The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a
drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...
and the
Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela
Gilberto José Rodríguez Orejuela (30 January 1939 – 31 May 2022) was a Colombian drug lord, who was one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel, based in the city of Cali.
Cali Cartel
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, along with his brother Miguel ...
and
Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Orejuela (born August 15, 1943) is a convicted Colombian drug lord, formerly one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel, based in the city of Cali. He is the younger brother of Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela. He married Miss Colo ...
. They broke away from
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...
and his
Medellín
Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
associates in 1987, when
Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera joined what became a four-man executive board that ran the cartel.
At the height of the Cali Cartel's reign from 1993-1996, they were cited as having control of over 91% of the world's
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
market and were said to be directly responsible for the growth of the cocaine market in Europe, controlling 90% of the market there as well.
By the mid-1990s, the leader of the Cali Cartel's international drug trafficking Miguel Rodríguez was a $7 billion a year criminal enterprise.
Foundation
The Cali Cartel was formed by the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers and Santacruz, all coming from what is described as a higher social background than most other traffickers of the time.
The recognition of this social background was displayed in the group's nickname as "Los Caballeros de Cali" ("Gentlemen of Cali").
The group originally assembled as a ring of kidnappers known as "Las Chemas", which was led by Luis Fernando Tamayo García. Las Chemas were implicated in numerous kidnappings including those of two Swiss citizens: a diplomat, Herman Buff, and a student, Zack "Jazz Milis" Martin. The kidnappers reportedly received $700,000 in
ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice.
When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''red ...
, which is believed to have been used to fund their drug trafficking empire.
The assembled group first involved itself in trafficking marijuana. Due to the product's low profit rate and large amounts required to traffic to cover resources, the fledgling group decided to shift their focus to a more lucrative drug, cocaine.
In the early 1970s, the cartel sent
Hélmer Herrera
Francisco Hélmer Herrera Buitrago also known as "Pacho" and "H7", (August 24, 1951 – November 6, 1998) was a Colombian drug trafficker, fourth in command in the Cali Cartel, and believed to be the son of Benjamín Herrera Zuleta.
Early years ...
to New York City to establish a distribution center, during a time when the United States
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...
(DEA) viewed cocaine as less important than
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
.
The Cali Cartel leadership comprised members
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela
Gilberto José Rodríguez Orejuela (30 January 1939 – 31 May 2022) was a Colombian drug lord, who was one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel, based in the city of Cali.
Cali Cartel
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, along with his brother Miguel ...
,
Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Orejuela (born August 15, 1943) is a convicted Colombian drug lord, formerly one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel, based in the city of Cali. He is the younger brother of Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela. He married Miss Colo ...
,
José Santacruz Londoño
José Santacruz Londoño (also known as Chepe Santacruz; 1 October 1943 – 5 March 1996) was a Colombian drug lord. Along with Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, and Hélmer Herrera Buitrago, Londoño was a leader ...
and Hélmer Herrera. Some top associates were
Victor Patiño Fomeque,
Henry Loaiza Ceballos, ex-guerrilla member
José Fedor Rey, and
Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus.
Organization
In the absence of a hardline policy from the DEA on cocaine, the trade flourished. The group developed and organized itself into multiple "cells" that appeared to operate independently yet reported to a ("manager").
The independent
clandestine cell system
A clandestine cell system is a method for organizing a group of people (such as resistance fighters, sleeper agents, mobsters, or terrorists) such that such people can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization (such as l ...
is what set the Cali Cartel apart from the
Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered ...
. The Cali Cartel operated as a tight group of independent criminal organizations, as opposed to the Medellíns' centralised structure under leader
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...
.
The Cali Cartel eventually became "The biggest, most powerful crime syndicate we've ever known", according to then DEA chief
Thomas Constantine.
Juan Carlos Saavedra represented the Cali KGB Cartel in Spain.
Each leader of the Cali Cartel had their own operation to run as they saw fit. There were 5 major Cali trafficking groups that were separate but also worked together when their interests aligned. This included, but was not limited to, transporting drugs to the United States and money laundering. According to a report by the DEA in 1994, the Rodriguez brothers, Miguel and Gilberto, were the most successful and powerful of the cartel's members. As such, they were also in charge of the Cali Cartel operations on a grand scale. Gilberto, known as the "Chess Player," used his skills of strategy to plan long-term for the cartel while his younger brother handled day-to-day operations, micromanaging every detail. While certain groups were only handling certain aspects for the cartel, the Rodriguez brothers were involved in all aspects from production to transportation to wholesale distribution to money laundering. One of the more violent of the kingpins, Jose Santacruz-Londono had his talent in international cocaine transportation, creating a vast network for the cocaine to get from Colombia to its final destination, most often the United States. Specifically, he had a center of US operations in New York where the DEA seized two cocaine conversion laboratories in June 1992. Next, the Urdinola brothers were possibly the most violent of the group with some estimates saying that they murdered over 100 individuals in Colombia. They also distributed cocaine throughout the United States from Los Angeles to Miami to New York City. Also, the group expanded into trafficking Colombian heroin, a product that most of the groups stayed away from. Finally, Raul and Luis Grajales, cousins by marriage, were a careful duo who tried to portray themselves as legitimate. Their operation took them to Western Europe where they tried to establish new routes from Colombia. They used Eastern Europe and old Soviet countries to route the cocaine into Western Europe. The five groups all coexisted under the name of the Cali Cartel.
Activities
Trafficking
The Cali Cartel would become known for its innovations in trafficking and production, by moving its refining operations out of Colombia to
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
and
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, as well as for pioneering new trafficking routes through
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
. The Cartel also diversified into
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
and was reported to have brought in a Japanese chemist to help its refining operation.
Venezuelan General Ramon Guillen Davila ran the Venezuelan National Guard unit that was to
interdict cocaine shipments and was the CIA's most trusted narcotics asset in Venezuela. He worked with Mark McFarlin and Jim Campbell, and was charged by United States authorities with
smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
22 tons of Cali Cartel cocaine from 1987 to 1991 known as Operation North ( es, Operación Norte).
According to reports and testimony of Thomas Constantine to the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, "Cali would be the dominant group in trafficking South American heroin due to their access to the opium-growing areas of Colombia." Debate over the cartel's participation in heroin trafficking remains. It is believed the cartel's leaders were not involved in heroin trading, but that close associates to them, such as Ivan Urdinola-Grajales, were,
and that they cooperated with heroin distribution centers.
At the height of the Cali Cartel's reign, they were cited as having control over 90% of the world's cocaine market and for being directly responsible for the growth of the cocaine market in Europe.
By the mid-1990s, the trafficking empire of the Cali Cartel was a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
After Gilberto took a trip to Spain in the mid-1980s, the cartel began to expand its activities in Europe and developed a working relationship with tobacco smugglers from
Galicia, Spain. But in particular, the Cali cartel established a strategic alliance with the powerful
criminal organization. Cali supplied the cocaine and the Camorra handled distribution across Europe.
Finances
In order to
launder the incoming money of the trafficking operations, the Cali cartel heavily invested its funds into legitimate business ventures as well as front companies to mask the money. In 1996, it was believed the Cartel was grossing $7 billion in annual revenue from the US alone.
With the influx of cash comes the need to launder the funds. One of the first instances of the Cali Cartel's laundering operations came when Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela was able to secure the position of Chairman of the Board of Banco de Trabajadores. The bank was believed to have been used to launder funds for the Cali cartel, as well as Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel. Cartel members were permitted, through their affiliation with Gilberto, to
overdraft
An overdraft occurs when something is withdrawn in excess of what is in a current account. For financial systems, this can be funds in a bank account. For water resources, it can be groundwater in an aquifer. In these situations the account is s ...
accounts and take out loans without repayment.
Allegedly,
Semion Mogilevich
Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich ( uk, Семен Юдкович Могилевич, Semén Yúdkovych Mohylévych ; born June 30, 1946) is a Ukrainian-born Russian organized crime boss. He quickly built a highly structured criminal organization, in ...
instructed
Natasha Kagalovsky to wire transfer Cali cartel funds from
Bank of New York
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY Mellon, is an American investment banking services holding company headquartered in New York City. BNY Mellon was formed from the merger of The Bank of New York and the Mellon Financ ...
accounts though Brazilian banks to offshore shell companies.
Capitalizing on this basis, Gilberto was able to found the First InterAmericas Bank operating out of Panama.
In an interview with ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', Gilberto admitted to money being laundered through the bank; however, he attributed the process to only legal actions. The laundering, which Gilberto states was "in accordance with Panamanian law", is what led to the US authorities' pursuing him. Gilberto later started, in 1979, the
Grupo Radial Colombiano, a network of over 30 radio stations and a
pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...
chain named
Drogas la Rebaja, which at its height amassed over 400 stores in 28 cities, employing 4,200. The pharmaceutical chain's value was estimated at $216 million.
As a consequence of the Cali Cartel's ownership of the chain, from January 1988 to May 4, 1990, it was targeted for 85 bombings by Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel, leaving a total of 27 people dead.
Russian state connections
According to Felipe Turover Chudínov, who was a senior intelligence officer with the foreign-intelligence directorate of the KGB,
Russian prime minister
The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the nominal head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 f ...
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (russian: Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Unio ...
secretly decreed in the early 1990s that Russia would become an international hub through which narcotics are trafficked including cocaine and heroin from South America and heroin from Central Asia and Southeast Asia.
[Alt URL]
/ref> Yuri Skuratov
Yury Ilyich Skuratov (russian: Ю́рий Ильи́ч Скура́тов; born 3 July 1952) is a Russian jurist and politician.
Skuratov was born in Ulan-Ude. From 1995 until 1999, he was Prosecutor General of Russia. In February 1999, he di ...
supported Turover's statements and began numerous investigations into corruption with high ranking Russian government officials. Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised i ...
provided a detailed narcotics trafficking diagram showing relationships between Russian government officials and Russian mafia
Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...
and implicating Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
and numerous others in ''obschak'' including narcotics trafficking money.[ Litvinenko, Alexanderbr>Схема связей преступного мира, нарисованная Литвиненко]
(Litvinenko's diagram of the connections of the underworld) Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Following Operation Troika which targeted the Tambov Gang
The Tambov Gang (in russian: Тамбовская преступная группировка, ''Tambóvskaya prestúpnaya gruppiróvka'') is a large gang in Saint Petersburg, Russia. According to common allegations, it was organised in Leningrad ...
, Spanish Prosecutor José Grinda concurred and added that to avoid prosecution numerous indicted persons became Deputies in the Russian Duma, especially with Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) f ...
's Liberal Democratic Party and gained parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
St. Petersburg Immobilien und Beteiligungs AG or SPAG is a real estate company registered in Germany under Putin's control in 1992 and suspected by German police of facilitating Saint Petersburg mobsters, Colombian drug lords, and transcontinental money laundering. Kumarin-Barsukov, of the Tambov Russian mafia was a partner in Znamenskaya, a subsidiary of SPAG. Vladimir Smirnov was the general director of Znamenskaya and Kumarin-Barsukov was his deputy.[ Through his 200 shares or 20% control, Vladimir Smirnov was Putin's voting proxy in SPAG.] Jalol Khaidarov (russian: Джалол Хайдаров) stated that the final destination of the funds was to the "Operator Trade Center" in Liechtenstein but also said that the Bank of New York was a participant.[ In the early 2000s, the company's co-founder Rudolf Ritter was arrested in ]Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...
for laundering cocaine cash for the Cali cartel. Robert Walner was the chief prosecutor in Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz
Vaduz ( or , High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' Hrsg. ...
.
Former Ukrainian presidential bodyguard Nikolai Melnichenko bugged the following conversation between Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corrup ...
and his security chief Leonid Derkach about SPAG:
Leonid Derkach: Leonid Danilovich. We've got some interesting material here from the Germans. One of them has been arrested.
Leonid Kuchma (reading aloud): Ritter, Rudolf Ritter.
Leonid Derkach: Yes, and about that affair, the drug smuggling. Here are the documents. They gave them all out. Here's Vova Putin, too.
Leonid Kuchma: There's something about Putin there?
Leonid Derkach: The Russians have already been buying everything up. Here are all the documents. We're the only ones that still have them now. I think that SB chiefNikolai Patrushev
Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev (russian: Никола́й Плато́нович Па́трушев; born 11 July 1951) is a Russian politician, security officer and intelligence officer who has served as the secretary of the Security Council of ...
is coming from the 15th to the 17th. This will give him something to work with. This is what we'll keep. They want to shove the whole affair under the carpet.
Later in the conversation Derkach states that "they've bought up all these documents throughout Europe and only the rest are in our hands".
Using Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
as its base, Russian mafia moved heroin and Colombian cocaine, sometimes through Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, through Israel, where money laundering would occur of the narcotics profits, to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
while the Russian Kurgan mafia (russian: Курганская организованная преступная группировка) provided security.
According to Alexander Litvinenko, Putin, while he was Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of St Petersburg in the early 1990s, organized an Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
origin heroin supplying ring using ethnic Uzbek criminals and corrupt KGB and later FSB officers including the Moscow-based KGB Colonel Evgeny G. Khokholkov, the Oleg Ivanov created Izmaylovskaya Russian mafia and led by Anton Malevsky including mafia leaders Gafur Rakhimov
Gafur Rakhimov ( uz, G'ofur-Arslonbek Ahmedovich Rahimov) (born July 22, 1951) is an Uzbek businessman and sports administrator who was the President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for 20 months until his resignation in July 2019 ...
, Vyacheslav Ivanov ("Yaponchik" (Япончик) or Little Japonese), who governed Uzbek networks in America, and Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov
Alimzhan Tursunovich Tokhtakhounov (russian: Алимжан Турсунович Тохтахунов; born 1 January 1949) is a Russian businessman, suspected criminal, and former sportsman. He is accused in relations with organized crime and br ...
(russian: Алик Тахтахунов) ("Taiwanchik" (Тайванчик) or Little Taiwan), who governed Uzbek networks in Europe, and Salim Abdulaev. These networks also supplied Europe and America with cocaine from the Cali KGB cartel. Robert Eringer
Robert Eringer (born October 5, 1954) is an American author, investigative journalist and private-sector counterintelligence operative. ''Salon magazine'' described Eringer as an "obscure journalist" with ties to Clair George, the former Deputy ...
, head of Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
's Security Service, confirmed Litvinenko's file about Vladimir Putin's involvement in Europe's narcotics trade. The Ismailovskaya mafia is closely associated with Oleg Deripaska, Andrei Bokarev, Michael Cherney
Michael Cherney ( he, מיכאל צ'רנוי, russian: Михаил Чёрный, also Mikhail Chernoy, Mikhail Semenovitch Chorny or Mikhail Chernoi; born 16 January 1952) is an Uzbek-born Israeli entrepreneur and industrialist. He is known for h ...
, and Iskander Makhmudov
Iskander Kakhramonovich Makhmudov (russian: Искандар Кахрамонович Махмудов uz, Искандар Қаҳрамонович Маҳмудов; 5 December 1963 Bukhara, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union) is an Uzbek-born Russian bu ...
through their Switzerland-based Blond Investment Corporation's MIB bank account.[ Rudolf Ritter in Liechtenstein was the financial manager for both SPAG and the Ismailovskaya mafia.][ Alexander Afanasyev ("Afonya") was connected to both SPAG and the Ismailovskaya mafia through his Panama registered Earl Holding AG which Ritter had also a signature as well as Berger International Holding, Repas Trading SA and Fox Consulting.][ Juan Carlos Saavedra represented the Cali Cartel in Spain.][ In October 2015, Spanish Prosecutor Jose Grinda stated that any part of "the case could be recalled back to Spain."][
Revealed in late September 2020, Cali KGB cocaine was being transported through the Russian embassy in ]Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
to Russia for many years.
Violence
Discipline
Political violence was largely discounted by the Cali Cartel, as the threat of violence often sufficed. The organization of the cartel was structured so that only people who had family in Colombia would handle operations that involved both Cali and U.S. sites, keeping the family within reach of the cartel. Family members became the cartel's insurance that its members would not assist government officials, nor would they refuse payment for products received. The threat of death also hung over those who made mistakes. It is believed the cartel would often kill junior members who made gross errors.
Social cleansing
In his book ''End of Millennium'', Manuel Castells states the Cali Cartel had participated in social cleansing
Social cleansing ( es, limpieza social) is social group-based killing that consists of the elimination of members of society who are considered "undesirable", including, but not limited to, the homeless, criminals, street children, the elderly, th ...
of hundreds of ("discardables"). The desechables included prostitutes, street children
Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policym ...
, petty thieves, homosexuals and the homeless
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
.
Along with some of the locals, the Cali Cartel formed parties self-named ("social cleansing groups") who murdered the ''desechables'', often leaving them with signs on them stating: "" ("clean Cali, beautiful Cali"). The bodies of those murdered were often tossed into the Cauca River
The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. From its headwaters in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Magangue in Bolivar Department, and th ...
, which later became known as the "River of Death". The municipality of Marsella in Risaralda was eventually bankrupted by the cost of recovering corpses and conducting autopsies
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any d ...
.
Retaliation
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the communist guerrillas struck at the drug cartels. In 1981, the then-guerrilla group, Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19; "19th of April Movement"), kidnapped Marta Nieves Ochoa, the sister of the Medellín Cartel's Ochoa brothers, Jorge
Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".
The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...
, Fabio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin '' Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian.
The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...
and Juan David. M-19 demanded a ransom of $15 million for Marta's safe release, but were rejected. In response to the kidnapping, the Medellín and Cali cartels, as well as associated traffickers, formed the group (MAS; "Death to Kidnappers"). Traffickers contributed funds, rewards, equipment and manpower for MAS operations. Leaflets soon after were dropped in a football pitch
A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural tu ...
in Cali announcing the formation of the group. MAS began to capture and torture M-19 members in retaliation. Within 3 days, Marta Nieves was released. The group MAS, however, would continue to operate, with hundreds of killings attributed to them.
In 1992, the guerrilla faction Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC; "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia") kidnapped Christina Santa Cruz, the daughter of Cali Cartel leader José Santacruz Londoño. FARC demanded in exchange for the safe return of Christina a ransom of $10 million. In response, the Cali Cartel kidnapped 20 or more members of the Colombian Communist Party
The Colombian Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Colombiano, PCC) is a legal communist party in Colombia. It was founded in 1930 as the Communist Party of Colombia, at which point it was the Colombian section of the Comintern, and changed i ...
, Patriotic Union, the United Workers Union, and the sister of Pablo Catatumbo, a representative of the Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Board
The Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Board ( es, Coordinadora Guerrillera Simón Bolívar or CGSB) was an umbrella group of guerrilla organizations in Colombia from 1987 to the early 1990s. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the 1 ...
. Eventually, after talks, Christina and the sister of Catatumbo were released. It is unknown what happened to the other hostages taken by the cartel.
During the narco-terror war waged by Pablo Escobar on the Colombian government, it is believed a hired assassin
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or VIP, important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not ha ...
attempted to kill Herrera while he was attending a sports event. The gunman opened fire using a machine gun on the crowd where Herrera was sitting, killing 19. However, he did not hit Herrera. Herrera is believed to have been a founding member of Los Pepes
Los Pepes, a name derived from the Spanish phrase "Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar" ("Persecuted by Pablo Escobar"), was a vigilante group composed of enemies of Pablo Escobar. They waged a small-scale war against the Medellín Cartel in 1993, whic ...
, a group which operated alongside authorities with the intention of killing or capturing Pablo Escobar.
The Cali cartel then hired a member of Colombia's military, a civil engineer named Jorge Salcedo. They wanted him to help them plot an assassination on Pablo Escobar. They hired him because they heard that Salcedo had in the past, befriended and hired a group of mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
to wage war against the left-wing guerrilla forces in an operation sanctioned by Colombia's military. The mercenary group was made up of 12 former special operations soldiers, including the British Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...
. Salcedo felt it was his patriotic duty and accepted the deal to bring the mercenaries back to Colombia and help plan the operation to kill Pablo Escobar.
The group of British ex-soldiers accepted the offer. The cartel provided food, housing, and weapons to the mercenaries. The plan was to attack Escobar at his Hacienda Nápoles compound. They trained for a few months until they heard Escobar was going to be staying at the compound, celebrating the fact that his football team had won a tournament. They were going to be inserted by use of two heavily armed Hughes 500 helicopters and surprise-attack Escobar during the early morning. They painted the helicopters to look like police helicopters to further confuse them. They took off and headed towards the compound but one of the helicopters ended up crashing onto a mountainside, minutes away from the compound. The pilot was killed during the crash. The plan was aborted and they had to conduct a rescue mission up the dense mountainside.
Finally, Escobar went to prison, where he continued to run his Medellin Cartel and menace rivals from his cell. The second plot to kill Escobar was to bomb the prison by using an A-37 Dragonfly
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is an American light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s by Cessna of Wichita, Kansas. The A-37 was introduced during the Vietnam War and remained in pe ...
surplus ground-attack jet bomber in private ownership.[''Dirty Combat: Secret Wars and Serious Misadventures'' by David Tomkins.] The Cali Cartel had a connection in El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
, a general of El Salvador's military who illegally sold them four 500-pound bombs for about half a million dollars.
Salcedo flew over to El Salvador to oversee the plan to pick up the bombs and take them to an airfield where a civilian jet would land to pick them up and take them to Colombia. But when the jet landed at the airfield they found that it was a small executive jet. They attempted to load the four bombs, and what was planned to be a few minutes, it took them over 20 minutes. By this time there was a crowd of civilians that had gathered at the airfield curious about what was happening. Only three bombs fit, stacked in the small passenger cabin. The jet took off and Salcedo abandoned the fourth bomb and went back to his hotel. The morning after, the activities of the night before were all over the news. Salcedo barely escaped El Salvador and arrest before the botched pickup was exposed. Law enforcement had discovered the bomb and some of the people involved in the operation were arrested, and they told authorities about the plot to kill Escobar with the bombs. The Cali Cartel then decided to abort the air bombing plot.
There was no turning back for Salcedo. The Colombian government labeled him a criminal now working for the Cali Cartel, and his employers would not let him go anyway. Salcedo then settled into managing security for the Orejuela family, but then he was forced to witness an execution of four Panamanians, and tasked with organizing the murder of Guillermo Pallomari, their own cartel accountant. Salcedo faced a choice: to kill or risk being killed along with his family. Salcedo then decided to retaliate and save Pallomari and himself by contacting the US Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
and work as an informant. This proved to be the death blow to the Cali Cartel. For his service, Salcedo and his extended family were relocated to the US and he received rewards of about $1.7 million.
Counterintelligence
The counter-intelligence TN Education Centre of the Cali Cartel often surprised the DEA and Colombian officials. It was discovered, in a 1995 raid of Cali Cartel offices, that the cartel had been monitoring all phone calls made in and out of Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
and Cali, including the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá and the Ministry of Defense
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
. The laptop allowed Londoño to eavesdrop on phone calls being made as well as analyze phone lines for wiretaps. While officials were able to discover the use of the laptop, it is reported they were unable to decrypt many of the files due to sophisticated encryption techniques. Londoño was also believed to have a person within the phone company itself, which the officials realized when he was able to recognize a phone tap, one that had been placed directly at the phone company, instead of at his residence. Londoño's lawyer soon sent an official notice requesting the legality and requesting the warrant if one was produced.
Included in the list of government officials and officers on the Cali Cartel payroll were a reported 5,000 taxi drivers. The taxi drivers would allow the cartel to know who was arriving in the city and when, as well as where they were staying. By having numerous taxi drivers on the payroll, the cartel was able to monitor the movements of officials and dignitaries. It is reported by ''Time'' magazine, in 1991, DEA and U.S. Customs Service (now ICE) agents were monitoring a shipment being offloaded in Miami, only to find out later that the DEA agents were the target of Cali surveillance at the same time.
Jorge Salcedo, a member of Colombia's military, was put in charge of the cartel's intelligence and later provide security to Miguel. He would later, ironically, be crucial in helping destroy the cartel and pinpointing where Miguel was hiding. He designed and set up a large hidden radio network across the city allowing members to communicate wherever they were. They also had many people inside law enforcement working for them, including a high-ranking member of the Bloque de Búsqueda (search block) who were looking for the Cali Cartel's top leaders. When law enforcement had finally cornered Miguel inside an apartment, the double agent was there (along with other law enforcement including two DEA agents) trying to find the secret compartment in which Miguel was hiding. Law enforcement failed to find him on time and were forced to leave the apartment. They maintained a perimeter around the building to prevent his escape. The double agent was crucial in helping Miguel escape, as he hid Miguel in his car and drove away from the scene untroubled.
Medellín Cartel relations
First InterAmericas Bank
Jorge Ochoa, a high ranking Medellín financier and Gilberto Rodriguez had been childhood friends and years later co-owned the Panamanian First InterAmericas Bank. The institution was later cited by United States officials as a money laundering operation, which allowed both the Cali Cartel and the Medellín Cartel to move and launder large amounts of funds. Only through diplomatic pressure on then Panamanian Dictator Manuel Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator, politician and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritaria ...
could the U.S. put an end to the bank's use as a money laundering front. In a ''Time'' magazine interview, Gilberto Rodriguez admitted to laundering money through the bank but noted that the process broke no Panamanian laws.
''Muerte a Secuestradores''
The two cartels participated in other joint ventures in later years, such as the founding of (MAS), who successfully returned Ochoa's kidnapped sister, Marta Nieves Ochoa. Expanding on the prior success of MAS, the cartels and independent traffickers would meet again.
The second meeting is believed to have been the start of an organization trafficking between the primary participants, the Medellín Cartel and Cali Cartel. The two cartels divided up the major United States distribution points: the Cali Cartel took New York City and the Medellín Cartel took South Florida and Miami; Los Angeles was left up for grabs.
Through their affiliation in MAS, it is also believed the cartels decided to work together to stabilize prices, production, and shipments of the cocaine market. However, the strategic alliance formed with the foundation of MAS in 1981 began to crumble by 1983–1984, due to the ease of competition. As the cartels set up infrastructure, routes, transport methods, and bribes, it became easier for competitors to either establish similar deals or make use of those already put in place by other cartels. By 1987, the cooperation forged by the formation of MAS no longer existed. Contributing to the demise was the Medellín Cartel's Rodríguez Gacha, who attempted to move in on the New York City market, previously ceded to the Cali Cartel, and the 1986 arrest of Jorge Ochoa at a police roadblock, which the Medellín Cartel deemed suspicious and attributed partly to the Cali Cartel.
Los Pepes
In later years, as Pablo Escobar's narco-terror war escalated against the Colombian government, the government began to strike back in ever escalating battles. As the Medellín Cartel weakened due to the fighting and constant pressure, the Cali Cartel grew in strength, eventually founding Los Pepes, or ("People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar"). Los Pepes was specifically formed to target the Medellín Cartel and bring about the downfall of Pablo Escobar.
It is believed Los Pepes provided information to Search Bloc
The Search Bloc ( es, Bloque de Búsqueda) is the name of three different ad hoc special operations units of the National Police of Colombia (Policía Nacional de Colombia). They were originally organized with a focus on capturing or killing h ...
, a joint police and army unit specifically created to track down Medellín leaders. In exchange for information, Los Pepes received assistance from the United States counter-terrorism
Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...
unit, Delta Force
The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...
, through its links to Search Bloc. By the time of Escobar's capture and eventual death in December 1993, Los Pepes had been responsible for the deaths or executions of over 60 associates or members of the Medellín Cartel. The death of Pablo Escobar led to the dismantling of the Medellín Cartel and the rise of the Cali Cartel.
Law enforcement
Seizures
While the Cali Cartel operated with a degree of immunity early on, owing to its ties to the government and the Medellín Cartel's narco-terrorism war on the Colombian government, they were still subjected to drug seizures. In 1991 alone, law enforcement agencies seized 67 tons of cocaine, 75% originating from the Cali Cartel. In total, the US Customs Service (USCS) alone had spent 91,855 case hours and 13 years in investigations against the Cali Cartel, seizing 50 tons of cocaine and $15 million in assets.
In 1991, a shipment of cocaine hidden inside of concrete posts was intercepted with the aid of a drug-sniffing dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by ...
at the Miami seaport. It led to the seizure of of cocaine and several arrests, beginning what the US Customs Service would dub Operation Cornerstone, which lasted 14 years. In another seizure the following year, a USCS wiretap
Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...
on Harold Ackerman, whose affiliation was derived from the 1991 seizure, enabled the arrest of seven individuals and of cocaine hidden in a load of broccoli. Accounting ledger
A ledger is a book or collection of accounts in which account transactions are recorded. Each account has an opening or carry-forward balance, and would record each transaction as either a debit or credit in separate columns, and the ending or ...
s were seized in related arrests, which allowed the identification of another shipment being sent to Panama hidden in tiles. This information was passed to Panamanian authorities and led to the seizure of .
In 1993, the US Customs Service struck again at the Cali cartel, this time seizing while pursuing Raul Marti, the only remaining member of the defunct Miami cell. It is believed these successive raids forced the cartel to funnel its shipments through Mexico; however, that did not stop the US Customs Service. Three maritime ships were intercepted in 1993, with a total of .
Major arrests
Between June and July 1995, the remaining six of the seven heads of the cartel were arrested. Gilberto was arrested in his home, and Henry Loaiza-Ceballos, Victor Patiño-Fomeque and Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus surrendered to authorities. Jose Santa Cruz Londoño was captured in a restaurant, and a month later, Miguel Rodriguez was apprehended during a raid. It is widely believed that the cartel continued to operate and run trafficking operations from within prison.
The Rodríguez brothers were extradited in 2006 to the United States and pleaded guilty in Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, to charges of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. Upon their confession, they agreed to forfeit $2.1 billion in assets. The agreement, however, did not require them to cooperate in other investigations. They were solely responsible for identification of assets stemming from their cocaine trafficking. Colombian officials raided and seized the Drogas la Rebaja pharmacy chain, replacing 50 of its 4,200 workers on the grounds that they were "serving the interests of the Cali Cartel".
See also
* Manuel de Dios Unanue
* Narcotrafficking in Colombia
* Norte del Valle Cartel
The Norte del Valle Cartel ( es, Cártel del Norte del Valle), or North Valley Cartel, was a drug cartel that operated principally in the north of the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia, most notably the coastal city of Buenaventura. It ro ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1970s establishments in Colombia
1996 disestablishments in Colombia
Organizations established in the 1970s
Organizations disestablished in 1996
Disbanded Colombian drug cartels
Transnational organized crime
Organized crime groups in the United States
Gangs in Florida
Former gangs in New York City
Organised crime groups in Spain
Cali