Max Mermelstein (November 1, 1942 – September 12, 2008) was an American
drug smuggler
The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...
for 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 ...
in the late 1970s and early 80s, who later became a key
informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...
against the organization. In the words of James P. Walsh, the
U.S. Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
CA, Mermelstein "was probably the single most valuable government witness in drug matters that this country has ever known."
He became a "weapon for the government."
Reputed to have smuggled 56 tons of cocaine worth $12.5 billion into the United States, Mermelstein was described by his attorney Tom Johnston as "just a nice Jewish guy who got into the wrong industry."
Early life
Trained as a
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
at the
New York Institute of Technology and married to a Puerto Rican, Mermelstein moved to
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...
with his wife, where he worked as chief engineer for the
Sheraton Hotel
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Cen ...
.
Mermelstein and his wife separated soon after, as she returned to her ailing mother, but not before Mermelstein learned some "street Spanish."
While working for the Sheraton Mermelstein met a Colombian woman - Cristina Jaramillo -- and the two were soon married. After accepting a job at the Princess Hotel in
Freeport in the Bahamas, Mermelstein began his first limited criminal activity by creating an "underground pipeline" to help smuggle his wife's Colombian relatives and childhood friends into the United States.
Working for the Medellín cartel
One of those "friends" he helped to smuggle into the US was , -- a five-foot three sociopath -- who had a taste for
basuco cigarettes which is an amalgamation of tobacco and cocaine byproducts stuffed back into cigarette shells. After Mermelstein returned to Miami with his family to work as chief engineer of the Aventura Country Club, he was awakened by a drug-fueled Cardona on Christmas morning 1978. Cardona insisted that Mermelstein drive him and his roommate back home after a cocaine-filled afterparty. Mermelstein agreed, and on the trip, Cardona and the roommate argued after Cardona accused the roommate of stealing. In a rage, Cardona shot the roommate to death at close range. Fearing for his own life, Mermelstein continued to drive until they stopped to dispose of the body at a road shoulder. They then returned to Cardona's apartment where Cardona told Mermelstein, "You work for me now."
In 1979, still fearing for his life and the lives of his family, Mermelstein started working full-time for Cardona, who had become the cartel point man in the United States. Working mainly for
Jorge Luis Ochoa through Cardona, Mermelstein not only became intimate with the operations of the dominant drug smuggling network at the time called 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 ...
, but vastly improved it. He was responsible for managing the logistics of drug shipments to the United States which included arranging flights, locating drop points, and scheduling deliveries.
Mermelstein traveled extensively to
Colombia where he engaged all the leaders of Medellín Cartel including
Pablo Escobar,
Jorge Luis Ochoa,
Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha and
Carlos Lehder
Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas (born 7 September 1949) is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. He was released from prison in the United States after 33 years in 2020. Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder ...
. He spent most of his time with Cardona and the Ochoas. Together they worked on transportation routes and developed new packaging technique allowing cocaine to be dropped into the ocean in waterproof packaging.
In the late 1970s, the Colombian drug trade was still in its infancy but within a just few flights, Mermelstein was a multi-millionaire.
Within six years, he turned a multimillion-dollar-a-year mom-and-pop cocaine industry into a multibillion-dollar-a-year trade.
Because of his unparalleled success, Mermelstein was present at high-council Medellín Cartel meetings and was the only American ever allowed to sit with the cartel leaders. Other honors bestowed on Mermelstein included a Medellín invitation to the baptism of Cardona's youngest son, which was attended by all the cartel leaders.
Participation in Barry Seal's contract murder
After fellow drug trafficker
Barry Seal agreed to testify against Jorge Ochoa the reputed leader of the Medellín cartel, Seal was "marked for death." Wanting an American to supervise the job, the other members of the cartel turned to Mermelstein, the one American they all trusted. It was during this time that Mermelstein was offered $1 million to kidnap Seal and $500,000 to kill him. Mermelstein—who spent just two years and 21 days in jail and received a $250,000 bonus for cooperating with the government on one drug case—acknowledged on the stand that he helped plan the contract murder of Seal in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
.
Mermelstein stalled on the assassination attempt as long as possible, but pressure from both sides became too great. Federal prosecutors say it was the investigation into automaker
John DeLorean
John Zachary DeLorean (January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry, widely known for his work at General Motors and as founder of the DeLorean Motor Company.
DeLorean man ...
's alleged cocaine-dealing activities—charges on which he was ultimately acquitted—that led them to Mermelstein.
As a result of the DeLorean sting and investigation, an American pilot who flew for the cartel in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
turned informant and led law enforcement agents directly to Mermelstein.
Mermelstein's arrest
In 1985 Mermelstein was arrested while driving near his home in Davie, Florida. In addition to $20,000 in his glove compartment and a .22-caliber
Walther
Walther is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a German form of Walter, which is derived from the Old High German ''Walthari'', containing the elements ''wald'' -"power", "brightness" or "forest" and ''hari'' -"warrior".
The name was fir ...
, the federal government confiscated $1.2 million in cash and property owned by Mermelstein at the time of his arrest.
Fred Friedman -- a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Mermelstein in Los Angeles -- said "When they arrested him, he was driving his
Jaguar, and it was like something out of ''
Miami Vice
''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two M ...
''. The agents surrounded him, and they said it seemed like he had known that he was being surveiled the previous week, and it almost appeared to them like there was a sigh of relief, like he knew it had to happen."
Turning informant
Later, at Mermelstein's home, law enforcement authorities found an assortment of weapons and $250,000 in cash under his bed. Authorities collected a good deal of incriminating evidence from another drug trafficking informant in California regarding Mermelstein's activities. With the cartel refusing to provide his million-dollar bail, coupled with facing a long prison sentence, Mermelstein decided to turn informant and make a deal with the US Customs Service the predecessor to Homeland Security Investigations.
Witness protection program participation & testimony
Unprecedented family relocation deal
Gerald Shur
Gerald Shur (October 18, 1933 – August 25, 2020) was an American lawyer, and the founder of the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.
Gerald Shur was born on October 18, 1933, in the Bronx, New York, the son of Rose (Nissell) Shur, a ...
, founder of the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
(WITSEC), agreed to an unprecedented thirty-family-member relocation, making it the highest single relocation cost for one witness in the history of the WITSEC. Out of an approved thirty members, sixteen elected to enter. This was the first time the government agreed to protect an entire family group to maintain a witness.
Mermelstein lived under the alias Wes Barclay and worked as chief engineer for the Westgate Vacation Villas in Kissimmee, Florida.
Mermelstein's court testimony
Mermelstein began providing testimony in the indictments of Carlos Lehder, Rafael Cardona Salazar, Pablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, and also testified against the three Colombians charged with the murder of
Barry Seal.
Mermelstein testified at the trials of former kingpin
Carlos Lehder
Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas (born 7 September 1949) is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. He was released from prison in the United States after 33 years in 2020. Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder ...
and deposed former Panamanian leader
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'' ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritarian ruler who amassed a personal f ...
, among other witness duties while in WITSEC from 1987 until his death in 2008. His testimony, among others, led to Lehder's imprisonment.
Mermelstein's testimony helped bring down the Medellín Cartel's distributors in Miami. In 1985, after he turned informant, a three million dollar contract was placed on his head, which remained until his death in 2008. Mermelstein provided testimony to grand juries in
,
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
As a direct result of Mermelstein's testimony, indictments were returned against
Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, head of the Ochoa family's operations in Medellín;
Pablo Escobar Gaviria
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 ...
, a Colombian drug lord and
narcoterrorist
Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by t ...
who headed the Gaviria drug family, and Rafael Cardona Salazar, the elusive drug kingpin who headed the cartel's operations in the United States. Together, the Medellín cartel families are believed to have grossed an estimated $7 billion a year in the United States.
A great witness
"Mermelstein is unbelievable as a witness," said Al Winters, a New Orleans federal prosecutor. "I don't know how to express it in any way other than to say I've been doing this for a long time, and he's as good a witness, both in recall and quality of information, as I've ever run into. His connections within the Medellin cartel are the highest."
Mermelstein was able to take ledgers written in shorthand
hat was
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
unique to the cartel and translate the confusing scrawl into evidence of cocaine sales approaching 2,957 kilos, worth $56 million, said Richard Gregorie, chief assistant U.S. attorney in Miami.
"The real drug war is run through informants, and top-level ones are treated like kings, at least before they testify. Max Mermelstein, the most important witness against the Medellin cartel, drove his handlers nuts with his imperious demands, but he was treated with kid gloves because he was so important to the government. They housed him in a secure location called "the submarine" that had no windows and was situated under a U.S. District Courthouse. When I interviewed Mermelstein in 1987, he demanded that I buy him a speakerphone and a
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and ...
pen. I bought him the speakerphone." (Jeff Leen, Investigative Journalist)
Justice Department officials said Mermelstein provided narcotics investigators with some of the best intelligence data on the cartel and its methods.
Mermelstein testified at the trial of
Manuel Antonio Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator, politician and military officer who was the ''de facto'' ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritarian ruler who amassed a personal f ...
that the U.S. government has paid him $255,900 in rewards and spent another $414,345 on living expenses for him and his family in exchange for information about former associates in the drug business.
Prison sentence reduced
In an unexpected move, U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman ordered Mermelstein released after the two years he served in prison since his arrest, declaring that he was sending "a message to Medellin, Colombia." The judge stated "I'd like to see the country get the best mileage it can out of Mr. Mermelstein." Walsh, who argued for a 10-year sentence, was originally incensed. "At the time, I thought it was unduly generous," he said last week, a few days after the sentencing. "I've had time in the last few days to think about it, and I think the judge made the right move."
Senate judiciary hearing
While still in WITSEC, Mermelstein was questioned during a
closed session
An executive session is a term for any block within an otherwise open meeting (often of a board of directors or other deliberative assembly) in which minutes are taken separately or not at all, outsiders are not present, and the contents of the dis ...
, by then-chairman Senator
Joseph Biden at the Senate Judiciary Hearing on the Control of Foreign Drug Trafficking Activities, on 17 August 1989. The hearing was called as
William J. Bennett, the Administration's director of drug control policy, was finishing a comprehensive strategy for the nation to fight illicit drugs. The strategy was later announced by President Bush the following month in a televised address.
An unprecedented security measure was taken to protect the mystery guest, as the hearing room was cleared of the public, press and committee staff. After federal marshals seated the witness and placed a screen so that only Senator Biden could see him, others were readmitted to the room. With a three-million dollar contract on his life, Mermelstein was flanked by several deputy marshals and spoke through an electronic voice modulator.
A witness of unprecedented value
Just as Pablo Escobar went to extreme measures to kill Mermelstein, the U.S. Government went to extreme measures to protect him. So much so that Gerald Shur, creator of the Federal Witness Protection Program, went into hiding in his own program after the FBI arrested a German assassin who confessed he was contracted by Escobar to kidnap Shur's wife in exchange for Mermelstein's whereabouts. Gerald Shur and his wife, Miriam, were forced into hiding for a year and a half until Escobar's death.
Mermelstein's descriptions of the drug business trade
"At the time, it seemed like a harmless vice, as far as we were concerned. And the demand in the United States was so great that we just couldn't get it up fast enough. It wound up being the fashionable drug in the early '80s. Lawyers' offices, judges' chambers, movie stars--you name it. In the upper echelon, cocaine was the way to go."
"The money was rolling in so fast and became such a problem because of its volume and bulk that just to make things go faster, we used to weigh it--you know, quick estimate. We'd separate everything in its own denominations. And one bill, U.S. currency, is approximately a gram. So we'd just package it up, weigh it, get a quick estimate of what we had and when we had time later we'd count it."
"The FBI won't tell the DEA, the DEA won't tell the FBI and nobody wants to talk to Customs. Everyone has his own budget priorities."
Popular culture
The news program ''
60 Minutes'' tried to feature Mermelstein's story five times but the federal witness protection program would not permit it, as Mermelstein's case was too high-profile at the time.
Jeff Leen, co-author to the Pulitzer prize-winning book ''Kings of Cocaine'', devoted an entire chapter to Mermelstein and is the only professional reporter to ever interview him. Leen is a six-time Pulitzer winner, former ''
Miami Herald'' Chief Investigative Journalist and current assistant managing editor in charge of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' investigations unit.
Associate
Jon Roberts' self-proclaimed tale was chronicled in the documentary ''
Cocaine Cowboys'' (2006), an
indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
hit that spawned a
2008 sequel. He appears in archive footage in the reloaded version of this documentary near the end.
An
HBO series and a film by
Paramount Pictures — starring
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...
, according to ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' — are in the works.
Documentary producer Alfred Spellman of ''Cocaine Cowboys'' states on his rak on tur website, "Jeff Leen's book ''Kings of Cocaine'' led me to Max's book, ''
The Man Who Made it Snow'', which in turn led us to Jon Roberts and
Mickey Munday
Mickey Munday (born June 29, 1945) is an American former drug trafficker and former associate of Colombia's Medellin Cartel during the growth phase in cocaine trafficking, 1975–1986. Munday was featured in the 2006 Rakontur documentary, '' Coc ...
. We had tried to feature Max for ''Cocaine Cowboys''. I had found out that he was living in
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...
. Sgt. Al Singleton of the Miami Dade Police Department arranged for us to speak on the phone twice in late 2003. Max had just testified against Fabio Ochoa in federal court in Miami earlier that year and didn't seem eager to talk to me, so eventually I gave up."
In 2011, Roberts (with co-author
Evan Wright) and Munday separately published memoirs about their "Cocaine Cowboys" exploits (''
American Desperado'' and ''
Tall Tales
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it n ...
'', respectively), which mention Mermelstein. Jon Roberts states, "Rafa Cardona Salazar was "like a lieutenant and controlled almost every kilo of coke that came into this country from Medellín. One day I came, he had this American guy there and he introduces the American and says, 'This is my compadre. You know I'm not in town a lot, but whatever it is you need, he'll take care of it. Don't worry about it. Max was a trusted person. In the beginning, it was 75 to 100 kilos a week. When you bring somebody a million dollars a week, a bond grows between people. The government had no idea, and honest to God, if it wasn't for Max Mermelstein... They knew nothing.'
He was interviewed in a disguise in documentaries by PBS Frontline about the Cocaine Cartel associate George Jung, and about Pablo Escobar.
Death
Mermelstein died September 12, 2008, aged 65, in
Lexington, Kentucky, from cancer of the liver, lung, and bone. Since turning informant he lived under an assumed name within the
United States Federal Witness Protection Program
The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justi ...
.
His brief obituary was published in the ''Frankfort State Journal'' under his assumed name and an altered age: "Services for Wesley Barclay, 64, will be held at a later date in Florida. He died on September 12. There will be no visitation."
His eulogy was given by screenwriter Brett Tabor, who met Mermelstein four weeks earlier. Tabor later bought Mermelstein's life story and via a screenplay titled
Cocaine Cowboys.
See also
* YouTube of
hearing in which he testified to Joe Biden.Mermelstein is behind a screen but his voice can be heard.
*
Cocaine Cowboys
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mermelstein, Max
1942 births
2008 deaths
American drug traffickers
Deaths from cancer in Kentucky
Jewish American gangsters
Medellín Cartel traffickers
New York Institute of Technology alumni
People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews