

And there were some that,
I'm sure,

in headquarters
and in the Miami Division,

didn't want to see Mike
make the case.

And it was all Mike.

If they didn't buy Mike,

then they're not gonna buy
anybody else.

It was emotional.

Mike had
his integrity back intact.

JOHN: In my view,
it was a very solid case.

Not to say that these drug
traffickers

can hire some
pretty good lawyers.

RICHIE: We had the evidence
and we had two bodies.

We had Gasser
and we had Gutierrez.

They had actually
been arraigned.

And Gutierrez was held
on $3 million,

and Gasser on $1 million.

That's when the work
really begins.

Because you've got to process


maintain the chain of custody,

Vandiver's reports,
Lawler's reports...

You've got to write the reports.

You want to make sure
everything's perfect.

CHRISTIAN: There was a lot
at stake for Roberto Suárez.

The money was lost,
the cocaine was lost.

But the most important thing was

that his name was now
publicly known.

And that made him vulnerable.

His entire business model
relied on operating secretly,

and that was no longer possible.

I returned
to the American embassy.

The case was in all the news.

I walk into the cafeteria.

And I get, like,
a standing ovation.

It's kind of funny.

The people in the embassy
knew it was a big case.

MICHAEL: At one table,
Central Intelligence.

Just like that,

their heads down.

There was always a conflict
between DEA and CIA.

I had my problems
with some CIA guys.

We work different.

MICHAEL: The Argentine police
told me,

"Don't you guys talk to
each other, you and the CIA?

CIA is sending paramilitaries up

to overthrow
the Bolivian government.

Don't you know that?"

That's when I first became aware
of the coup happening.

ALEXANDER: A lot of people
on the right in Washington

feared a communist government
in Bolivia.

You can't look at US relations
with Latin America

until relatively recently,

without looking at it through
the anti-communist lens.

So, as you go back, you can see
how the US was so...

supportive, or acquiesced

in dealing with ultra-right-wing
conservative regimes.

From Chile to Argentina,
to Brazil, to Paraguay.

That under Pinochet's
leadership, collaborate,

arresting and returning,

or even k*lling

the opponents of the regime
in the other countries.

GARY:

CHRISTIAN: Barbie had worked

for the American intelligence
service after World w*r II.

The American government agencies

all had their own goals
at the time.

The CIA pursued a strict fight
against communism,

while the drug agency,
DEA, on the other hand,

was, of course, active
in the fight against drugs.

So these organizations sometimes
got in each other's way.

The question is whether the CIA
was involved

in the so-called "Cocaine Coup."

Some people knew
what would happen that day.

Most Bolivians did not.

MARLENE [IN SPANISH]:

g*nf*re

SCREAMING

MARIA:

On the day of the coup,
when the soldiers arrived,

there was actually
not much resistance.

During the day,
paramilitaries joined in,

and they drove to a meeting of
the left-wing party leadership.

They came in ambulances
so they couldn't be recognized.

EDUARDO:

PHONE RINGS

MARLENE:

PHONE RINGS

MARLENE:

EDUARDO:

QUIROGA SANTA CRUZ TORTURED
BEFORE BEING ASSASSINATED

MARLENE:

GLORIA [IN SPANISH]:

GLORIA:

GARCIA [IN SPANISH]:

[IN SPANISH]

MICHAEL:
I was actually on the phone

with people who were being
attacked in the coup.

"Los Fiancés de la Muerte,"
the Germans,

they were surrounding the house
of my informant in Bolivia.

I didn't know anything else.

[IN SPANISH]

GLORIA:

EDUARDO:

GARY PRADO:

It was an alliance
that helped Arce Gómez.

When it came
to fighting left-wing groups,

they benefited
from Klaus Barbie's expertise,

like t*rture techniques
and information gathering.

CARLOS [IN SPANISH]:

EDUARDO:

MAN SPEAKS IN SPANISH

EDUARDO:

CHRISTIAN:
So the question still remains,

was the CIA involved
in the coup?

And to what extent did they
cooperate with Roberto Suárez?

There was a very significant
statement that clarified a lot

about the involvement of the CIA
in the Bolivian coup.

And that statement was made
by Leandro Sanchez-Reisse.

Reisse was an Argentine
military intelligence officer

who basically stated that
the CIA

supported him
in founding companies

that, among other things,

were used to launder money
from Roberto Suárez.

And this money was used
to buy weapons for the coup.

If this statement was true,

it would of course support
Michael Levine's suspicion

that the CIA
was partly responsible

for what happened in Bolivia,

and that maybe his
investigations against Suárez

were obstructed.

MICHAEL:
I get a cable that says,

"There's money being offered
to k*ll you.

They're calling you
the 'Dark Jew.'"

The money being offered was to
hitmen all across South America.

It was an open contract
to k*ll me.

I was sent there
to destroy Roberto Suárez.

And...

they're not stopped.

I was certain
they were coming to me.

MAX: He told me about that.

Sometimes you might have
suspicion,

and when someone else kind of
verifies things for you...

He was upset.

MICHAEL: They told me,

"Do you want to come out of
Argentina to go to the States?"

I stayed in Buenos Aires because
I felt safer in Buenos Aires

than I did in the United States.

People in DEA,
I can't give you their names,

were betting money
that I would be k*lled.

MAX: I was aware of it.

We were both armed, and we both
had guards on our houses.

So he was being protected.

People in DEA would not have
been unhappy

had I been k*lled.