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The mid-1980s - Americans are using
over $20 billion worth of cocaine

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every year, and one man supplies 80% of it.

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Pablo Escobar was the biggest drug
kingpin the world has ever seen.

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Despite our best efforts,

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illegal cocaine is coming into our
country at alarming levels.

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Pablo Escobar was responsible for
making cocaine an American epidemic.

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He built an empire rivalling any
Fortune 500 company.

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They estimated his wealth at
30 billion, not million.

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With a "b," - billion dollars.

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He rewarded loyalty with riches,

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and defiance with ruthless brutality.

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He didn't kill just you.
He killed your children,

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your wife, whole families.

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He would wield the kind
of firepower

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that brings a whole country
to its knees.

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Placing a bomb on
a commercial airliner.

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That shook the government
to its roots.

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Yet, at the height of his power,

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only one thing terrified Pablo
Escobar - American justice.

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I'm here today to talk about war.

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There was a war on drugs and Pablo
Escobar was the number one focus.

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This is the story of a handful
of brave US Government agents

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who travelled deep behind enemy
lines to take on a kingpin's army.

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We were the lead DEA agents
for the United States

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on the Pablo Escobar investigation.

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But you probably know us best as the
guys from the hit series Narcos.

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Escobar. One way or another,
he pays.

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It's a brutal foreign war
to fight an American epidemic.

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Regardless of what you read,
what you see on television,

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that's just scratching the surface.

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A deadly struggle to stop a monster

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told by the men who helped bring
him down.

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The search for Pablo Escobar, to me,
was personal,

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because of my friends that
he killed.

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This is The Rise and Fall
of Pablo Escobar.

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Medellin,
Colombia's second largest city,

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and one of its most impoverished.

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Work is scarce in 1980,

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and hunger and homelessness
plague the poor.

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Colombia at that time,

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it wasn't quite as advanced as it is
now, it was a third-world country.

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Every day in Medellin,
there's danger.

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In Medellin, you have all of the
hopes and tragedies of Colombia

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most profoundly
and most vividly lived.

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It's a city looking for a hero,
and it finds an unlikely one

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in rising cocaine kingpin
Pablo Escobar.

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By 1986 Escobar's cocaine empire
earns him $420 million a week.

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He wanted to be extremely wealthy,
which he... He became very wealthy.

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By 1987 Forbes magazine rates
Pablo Escobar

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one of the richest men in the world,
for seven straight years.

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Escobar is quick to share his
fortune with the poor of Medellin.

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He gave away cash to these people
cos they didn't have anything.

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It was the first time anyone had
ever done anything for those people.

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At very small expense to himself,

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when you consider how much
he was making,

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he was able to play Robin Hood.

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Pablo's generosity has
a valuable upside for him

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as it forges the kind
of fierce loyalty

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that turns his hometown
into his fortress.

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The epicentre of the biggest drug
empire the world has ever seen.

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Pablo Escobar was born in December
1949, in Medellin, Colombia.

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Here's a guy who grew up very poor,
as I understand.

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Not the poorest of the poor,

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but certainly from a very humble
background.

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You know, his mother was a teacher.

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His father was some
small-time farmer.

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He had the kinda crazy-lookin'
hair. Wasn't big in stature.

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He was a nothing. He was about
five foot six inches tall.

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He was always a little bit plump.

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He wasn't anything to look at.

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But Escobar's unassuming appearance
hides a ruthless ambition

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that changes Colombia's history.

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His criminal enterprise
starts small.

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Escobar, to me,
was not a smart person.

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But he was very, very street smart.
He knew how to work people.

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He was a car thief.
He used to steal tombstones.

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And sand names off of
the grave markers

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and selling it back to
the companies that sell those.

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He would steal goods from trucks
and then try and peddle them.

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But it's Escobar's cunning gift as
a smuggler

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that sets him apart from your
average hoodlum.

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By 1975 he's
in the marijuana business

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carving out some of the early
smuggling routes

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he later uses to build
a cocaine empire.

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He was dealing small amounts
of marijuana.

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And then he went to work for
a man who at the time

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was probably the biggest trafficker
in Medellin.

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Pablo goes to work for
an up-and-coming Colombian dealer

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named Fabio Restrepo.

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But young Pablo has already set the
goal of becoming a millionaire

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by the age of 22.

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That ambition puts Restrepo
in Escobar's crosshairs.

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He went to work for him and one day
the man was found dead,

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shot in the head.

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Once Pablo realised how much money
was to be made

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in the cocaine business he killed
Restrepo, creating an opening.

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The dead Restrepo's employees are
told they have a new boss,

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Pablo Escobar, and that they don't
have a choice in the matter.

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They grew up on the street,
they don't have much education.

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And so they really only know power
and brutality,

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and that that's how you get power,
is you become brutal.

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It was just a basic instinct.

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If it was pig's knuckles he woulda
done pig's knuckles.

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It was just any way he could
make money,

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regardless of what he had to do
to get it.

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Pablo's signature brutality becomes
the cornerstone

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of his fledgling empire.

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Escobar wrote the book on using
violence to extremes

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to get your business done.

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By the late 1970s,
while Pablo uses deadly violence

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to gain his foothold in Colombia,

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the United States is undergoing
a major change

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in its relationship with narcotics.

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The main drug of choice at
the time was marijuana.

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There was some Mexican brown heroin.

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And we started seeing some cocaine
too, but not in large quantities.

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In 1978, the Herrera organisation
uses their "Heroin Highway"

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from Mexico to the US to smuggle
$60 million worth of heroin.

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But by 1980, cocaine is starting to
take America by storm.

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In the early '80s,
cocaine was becoming very prevalent.

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Cocaine was the drug of choice.

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It was a big Hollywood drug.
It was a big elitist drug.

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It was doctors, it was lawyers.

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There was a cultural acceptance
of it.

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Doing it was not viewed
as harming anybody.

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People, a lot of times, viewed it,

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as they did in places like Studio
54, as kind of a party favour.

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I think we were surprised at how
quickly this blossomed

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and how quickly it was accepted by
the American public.

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Today, there's a new epidemic -
smokable cocaine,

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otherwise known as crack.

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It is an explosively destructive
and often lethal substance,

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which is crushing its users.

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It is an uncontrolled fire.

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It became a drug of choice
that went from being for

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the folks that had a lot of money
to much more accessible

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because people like Pablo Escobar
were pioneering ways to make it

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readily available, cheaper,

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and distributed massively
across the country.

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In Washington today
a politician did his best

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to say that we have our
priorities wrong.

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The use of cocaine, he said, is more
dangerous to America than terrorism.

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As the 1980s party on,
demand for cocaine skyrockets,

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and tons are smuggled across
America's borders

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to the streets of New York,
Los Angeles and Chicago.

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Most of it from Colombia.

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Police!

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Combating these smugglers becomes
the dangerous work

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of a new and highly specialised
federal agency

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started by President Richard Nixon
in 1973 -

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the Drug Enforcement Agency,
known as the DEA.

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We want to try to stop drugs coming
into this country at the source.

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We have the law enforcement,

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and that's punish the pushers
and the peddlers.

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DEA is one of the smaller federal
law enforcement agencies

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in the United States. But it has
the largest foreign footprint

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of any federal law
enforcement agency.

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Headquartered in Springfield,
Virginia,

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the DEA is about a third the size
of the FBI,

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but staffs three times as many
foreign agents,

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spread across 70 countries
around the globe.

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The DEA, unlike the FBI, primarily
work one very singular mission.

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Obviously narcotics.

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Their mission is not to go
for the users of drugs.

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DEA's mission is to go for
the highest level

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of the drug organisations
around the world.

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And having agents work undercover

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and try to infiltrate
these organisations.

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And Pablo Escobar is quickly
establishing himself as a target

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for the DEA.

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By 1980, through
an increasingly elaborate

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and ingenious smuggling operation,

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Pablo sneaks an astonishing 150 tons
of cocaine a year from his labs

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in the remote jungles of Colombia
to Miami, Florida,

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where he's established an ideal base
of operations in the US,

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only 1,000 miles,
three hours by plane, from Colombia.

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The great phrase of Miami
that I think describes it,

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yesterday and today
and perhaps forever is,

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"A sunny place for shady people."

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In the '50s Miami was, you know,
a somewhat Southern beach town,

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where not a whole lot went on.

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When cocaine was becoming king
here in South Florida,

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the city transformed from a sleepy,
touristy location

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to the cocaine mega capital
of the United States.

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You started seeing these huge condos
being built.

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You started seeing
the sports cars everywhere,

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the really fancy, expensive cars.

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I mean, Miami was a perfect fit
for Pablo and his organisation

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because Miami had a history
of turning a blind eye,

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if not overtly welcoming illicit
businesses and illicit money.

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Miami offers Pablo another
advantage.

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With nearly 1,100 miles
of coastline,

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and 11,000 miles of waterways,

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Florida provides endless avenues

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for bringing narcotics into
the US mainland.

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Miami juts out into
the warm Caribbean waters.

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There are a thousand islands in
the Bahamas.

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Traffickers had a network of bribed
officials in their countries

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and in Caribbean islands
to be able to use them.

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Escobar's web of corruption is
so complex

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the DEA quickly realises the only
way to stop his flow of cocaine

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is to cut it off at its source.

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Pablo Escobar
and the United States DEA

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are on a violent collision course.

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There was a war on drugs and Pablo
Escobar was the number one focus.

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By 1982, Pablo Escobar is fast
on his way to becoming

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the wealthiest and most brutal drug
smuggler in history.

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People compare him to Chapo.

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Chapo was nothing compared
to Pablo Escobar.

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Every week, he smuggles over ten
tons of cocaine

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past the southern borders.

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Our job is never easy because drug
criminals are ingenious.

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For every door that we close,
they open a new door to death.

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Say yes to your life.

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And when it comes to drugs
and alcohol, just say no.

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But Pablo brings more than
cocaine to US cities.

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He brings a flood of violent crime.

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Whether it was up to New York,
Atlanta, Houston, LA,

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we saw the violence started
to increase.

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New York and Miami drug-related
shootings skyrocket.

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The US murder rate spikes a shocking
50% since the 1960s.

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The Mayor of Washington, DC
told reporters today

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that while the city is suffering
from a record murder rate,

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it's not really random violence.

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The victims and killers,
according to Mayor Marion Barry,

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are drug abusers.

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Still, a near doubling of
the murder rate this year

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has local and federal officials in
an uproar

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over how to stop the bloodshed.

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Violence in the '80s
was off the charts.

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I had never seen anything like it as
a law enforcement officer.

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Life was cheap.

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And every day, unfortunately,

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I expected or wasn't surprised when
something really bad happened.

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In the wake of the mayhem,

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Pablo Escobar isn't just making
billions in cash,

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he's making a fearsome name
for himself.

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Soon, he's on the radar at the
highest level of US law enforcement.

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00:12:06,340 --> 00:12:08,780
Vice President Bush created
an anti-drug taskforce

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in the early '80s. It consisted of
DEA agents, FBI agents,

241
00:12:13,460 --> 00:12:16,860
ATF agents, marshals,
pretty much all federal agencies,

242
00:12:16,860 --> 00:12:20,500
to come in and get a handle on
what was going on here.

243
00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:23,180
Their mission - to identify
and dismantle

244
00:12:23,180 --> 00:12:25,860
the narcos' multibillion dollar
pipeline,

245
00:12:25,860 --> 00:12:29,260
follow it back to its source
and cut off its head.

246
00:12:30,620 --> 00:12:32,980
In the short time that it has been
in operation,

247
00:12:32,980 --> 00:12:36,900
the South Florida Task Force has
brought about a 27% increase

248
00:12:36,900 --> 00:12:38,500
in drug-related arrests

249
00:12:38,500 --> 00:12:43,620
and confiscated over $3 billion
worth of illegal drugs.

250
00:12:46,940 --> 00:12:49,300
As the gloves come off in
the war on drugs,

251
00:12:49,300 --> 00:12:52,660
some police departments' top
officers leave their local posts

252
00:12:52,660 --> 00:12:54,980
for action on the front lines
with the DEA.

253
00:12:57,660 --> 00:12:59,660
I was with the sheriff's office.

254
00:12:59,660 --> 00:13:02,220
I saw a bulletin that
the DEA was hiring.

255
00:13:02,220 --> 00:13:04,980
And I remember they were paying
$17,000 a year.

256
00:13:04,980 --> 00:13:06,900
I was making $10,000.

257
00:13:06,900 --> 00:13:10,460
In 1984, Javier Pena leaves the
relative safety

258
00:13:10,460 --> 00:13:12,860
of his sheriff's post
in Laredo, Texas

259
00:13:12,860 --> 00:13:15,740
to enlist in the DEA's war on drugs.

260
00:13:15,740 --> 00:13:19,140
His new assignment puts him
head-to-head with hardened narcos

261
00:13:19,140 --> 00:13:21,940
smuggling cocaine and heroin past
the Mexican border

262
00:13:21,940 --> 00:13:23,740
in East Austin, Texas.

263
00:13:24,900 --> 00:13:26,820
I did a lotta street cases.

264
00:13:26,820 --> 00:13:28,580
There was a lot of Mexican
traffickers

265
00:13:28,580 --> 00:13:30,180
that were doing a lot of heroin,

266
00:13:30,180 --> 00:13:34,900
so I did a lot of undercover work
with informant, surveillances.

267
00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:36,460
You're learning the job.

268
00:13:36,460 --> 00:13:38,740
So basically you're doing all
the dirty work.

269
00:13:41,580 --> 00:13:43,700
Three years later, in 1987,

270
00:13:43,700 --> 00:13:46,420
Tennessee-born and
West Virginia-raised Steve Murphy

271
00:13:46,420 --> 00:13:49,660
leaves his local police force
to join the DEA.

272
00:13:49,660 --> 00:13:52,460
And he's immediately dispatched to
America's ground zero

273
00:13:52,460 --> 00:13:55,780
in the war on drugs, a place
infiltrated by Pablo Escobar

274
00:13:55,780 --> 00:13:58,460
and his cartel - Miami, Florida.

275
00:13:58,460 --> 00:14:01,140
I was assigned to what we called
a Caribbean Enforcement Group.

276
00:14:01,140 --> 00:14:04,020
We investigated a lot of
the importation of cocaine

277
00:14:04,020 --> 00:14:05,700
into the United States.

278
00:14:05,700 --> 00:14:10,100
My first undercover deal,
we had 400 kilos of cocaine.

279
00:14:10,100 --> 00:14:12,940
Prior to me becoming a DEA agent
the most powder cocaine

280
00:14:12,940 --> 00:14:16,660
I'd ever seen at one time was 2oz
which is about this much,

281
00:14:16,660 --> 00:14:18,540
to 880 lb.

282
00:14:18,540 --> 00:14:20,980
I knew right then I had selected
the right career.

283
00:14:20,980 --> 00:14:22,860
I knew I'd picked the right agency.

284
00:14:22,860 --> 00:14:25,820
But in the years it takes the DEA
to ramp up its assault

285
00:14:25,820 --> 00:14:28,220
on the narcos' trafficking
operations,

286
00:14:28,220 --> 00:14:31,860
back in Colombia, Pablo Escobar
has become the king of cocaine,

287
00:14:31,860 --> 00:14:35,220
spending the better part of a decade
entrenching himself,

288
00:14:35,220 --> 00:14:38,580
forming an alliance with other
Medellin dealers, manufacturers

289
00:14:38,580 --> 00:14:42,300
and smugglers, that becomes
the feared Medellin Cartel.

290
00:14:42,300 --> 00:14:44,620
The reason that the Medellin Cartel
was formed

291
00:14:44,620 --> 00:14:46,940
was that it gave them more power.

292
00:14:46,940 --> 00:14:49,300
In a quest for unimaginable wealth,

293
00:14:49,300 --> 00:14:51,660
they pool together their
individual resources

294
00:14:51,660 --> 00:14:54,820
in an attempt to control the entire
cocaine supply chain.

295
00:14:56,660 --> 00:14:58,660
It was a criminal enterprise

296
00:14:58,660 --> 00:15:01,700
where these people were allegedly
equal members.

297
00:15:01,700 --> 00:15:04,580
But they were not -
they feared Escobar.

298
00:15:04,580 --> 00:15:08,260
Escobar's first so-called
partners are the Ochoa brothers -

299
00:15:08,260 --> 00:15:11,460
Jorge-Luis, Juan-David and Fabio.

300
00:15:11,460 --> 00:15:14,700
The Ochoa brothers already had
a lot of money in Colombia,

301
00:15:14,700 --> 00:15:17,060
they had a lot of ranches,
a lot of land.

302
00:15:17,060 --> 00:15:19,420
But they liked the trafficking
business.

303
00:15:19,420 --> 00:15:22,020
Escobar knows cornering
the Colombian cocaine market

304
00:15:22,020 --> 00:15:25,140
means controlling the supply of
coca leaves and cocaine paste

305
00:15:25,140 --> 00:15:27,500
needed to manufacture
powder cocaine.

306
00:15:27,500 --> 00:15:30,660
With the Ochoa's financial backing,
the Medellin Cartel quickly

307
00:15:30,660 --> 00:15:34,900
expands their business, buying up
the coca supply before their rivals.

308
00:15:36,860 --> 00:15:42,260
Next, Escobar turns to Jose Gonzalo
Rodriguez Gacha, El Mexicano.

309
00:15:42,260 --> 00:15:46,940
Gacha was the founder of all
the cocaine labs in Colombia.

310
00:15:46,940 --> 00:15:49,020
With the Ochoas securing the coca,

311
00:15:49,020 --> 00:15:52,900
Gacha's labs can produce the massive
quantities of cocaine Escobar needs

312
00:15:52,900 --> 00:15:54,500
to meet American demand.

313
00:15:54,500 --> 00:15:56,860
These labs, I mean, were huge.

314
00:15:56,860 --> 00:15:59,980
And when I say big,
they were run like little towns.

315
00:15:59,980 --> 00:16:02,980
He ran the operations just like
a company.

316
00:16:02,980 --> 00:16:04,500
They had their own presses.

317
00:16:04,500 --> 00:16:07,700
They put the powder, they press it,
and out comes the kilo.

318
00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:11,220
And I always remember the first
wrapper I saw was called Centavo.

319
00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:13,740
When people in the United States
would see Centavo,

320
00:16:13,740 --> 00:16:17,620
they'd say, "Well, this is primo
stuff. This is coming from Gacha."

321
00:16:17,620 --> 00:16:20,220
All the cocaine in Colombia will do
the cartel no good

322
00:16:20,220 --> 00:16:23,300
without means to smuggle it
into the United States.

323
00:16:23,300 --> 00:16:27,540
When it came to moving cocaine,
Carlos Lehder was Escobar's top man.

324
00:16:29,820 --> 00:16:31,700
Carlos Lehder was very visionary.

325
00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:35,260
He went and bought Norman's Cay, an
island in the Bahama island chains

326
00:16:35,260 --> 00:16:37,660
that had a nice, big, long runway

327
00:16:37,660 --> 00:16:40,100
and made that a trans-shipment point
for cocaine

328
00:16:40,100 --> 00:16:43,780
coming to the United States.
Pablo took great advantage of that.

329
00:16:43,780 --> 00:16:46,340
Using Lehder's island,
Escobar experiments

330
00:16:46,340 --> 00:16:49,100
with bolder smuggling methods
than ever before.

331
00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:52,260
When it comes to smuggling anything,
there's only one limitation.

332
00:16:52,260 --> 00:16:54,780
That limitation
is your imagination.

333
00:16:54,780 --> 00:16:58,380
They were dropping bails of cocaine
into the ocean and picking it up

334
00:16:58,380 --> 00:16:59,820
and taking it to the Miami coast.

335
00:17:01,300 --> 00:17:03,020
We were seeing things,

336
00:17:03,020 --> 00:17:06,660
everything from aircraft and boats
to cargo containers.

337
00:17:06,660 --> 00:17:09,500
We saw people who were willing
to take condoms

338
00:17:09,500 --> 00:17:11,620
filled with powder cocaine

339
00:17:11,620 --> 00:17:14,660
and then they would swallow
as much as 800g of cocaine.

340
00:17:14,660 --> 00:17:18,060
They took grapefruit,
they sliced them in two,

341
00:17:18,060 --> 00:17:21,220
scooped the pulp out, put bags
of powder cocaine in there...

342
00:17:22,980 --> 00:17:25,340
..glued the two halves
back together,

343
00:17:25,340 --> 00:17:27,700
put it in one of those mesh fruit
bags, and shipped it.

344
00:17:27,700 --> 00:17:29,260
And it worked.

345
00:17:32,580 --> 00:17:35,380
It took us a little bit of time
to kind of try and catch up.

346
00:17:35,380 --> 00:17:37,940
And we'd never catch up because
every time that we understand

347
00:17:37,940 --> 00:17:39,500
a certain system of smuggling,

348
00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:41,460
they would come up
with another one.

349
00:17:41,460 --> 00:17:44,180
While DEA agents like Pena and
Murphy spend years

350
00:17:44,180 --> 00:17:47,740
struggling to intercept the tons
of cocaine pouring into the US

351
00:17:47,740 --> 00:17:51,820
from Medellin, Pablo Escobar
fortifies his empire back home,

352
00:17:51,820 --> 00:17:55,620
viciously ruling Colombia's drug
trade in the bright light of day,

353
00:17:55,620 --> 00:17:58,900
solidifying his power, and relishing
the folk hero status he's built

354
00:17:58,900 --> 00:18:00,860
among the poor in Medellin.

355
00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:08,580
He spent tremendous amounts of money
trying to get support from the poor

356
00:18:08,580 --> 00:18:10,220
to create a base.

357
00:18:10,220 --> 00:18:12,580
He built clinics. He gave away food.

358
00:18:12,580 --> 00:18:15,980
He went to people who were literally
living on a trash dump,

359
00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:17,940
he went in and built free housing
for them

360
00:18:17,940 --> 00:18:19,540
and just let them live there.

361
00:18:19,540 --> 00:18:22,780
He created the neighbourhood
Pablo Escobar Gaviria,

362
00:18:22,780 --> 00:18:25,860
that if you go to Medellin today,
you can see that neighbourhood.

363
00:18:25,860 --> 00:18:28,140
Whether it was building
soccer pitches

364
00:18:28,140 --> 00:18:29,700
so their kids could play soccer,

365
00:18:29,700 --> 00:18:32,380
or electrifying the
communities with electricity,

366
00:18:32,380 --> 00:18:35,900
they saw a figure in which
the wealth and the privilege

367
00:18:35,900 --> 00:18:38,700
that the upper class had always
characteristically enjoyed

368
00:18:38,700 --> 00:18:41,060
being redistributed
among the people.

369
00:18:41,060 --> 00:18:45,740
Escobar knows his charity work will
spark fierce loyalty in Medellin,

370
00:18:45,740 --> 00:18:48,780
as the locals soon realise that
Pablo's success and safety

371
00:18:48,780 --> 00:18:51,140
means their prosperity.

372
00:18:51,140 --> 00:18:53,060
But even with the support
of his hometown,

373
00:18:53,060 --> 00:18:55,940
assassination from rival traffickers
or arrest looms

374
00:18:55,940 --> 00:18:59,260
as a constant threat. He needed
muscle and found plenty of it

375
00:18:59,260 --> 00:19:01,540
in the grateful slums of Medellin.

376
00:19:01,540 --> 00:19:03,540
They were called his sicarios -

377
00:19:03,540 --> 00:19:05,940
a fierce legion of bodyguards
and hit men.

378
00:19:05,940 --> 00:19:09,540
Pablo would have as many as
500 sicarios working for him.

379
00:19:09,540 --> 00:19:13,060
He personally would go
and recruit these people.

380
00:19:13,060 --> 00:19:15,940
Sometimes they were tested.
A young 16-year-old kid would say,

381
00:19:15,940 --> 00:19:18,940
"OK, you want to come and work with
us? You have to go to this corner

382
00:19:18,940 --> 00:19:21,500
"and shoot somebody in the head
that's waiting for a bus."

383
00:19:21,500 --> 00:19:23,780
And they'd go out there
and prove that they could do it

384
00:19:23,780 --> 00:19:24,940
and they'd get hired.

385
00:19:24,940 --> 00:19:26,820
And make no mistake about it,

386
00:19:26,820 --> 00:19:29,580
these people would kill for him,
which they did,

387
00:19:29,580 --> 00:19:31,780
and they would die for him,
which they did.

388
00:19:33,540 --> 00:19:36,020
With the devotion of his people
and an army behind him,

389
00:19:36,020 --> 00:19:38,060
Pablo imposes his will on rivals,

390
00:19:38,060 --> 00:19:42,460
and, brazenly, government officials,
by giving them all a simple choice.

391
00:19:42,460 --> 00:19:46,260
Pablo invented a saying
called "plata o plomo".

392
00:19:46,260 --> 00:19:49,220
"Silver or lead". You work with me
and I'll give you silver,

393
00:19:49,220 --> 00:19:51,740
or you work against me
and you'll get lead...bullets.

394
00:19:51,740 --> 00:19:55,540
With a simple offer, Pablo begins
to expand his powerful influence

395
00:19:55,540 --> 00:19:57,660
throughout the Colombian government.

396
00:19:57,660 --> 00:20:01,580
Under Pablo's orders, two sicarios
would go to a judge,

397
00:20:01,580 --> 00:20:03,860
they would show him
a picture of his wife.

398
00:20:03,860 --> 00:20:05,460
"Judge, is this your wife?"

399
00:20:05,460 --> 00:20:07,820
Then they would show him a picture
of the judge's kids.

400
00:20:07,820 --> 00:20:10,100
"Judge, are these your kids
at this school?"

401
00:20:10,100 --> 00:20:11,820
And they would tell the judge,

402
00:20:11,820 --> 00:20:15,380
"Mr Escobar wants you to drop
the charges against him.

403
00:20:15,380 --> 00:20:17,700
"And if you drop
the charges against him,

404
00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:20,460
"here's a briefcase full of money."

405
00:20:20,460 --> 00:20:23,740
You could get treated like a king,
be set for retirement,

406
00:20:23,740 --> 00:20:26,100
have your family good for
the next generation,

407
00:20:26,100 --> 00:20:28,060
or you could be dead
in a horrible way.

408
00:20:28,060 --> 00:20:30,420
And there was no middle ground
between those two things.

409
00:20:30,420 --> 00:20:33,460
I remember, one of the first judges
did not take the money.

410
00:20:33,460 --> 00:20:36,900
Pablo Escobar had him
and his family members killed.

411
00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:38,580
A typical day in Colombia -

412
00:20:38,580 --> 00:20:41,500
three more judges have quit their
jobs after being threatened

413
00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:43,060
by the murderous drug cartels.

414
00:20:44,380 --> 00:20:47,580
With a fierce cartel and an
unlimited supply of cash

415
00:20:47,580 --> 00:20:50,780
and firepower, Pablo Escobar seems
to control Colombia

416
00:20:50,780 --> 00:20:52,860
without fear of challenge.

417
00:20:52,860 --> 00:20:56,500
Those he cannot buy off,
he intimidates or kills.

418
00:20:56,500 --> 00:20:59,060
But with the US drug
epidemic exploding,

419
00:20:59,060 --> 00:21:02,660
the DEA is ready to fight
the smuggling at its source.

420
00:21:02,660 --> 00:21:05,980
If one thing keeps Colombia's
cocaine kingpin up at night

421
00:21:05,980 --> 00:21:08,780
it's the threat of American justice.

422
00:21:08,780 --> 00:21:10,820
Pablo Escobar feared
American prisons

423
00:21:10,820 --> 00:21:12,700
because he couldn't bribe
his way out of it

424
00:21:12,700 --> 00:21:14,580
and he was going to be locked in
a 6-by-6

425
00:21:14,580 --> 00:21:16,020
for the rest of his natural life.

426
00:21:19,460 --> 00:21:23,220
By 1987, Pablo Escobar's
Medellin Cartel is smuggling

427
00:21:23,220 --> 00:21:27,100
a staggering 15 tons of cocaine
into the United States each day,

428
00:21:27,100 --> 00:21:30,260
earning him over $400 million
a week.

429
00:21:30,260 --> 00:21:33,420
Drugs are a problem in every
large city in America,

430
00:21:33,420 --> 00:21:36,700
but more and more it is when drugs
crop up in the little places

431
00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:39,140
that we understand how pervasive
the problem is.

432
00:21:39,140 --> 00:21:42,860
Fuelling demand is a full blown
crack cocaine epidemic

433
00:21:42,860 --> 00:21:46,900
that's turned US cities like
New York and Miami into war zones.

434
00:21:46,900 --> 00:21:49,260
Well, it's no question
the nation's drug problem

435
00:21:49,260 --> 00:21:51,620
is getting major attention
these days,

436
00:21:51,620 --> 00:21:54,220
especially the potent new form
of cocaine called crack.

437
00:21:54,220 --> 00:21:58,620
Domestic drug arrests are up 210%.
Gang murders skyrocket.

438
00:21:58,620 --> 00:22:02,300
In New York alone, nearly half of
all murders are drug-related.

439
00:22:02,300 --> 00:22:04,260
We were on the wrong end
of this train.

440
00:22:04,260 --> 00:22:06,060
They were doing the driving.

441
00:22:06,060 --> 00:22:09,180
It was frustrating
for all law enforcement.

442
00:22:09,180 --> 00:22:13,140
Overwhelmed and frustrated, United
States DEA agents are convinced

443
00:22:13,140 --> 00:22:17,140
the only way to stop the relentless
flow of cocaine into the US

444
00:22:17,140 --> 00:22:20,060
is to cut it off at its
Colombian source.

445
00:22:20,060 --> 00:22:23,140
The issue - getting the Colombian
government to agree

446
00:22:23,140 --> 00:22:24,980
on the source of the problem.

447
00:22:24,980 --> 00:22:27,260
President Barco,
in a broadcast to the US,

448
00:22:27,260 --> 00:22:29,620
made it clear he held IT responsible

449
00:22:29,620 --> 00:22:31,980
for the demand
that sustained the supply.

450
00:22:31,980 --> 00:22:34,540
There was a huge disconnect
for many years

451
00:22:34,540 --> 00:22:36,540
between what the US viewed
the problem as being,

452
00:22:36,540 --> 00:22:38,900
and what the Colombians viewed
the problem as being.

453
00:22:38,900 --> 00:22:41,260
The United States viewed
the cocaine epidemic

454
00:22:41,260 --> 00:22:45,020
as being primarily supply-driven
and not a demand problem.

455
00:22:45,020 --> 00:22:48,260
The Colombians viewed the problem
as being really a demand problem

456
00:22:48,260 --> 00:22:50,820
because supplies were obviously
simply filling demand.

457
00:22:52,220 --> 00:22:54,940
DEA agents know the only way
to break the back

458
00:22:54,940 --> 00:22:57,380
of the cartel's smuggling operation

459
00:22:57,380 --> 00:23:01,140
is to put Colombian cartel heads
in US prisons.

460
00:23:01,140 --> 00:23:04,740
But Pablo Escobar has spent the
entire decade protecting himself

461
00:23:04,740 --> 00:23:07,820
against that fate,
and there's no ploy he won't try,

462
00:23:07,820 --> 00:23:11,420
no money he won't spend,
no person he won't kill,

463
00:23:11,420 --> 00:23:15,140
to avoid the inside of a
United States prison cell.

464
00:23:15,140 --> 00:23:18,100
Escobar felt in control in Colombia.

465
00:23:18,100 --> 00:23:21,780
He felt that he could control
his destiny in Colombia,

466
00:23:21,780 --> 00:23:25,140
through corruption, through money,
through intimidation.

467
00:23:25,140 --> 00:23:28,580
The risk of US imprisonment first
became real for Escobar

468
00:23:28,580 --> 00:23:30,500
on March 4th 1982,

469
00:23:30,500 --> 00:23:33,540
when the Reagan Administration signs
an extradition treaty

470
00:23:33,540 --> 00:23:35,340
with the Colombian government.

471
00:23:35,340 --> 00:23:38,580
Now, if the United States can prove
that Escobar has committed crimes

472
00:23:38,580 --> 00:23:42,500
on US soil, the Colombian government
can put Pablo on a plane

473
00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:44,860
to face trial in the United States.

474
00:23:44,860 --> 00:23:46,900
The only thing he feared
was extradition.

475
00:23:46,900 --> 00:23:49,980
He understood that he could not
corrupt the US system

476
00:23:49,980 --> 00:23:52,700
and that he would probably end up
the rest of his life in jail.

477
00:23:55,540 --> 00:23:58,340
Upon hearing the extradition treaty
was being negotiated,

478
00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:01,140
Pablo Escobar makes a bold move.

479
00:24:01,140 --> 00:24:04,780
The head of the Medellin Cartel,
becomes a political candidate.

480
00:24:04,780 --> 00:24:06,620
And do you know what his stance was?

481
00:24:06,620 --> 00:24:08,380
Anti-extradition.

482
00:24:08,380 --> 00:24:12,180
He didn't want Colombian nationals
extradited to the United States,

483
00:24:12,180 --> 00:24:14,540
principally himself
and his associates

484
00:24:14,540 --> 00:24:17,900
in the drug trafficking business.
That was his whole platform.

485
00:24:17,900 --> 00:24:21,140
In 1982, Pablo runs as an
alternate congressman

486
00:24:21,140 --> 00:24:23,500
for the Colombian Chamber
of Representatives.

487
00:24:23,500 --> 00:24:25,780
If elected, he'll attend
Congressional sessions

488
00:24:25,780 --> 00:24:27,420
when his congressman is absent.

489
00:24:27,420 --> 00:24:29,780
One of the reasons that Pablo
wanted to be elected

490
00:24:29,780 --> 00:24:32,140
was that with it came
a blanket of immunity.

491
00:24:32,140 --> 00:24:35,660
Most narcos are content to be the
kings of their little narco kingdom,

492
00:24:35,660 --> 00:24:39,300
and he wanted actual formal
political power.

493
00:24:39,300 --> 00:24:41,660
And on March 14th, 1982,

494
00:24:41,660 --> 00:24:46,140
only ten days after the extradition
treaty goes into effect,

495
00:24:46,140 --> 00:24:48,820
Escobar is elected.

496
00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:52,380
He saw that as a shield against
being packed into a plane

497
00:24:52,380 --> 00:24:55,100
and extradited to the US.
And obviously, for somebody

498
00:24:55,100 --> 00:24:57,580
who's involved in highly
illegal activities,

499
00:24:57,580 --> 00:24:59,860
that's a really appealing benefit.

500
00:24:59,860 --> 00:25:01,860
Pablo's ulterior motives are clear

501
00:25:01,860 --> 00:25:06,180
to the newly-appointed Justice
Minister, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla,

502
00:25:06,180 --> 00:25:08,460
who risks his life to take a stand.

503
00:25:08,460 --> 00:25:10,140
Bonilla hated the narcos.

504
00:25:10,140 --> 00:25:12,980
He started cracking down on all
the narcotic traffickers,

505
00:25:12,980 --> 00:25:14,460
arresting them.

506
00:25:14,460 --> 00:25:17,660
So traffickers did not like
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla.

507
00:25:17,660 --> 00:25:20,140
And on August 16th, 1983,

508
00:25:20,140 --> 00:25:22,860
when Escobar attends his first
Congressional session,

509
00:25:22,860 --> 00:25:25,220
he and Bonilla face off.

510
00:25:25,220 --> 00:25:27,580
They're in open Congressional
session.

511
00:25:27,580 --> 00:25:30,900
Lara Bonilla eventually gets to
the point where he stands up

512
00:25:30,900 --> 00:25:33,780
and he calls Pablo Escobar
what he is.

513
00:25:33,780 --> 00:25:38,580
A thug, a criminal,
a murderer, a drug trafficker.

514
00:25:38,580 --> 00:25:40,300
And he didn't make his money licitly

515
00:25:40,300 --> 00:25:42,980
and he has no business being in
the Chamber of Deputies.

516
00:25:44,380 --> 00:25:47,180
Back in 1982, many in polite
Colombian society

517
00:25:47,180 --> 00:25:50,100
might have been blind
to Pablo's sordid past.

518
00:25:50,100 --> 00:25:53,620
And those who weren't, feared
challenging him, or were profiting.

519
00:25:53,620 --> 00:25:56,260
But with his crimes now put
on public display,

520
00:25:56,260 --> 00:25:59,180
Congress is forced
to move quickly and expel him.

521
00:26:01,140 --> 00:26:04,540
Now, my hat's off to
Lara Bonilla for having the guts

522
00:26:04,540 --> 00:26:06,500
to stand up and call him
what he was.

523
00:26:06,500 --> 00:26:09,220
And he was telling 100%
of the truth.

524
00:26:09,220 --> 00:26:11,740
But it wasn't long after that,

525
00:26:11,740 --> 00:26:13,580
as he's being driven home
one evening,

526
00:26:13,580 --> 00:26:16,300
a motorcycle with two people on it
pull up beside him.

527
00:26:16,300 --> 00:26:18,220
And the guy on the back has
a machine gun

528
00:26:18,220 --> 00:26:20,580
and kills Lara Bonilla
right there in his car.

529
00:26:20,580 --> 00:26:22,860
Justice Minister
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla

530
00:26:22,860 --> 00:26:26,180
is assassinated on April 30th 1984,

531
00:26:26,180 --> 00:26:29,860
shocking Colombia
and the US Government.

532
00:26:29,860 --> 00:26:31,620
It was a warning to the world.

533
00:26:31,620 --> 00:26:34,060
It was a warning to
the Colombian government,

534
00:26:34,060 --> 00:26:35,900
but in my opinion, a big mistake,

535
00:26:35,900 --> 00:26:39,820
because the killing of Bonilla
was kind of an awakening

536
00:26:39,820 --> 00:26:42,180
for the world, DEA, too,

537
00:26:42,180 --> 00:26:46,060
and the Colombian government,
as to what this man really was.

538
00:26:48,060 --> 00:26:50,340
Bonilla's murder is more
than a black eye

539
00:26:50,340 --> 00:26:51,660
for the Colombian government.

540
00:26:51,660 --> 00:26:54,660
It's a signal of a bloody war
to come.

541
00:26:54,660 --> 00:26:56,580
Stinging from public embarrassment

542
00:26:56,580 --> 00:26:59,860
and robbed of the political
and criminal immunity he coveted,

543
00:26:59,860 --> 00:27:02,660
Pablo Escobar unleashes
a reign of terror.

544
00:27:05,260 --> 00:27:10,300
Pablo Escobar was the world's
first narcoterrorist.

545
00:27:10,300 --> 00:27:12,060
What's a narcoterrorist?

546
00:27:12,060 --> 00:27:15,460
It's a narcotics trafficker who
employs terroristic activities.

547
00:27:15,460 --> 00:27:17,180
He introduced car bombs.

548
00:27:17,180 --> 00:27:19,660
We had never seen that in law
enforcement investigations.

549
00:27:19,660 --> 00:27:23,060
Pablo Escobar was putting
10 to 15 car bombs

550
00:27:23,060 --> 00:27:25,020
on a daily basis.

551
00:27:25,020 --> 00:27:29,460
He was placing car bombs
at shopping malls,

552
00:27:29,460 --> 00:27:31,340
public areas.

553
00:27:31,340 --> 00:27:36,700
Pablo Escobar was trying
to kill as many people as he could.

554
00:27:36,700 --> 00:27:39,660
For Escobar, the point
of the violence is simple -

555
00:27:39,660 --> 00:27:41,500
to show the Colombian government

556
00:27:41,500 --> 00:27:43,980
that as long as the extradition
agreement exists

557
00:27:43,980 --> 00:27:46,060
no-one in Colombia is safe.

558
00:27:46,060 --> 00:27:50,580
He wanted to show Colombia
that he was winning - and he was -

559
00:27:50,580 --> 00:27:52,940
because of his terrorism acts.

560
00:27:52,940 --> 00:27:57,860
People were afraid of Pablo Escobar,
which is what Pablo Escobar wanted.

561
00:27:57,860 --> 00:28:00,700
Between 1983 and 1987,

562
00:28:00,700 --> 00:28:04,380
Colombia has a homicide rate
four times higher than the US,

563
00:28:04,380 --> 00:28:06,660
and becomes the murder capital of
the world,

564
00:28:06,660 --> 00:28:08,780
under orders from Pablo Escobar.

565
00:28:08,780 --> 00:28:11,140
In Colombia it's been one of
the most violent nights

566
00:28:11,140 --> 00:28:13,660
since the latest attempt
to bring the cartels to heel.

567
00:28:13,660 --> 00:28:15,940
There were 13 bombs which went
off overnight,

568
00:28:15,940 --> 00:28:17,780
35 people were injured.

569
00:28:17,780 --> 00:28:22,180
In Medellin, two employees of
the newspaper El Espectador,

570
00:28:22,180 --> 00:28:25,740
which has crusaded against
the drug trade, were assassinated.

571
00:28:25,740 --> 00:28:28,900
In response to the carnage,
the Colombian government

572
00:28:28,900 --> 00:28:31,780
finally allows more United States
DEA boots on the ground.

573
00:28:31,780 --> 00:28:33,100
I went to Colombia

574
00:28:33,100 --> 00:28:35,860
and I thought that I was prepared
for what I was walking into.

575
00:28:35,860 --> 00:28:37,540
I knew it was going to be
a rough situation

576
00:28:37,540 --> 00:28:38,820
and it was going to be tough.

577
00:28:38,820 --> 00:28:41,180
I knew it was a very
dangerous situation.

578
00:28:41,180 --> 00:28:43,780
But I had no idea
that it was going to be that hard.

579
00:28:43,780 --> 00:28:46,500
When Joe Toft arrives in Colombia

580
00:28:46,500 --> 00:28:50,820
as station chief of
the DEA's Bogota office in 1987,

581
00:28:50,820 --> 00:28:52,780
he's tasked with capturing Escobar.

582
00:28:52,780 --> 00:28:54,700
But his toughest job is navigating

583
00:28:54,700 --> 00:28:57,820
the touchy relationship with
the Colombian government.

584
00:28:57,820 --> 00:29:00,660
We don't have any authority
in a foreign country.

585
00:29:00,660 --> 00:29:05,780
And so whatever power you have in
those locations is informal.

586
00:29:05,780 --> 00:29:08,420
We had had a much more
traditional approach.

587
00:29:08,420 --> 00:29:10,780
"Could we please do this?
Would you let us do that?"

588
00:29:10,780 --> 00:29:13,340
Which one should do in
a foreign country, obviously,

589
00:29:13,340 --> 00:29:15,700
but there was a lot of,
"No, you can't do that.

590
00:29:15,700 --> 00:29:17,460
"Nope, sorry,
we don't want this to happen.

591
00:29:17,460 --> 00:29:20,020
"No, you have to ask permission
to do this and this."

592
00:29:20,020 --> 00:29:24,420
In a country where Pablo Escobar
has spent years corrupting local

593
00:29:24,420 --> 00:29:27,340
government and law enforcement,
trust is hard to come by.

594
00:29:27,340 --> 00:29:29,700
The corruption level was
so great out there

595
00:29:29,700 --> 00:29:32,060
that it reached the highest levels,

596
00:29:32,060 --> 00:29:35,580
A lot of the cops that
were allegedly hunting Pablo Escobar

597
00:29:35,580 --> 00:29:38,020
were actually on the payroll
of Pablo Escobar.

598
00:29:38,020 --> 00:29:41,620
When you work in these third-world
environments like Colombia,

599
00:29:41,620 --> 00:29:43,340
the police are not paid that much.

600
00:29:43,340 --> 00:29:45,780
So as a result he had
a lot of police in his pocket.

601
00:29:45,780 --> 00:29:47,620
People say,
"Well, how bad was corruption?"

602
00:29:47,620 --> 00:29:52,020
95% of the operations that
the police ran were compromised.

603
00:29:52,020 --> 00:29:54,860
It was a very difficult obstacle
to overcome.

604
00:29:54,860 --> 00:29:58,540
In Colombia, where a single cartel
bribe could be 10-20 times

605
00:29:58,540 --> 00:30:01,540
an agent's yearly salary,
corruption is rife.

606
00:30:01,540 --> 00:30:04,780
But nonetheless, DEA agents
frequently combine efforts

607
00:30:04,780 --> 00:30:07,900
with DAS, the Colombian
equivalent to the FBI.

608
00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:10,820
As opposed to sending in
the DEA just to beat down doors

609
00:30:10,820 --> 00:30:13,780
and sort of trying to dictate terms,
you had to create some level

610
00:30:13,780 --> 00:30:16,140
of cooperation with the Colombian
government.

611
00:30:16,140 --> 00:30:19,900
For US DEA agents on the ground,
good information is critical,

612
00:30:19,900 --> 00:30:24,380
and to get it they must find ways
to intercept cartel communications.

613
00:30:24,380 --> 00:30:27,580
Every organisation in the world,
illegal or legal,

614
00:30:27,580 --> 00:30:29,500
has to be able to communicate.

615
00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:32,020
So when you're trying to infiltrate
an organisation

616
00:30:32,020 --> 00:30:33,620
you focus in on that.

617
00:30:33,620 --> 00:30:35,580
One crucial method is wiretaps,

618
00:30:35,580 --> 00:30:38,980
which occur when an agent splices
into a suspect's phone line.

619
00:30:38,980 --> 00:30:40,900
We used to have like 50 lines

620
00:30:40,900 --> 00:30:43,700
with the old Ranch recorders
on the shelves.

621
00:30:43,700 --> 00:30:46,620
And there would be about
five analysts.

622
00:30:46,620 --> 00:30:50,340
Beyond the tech,
agents rely most on human assets -

623
00:30:50,340 --> 00:30:53,300
informants willing
to risk their lives to help.

624
00:30:53,300 --> 00:30:55,380
Pablo hated informants.

625
00:30:55,380 --> 00:30:58,340
But he just didn't have them killed,
he had them tortured first,

626
00:30:58,340 --> 00:31:01,820
because he wanted to know everything
they had told the government.

627
00:31:01,820 --> 00:31:04,420
I've seen photographs of one of
the bodies.

628
00:31:04,420 --> 00:31:05,940
It's unspeakable.

629
00:31:07,500 --> 00:31:09,340
Through bribes or extortion,

630
00:31:09,340 --> 00:31:12,940
Pablo has spent years stacking
the deck in his favour.

631
00:31:12,940 --> 00:31:16,180
Still, he knows the DEA is mounting
forces against him,

632
00:31:16,180 --> 00:31:20,580
and extradition to a US prison
is his biggest threat.

633
00:31:20,580 --> 00:31:26,220
And Pablo Escobar deals with every
threat the same way - violently.

634
00:31:28,300 --> 00:31:31,820
In 1987, the people of Colombia
are subjected to violent,

635
00:31:31,820 --> 00:31:34,180
daily acts of narcoterrorism.

636
00:31:34,180 --> 00:31:36,540
Drug-related violence is
so pervasive in Colombia

637
00:31:36,540 --> 00:31:38,900
that the threat of death,
even the fear of death,

638
00:31:38,900 --> 00:31:42,100
extends to almost every segment of
the society, even the children.

639
00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:45,540
All at the hands of the Pablo
Escobar and his Medellin Cartel.

640
00:31:45,540 --> 00:31:47,740
When Pablo killed people,
he wanted credit.

641
00:31:49,620 --> 00:31:51,900
Escobar's motivation is simple.

642
00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:53,380
Knowing that he can't intimidate

643
00:31:53,380 --> 00:31:55,820
or bribe his way out of
an American arrest,

644
00:31:55,820 --> 00:31:58,980
he's using the violence
to pressure Colombia's government

645
00:31:58,980 --> 00:32:02,500
to revoke its extradition agreement
with the United States.

646
00:32:02,500 --> 00:32:05,380
He didn't kill just you.
He killed your children,

647
00:32:05,380 --> 00:32:06,940
your wife, whole families,

648
00:32:06,940 --> 00:32:08,900
Those were the lengths
he was willing to go to,

649
00:32:08,900 --> 00:32:10,260
to protect himself.

650
00:32:10,260 --> 00:32:12,580
It all comes back to extradition.

651
00:32:14,620 --> 00:32:17,780
Escobar and fellow cartel
collaborators even start

652
00:32:17,780 --> 00:32:21,580
a sinister public relations campaign
to make sure the terrified public

653
00:32:21,580 --> 00:32:24,740
understands just who's behind the
violence and why.

654
00:32:24,740 --> 00:32:27,860
They form a group called
The Extraditables.

655
00:32:27,860 --> 00:32:30,220
He had these leaflets
and business cards made up.

656
00:32:30,220 --> 00:32:33,420
And it said on there
The Extraditables. Bold letters,

657
00:32:33,420 --> 00:32:35,100
And underneath that was
their saying.

658
00:32:35,100 --> 00:32:38,020
"Better a grave in Colombia than
a prison cell in the United States."

659
00:32:38,020 --> 00:32:40,820
So what he's doing is he's sending
a message to the government.

660
00:32:40,820 --> 00:32:43,300
"As long as you support extradition,
I'm going to continue

661
00:32:43,300 --> 00:32:46,780
"to support my murderous campaign
of killing innocent people."

662
00:32:46,780 --> 00:32:49,140
He wanted the world to know
that I'm still in control.

663
00:32:50,580 --> 00:32:54,180
Escobar's brutal strategy works,
and in 1987,

664
00:32:54,180 --> 00:32:56,460
after more than 3,000 car bombs,

665
00:32:56,460 --> 00:32:59,660
22,000 murders, including judges,

666
00:32:59,660 --> 00:33:02,020
the Colombian Supreme Court breaks,

667
00:33:02,020 --> 00:33:05,860
striking down its extradition treaty
with the United States.

668
00:33:05,860 --> 00:33:09,220
The US Government is stripped of
its most powerful weapon

669
00:33:09,220 --> 00:33:13,620
against Escobar. But the DEA is
still determined to serve justice,

670
00:33:13,620 --> 00:33:17,060
which means the US agents must
find Colombian agents they can trust

671
00:33:17,060 --> 00:33:19,540
and take down Escobar together.

672
00:33:19,540 --> 00:33:22,420
I quickly learned that this was
their country. It's not ours.

673
00:33:22,420 --> 00:33:24,420
It wasn't a one way street.

674
00:33:24,420 --> 00:33:28,860
In 1988, DEA agent Javier Pena
arrives in Bogota

675
00:33:28,860 --> 00:33:30,580
as a seasoned field agent,

676
00:33:30,580 --> 00:33:33,860
having worked to infiltrate
smuggling rings north of the border.

677
00:33:33,860 --> 00:33:37,100
His mission is clear - use his
intelligence gathering skills

678
00:33:37,100 --> 00:33:40,620
to help Colombian forces capture
or kill Pablo Escobar

679
00:33:40,620 --> 00:33:42,580
and end his reign of terror.

680
00:33:42,580 --> 00:33:44,940
The search for Pablo Escobar, to me,
was personal,

681
00:33:44,940 --> 00:33:47,180
because of my friends that
he killed.

682
00:33:49,540 --> 00:33:51,820
Back in the States,
Javier developed a reputation

683
00:33:51,820 --> 00:33:53,940
as a master recruiter of informants,

684
00:33:53,940 --> 00:33:56,980
with a gut instinct that told him
good info from a set-up.

685
00:33:56,980 --> 00:33:59,340
The main key was corroboration.

686
00:33:59,340 --> 00:34:03,100
Once they started providing
information that was leading

687
00:34:03,100 --> 00:34:07,140
to results, then we knew
who to trust.

688
00:34:07,140 --> 00:34:10,420
But Javier's instincts can't protect
him from the random brutal violence

689
00:34:10,420 --> 00:34:12,700
that is Escobar's trademark.

690
00:34:12,700 --> 00:34:14,580
I feared Pablo Escobar.

691
00:34:14,580 --> 00:34:18,620
My biggest fear was being at
the wrong place at the wrong time.

692
00:34:18,620 --> 00:34:21,100
As Javier spends more time
in Bogota,

693
00:34:21,100 --> 00:34:24,900
it becomes obvious the dangers
he faces are not so random.

694
00:34:24,900 --> 00:34:27,780
He's on Pablo's radar -
a dangerous place to be.

695
00:34:30,460 --> 00:34:32,260
We intercepted telephone calls

696
00:34:32,260 --> 00:34:35,980
that narcotics traffickers from
the Medellin Cartel had identified

697
00:34:35,980 --> 00:34:39,620
the address where Javier lived,
his exact address,

698
00:34:39,620 --> 00:34:41,380
even the apartment number.

699
00:34:41,380 --> 00:34:43,100
So the embassy relocated him.

700
00:34:43,100 --> 00:34:46,620
It wasn't all that much longer later
it happened again,

701
00:34:46,620 --> 00:34:48,500
and they found his second apartment.

702
00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:50,260
But he was so dedicated
to the mission.

703
00:34:50,260 --> 00:34:52,060
He said, "Just find me
another apartment,"

704
00:34:52,060 --> 00:34:54,620
And he continued on with the job.
He maintained his focus.

705
00:34:56,780 --> 00:34:59,900
In a country flush with drug money
and rife with corruption,

706
00:34:59,900 --> 00:35:03,300
finding local law enforcement
they can trust is tough

707
00:35:03,300 --> 00:35:06,020
for US DEA agents on the ground
in Colombia.

708
00:35:06,020 --> 00:35:08,900
But no Colombian took the fight
to Pablo Escobar

709
00:35:08,900 --> 00:35:11,780
like General Maza Marquez,
Director of DAS,

710
00:35:11,780 --> 00:35:14,380
the Colombian equivalent to
the FBI.

711
00:35:14,380 --> 00:35:17,260
Pablo Escobar hated
General Maza Marquez.

712
00:35:17,260 --> 00:35:19,260
Escobar was trying
to kill him constantly.

713
00:35:19,260 --> 00:35:21,220
Pablo tried to kill him seven
different times.

714
00:35:21,220 --> 00:35:23,620
He sent a letter bomb to his office.

715
00:35:23,620 --> 00:35:26,300
He would set bombs in the streets
of Bogota

716
00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:28,060
as his vehicle was going through.

717
00:35:28,060 --> 00:35:30,420
Desperate to kill
General Maza Marquez,

718
00:35:30,420 --> 00:35:33,460
Escobar coordinates his most violent
bombing yet.

719
00:35:33,460 --> 00:35:35,420
And in the fall of 1989,

720
00:35:35,420 --> 00:35:38,660
he drives pure destruction
to DAS's front door.

721
00:35:38,660 --> 00:35:42,300
He took 500kg
of dynamite, TNT,

722
00:35:42,300 --> 00:35:45,380
put it in a bus and parked a bus
outside of the headquarters

723
00:35:45,380 --> 00:35:47,140
of the DAS building.

724
00:35:47,140 --> 00:35:49,420
Detonated the bomb.

725
00:35:49,420 --> 00:35:51,780
I remember I was at our old embassy,

726
00:35:51,780 --> 00:35:54,860
and our embassy shook when that bomb
went off.

727
00:35:54,860 --> 00:35:58,380
There was a crater on
the street probably 10, 15 deep.

728
00:35:58,380 --> 00:36:01,260
And the carriage of
the bus that contained the bomb

729
00:36:01,260 --> 00:36:03,460
ended up on top of the 11th floor
of the building.

730
00:36:05,300 --> 00:36:09,380
The General survives,
but 100 innocent lives are lost.

731
00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:11,900
I mean, how vicious
can one person be?

732
00:36:11,900 --> 00:36:13,820
It's just unbelievable.

733
00:36:14,980 --> 00:36:17,340
While Escobar's violence escalates,

734
00:36:17,340 --> 00:36:20,940
back home, the United States
government steps up its efforts.

735
00:36:20,940 --> 00:36:24,060
When President Bush takes
the Oath of Office in 1989,

736
00:36:24,060 --> 00:36:27,940
he reinforces the US war effort in
Colombia with a flood of cash

737
00:36:27,940 --> 00:36:30,300
and a commitment to take
out Escobar.

738
00:36:30,300 --> 00:36:33,260
This is crack cocaine
seized a few days ago

739
00:36:33,260 --> 00:36:35,620
by drug enforcement agents

740
00:36:35,620 --> 00:36:38,300
in a park just across the street
from the White House.

741
00:36:38,300 --> 00:36:40,860
It's as innocent looking as candy

742
00:36:40,860 --> 00:36:43,460
but it's turning our cities into
battle zones

743
00:36:43,460 --> 00:36:45,380
and it's murdering our children.

744
00:36:45,380 --> 00:36:47,500
This stuff is poison.

745
00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:50,740
If we face this evil
as a nation united

746
00:36:50,740 --> 00:36:55,180
this will be nothing
but a handful of useless chemicals.

747
00:36:55,180 --> 00:36:58,580
President Bush,
who had history running the CIA,

748
00:36:58,580 --> 00:37:00,860
he really had an
international perspective

749
00:37:00,860 --> 00:37:02,900
of how things were working.

750
00:37:02,900 --> 00:37:06,220
The United States government
is ready with cash, trained agents,

751
00:37:06,220 --> 00:37:08,180
and a willingness
to get its hands dirty

752
00:37:08,180 --> 00:37:09,740
in the fight against Escobar.

753
00:37:09,740 --> 00:37:12,220
What it needs is a partner in the
Colombian government

754
00:37:12,220 --> 00:37:16,700
who's ready to accept that help.
In 1989, all hopes lie

755
00:37:16,700 --> 00:37:20,540
in presidential candidate
Luis Carlos Galan.

756
00:37:20,540 --> 00:37:21,940
He was dynamic...

757
00:37:21,940 --> 00:37:24,580
We used to love Luis Carlos Galan.

758
00:37:24,580 --> 00:37:27,220
..and he's ready to take
on the narcos.

759
00:37:27,220 --> 00:37:29,580
Galan was a huge threat to Escobar

760
00:37:29,580 --> 00:37:34,220
because he made
the priority of his candidacy

761
00:37:34,220 --> 00:37:37,260
the war on drugs
and the war on the cartels.

762
00:37:37,260 --> 00:37:40,380
He starts his campaign
basically saying that,

763
00:37:40,380 --> 00:37:43,220
"If I'm elected, I'm going to bring
back extradition."

764
00:37:43,220 --> 00:37:45,820
It's a threat Pablo Escobar
won't take lightly.

765
00:37:48,940 --> 00:37:52,380
By 1989, Pablo Escobar has created
the largest

766
00:37:52,380 --> 00:37:56,060
and most feared drug cartel
the world has ever seen.

767
00:37:56,060 --> 00:38:00,900
Every day he smuggles 15 tons
of cocaine into the United States,

768
00:38:00,900 --> 00:38:03,540
and rains brutal terror
on Colombia.

769
00:38:03,540 --> 00:38:06,580
So what he's doing is he's sending
a message to the government.

770
00:38:06,580 --> 00:38:09,180
"As long as you support extradition,
I'm going to continue

771
00:38:09,180 --> 00:38:13,180
"to support my murderous campaign
of killing innocent people."

772
00:38:13,180 --> 00:38:16,780
Now, a new opponent emerges
as a threat to Escobar's empire,

773
00:38:16,780 --> 00:38:19,420
and has become the hope of a nation.

774
00:38:19,420 --> 00:38:21,980
On August 18th 1989,

775
00:38:21,980 --> 00:38:24,900
Colombian presidential candidate
Luis Carlos Galan

776
00:38:24,900 --> 00:38:29,820
stands before a crowd of 10,000 at a
rally outside the Colombian capital.

777
00:38:29,820 --> 00:38:31,900
Luis Carlos Galan was

778
00:38:31,900 --> 00:38:34,260
who I think most of the drug
traffickers

779
00:38:34,260 --> 00:38:36,620
believed was their
biggest threat

780
00:38:36,620 --> 00:38:38,900
in terms of someone who would
actually extradite them

781
00:38:38,900 --> 00:38:40,060
to the United States.

782
00:38:40,060 --> 00:38:42,420
If elected, he's vowed to take
a hardline on the narcos

783
00:38:42,420 --> 00:38:44,740
that have wreaked havoc
across the country.

784
00:38:44,740 --> 00:38:46,660
In particular Pablo Escobar,

785
00:38:46,660 --> 00:38:48,700
who's violent terrorist campaign

786
00:38:48,700 --> 00:38:52,540
has killed a staggering 400
Colombians in the last year alone.

787
00:38:54,740 --> 00:38:57,380
As Galan takes the stage,
a gunman opens fire...

788
00:38:57,380 --> 00:39:00,620
GUNSHOTS

789
00:39:00,620 --> 00:39:02,580
..and assassinates him.

790
00:39:04,860 --> 00:39:06,180
I'll never forget.

791
00:39:06,180 --> 00:39:08,500
I was at a restaurant.
The waitress comes over to us,

792
00:39:08,500 --> 00:39:10,140
says, "They've just killed Galan.

793
00:39:10,140 --> 00:39:12,700
"Everybody get outta here,
they just declared martial law."

794
00:39:12,700 --> 00:39:15,180
We left the restaurant.
And it was chaos.

795
00:39:15,180 --> 00:39:17,700
I remember the sirens,
the police, military.

796
00:39:17,700 --> 00:39:20,100
I remember crying
for Luis Carlos Galan.

797
00:39:20,100 --> 00:39:22,740
Galan was like
the hope for the country.

798
00:39:22,740 --> 00:39:24,700
That was like the end of a dream.

799
00:39:26,180 --> 00:39:28,140
The killing of a
presidential candidate

800
00:39:28,140 --> 00:39:30,780
sends a shock wave through
the country and the world.

801
00:39:30,780 --> 00:39:33,180
The President of Colombia has
declared his country

802
00:39:33,180 --> 00:39:36,300
under a state of siege after gunmen
last night assassinated

803
00:39:36,300 --> 00:39:39,700
a leading presidential candidate
and wounded ten other people.

804
00:39:39,700 --> 00:39:42,420
Pablo Escobar has overplayed
his hand.

805
00:39:42,420 --> 00:39:44,220
Hours after Galan's death,

806
00:39:44,220 --> 00:39:47,220
sitting Colombian president
Virgilio Barco Vargas

807
00:39:47,220 --> 00:39:49,980
finally declares all out war
on Escobar

808
00:39:49,980 --> 00:39:52,420
and turns to the US for help.

809
00:39:52,420 --> 00:39:55,620
Colombia's survival is now at risk.

810
00:39:57,100 --> 00:39:59,980
I was so happy after Barco
declared war.

811
00:39:59,980 --> 00:40:03,140
The idea that the Colombian
government was getting

812
00:40:03,140 --> 00:40:06,860
really serious about this was
a very welcome sign for DEA.

813
00:40:06,860 --> 00:40:10,580
Ambassador McNamara
and myself visited President Barco

814
00:40:10,580 --> 00:40:13,540
at which point he told us
what he was doing

815
00:40:13,540 --> 00:40:17,940
and we in turn told him we would
support their effort in every way

816
00:40:17,940 --> 00:40:20,660
we could. He ordered the military,
he ordered the police

817
00:40:20,660 --> 00:40:25,940
to raid every place that we knew
that was associated with Escobar.

818
00:40:25,940 --> 00:40:29,180
Built on the back
of DEA intelligence,

819
00:40:29,180 --> 00:40:32,940
over 350 raids are carried out in
the first three days

820
00:40:32,940 --> 00:40:38,540
of the war against Pablo, and one
raid hits very close to home.

821
00:40:38,540 --> 00:40:40,900
His pride and joy was Finca Napoles.

822
00:40:40,900 --> 00:40:43,260
This was his primary ranch,
this was his showplace.

823
00:40:43,260 --> 00:40:45,700
The gate to the entrance
to the ranch,

824
00:40:45,700 --> 00:40:49,580
on top is a single engine aircraft.
Well, he liked to brag,

825
00:40:49,580 --> 00:40:52,940
"That's the first airplane I ever
used to move a load of cocaine."

826
00:40:52,940 --> 00:40:56,060
His jewel. He loved Finca Napoles.

827
00:40:56,060 --> 00:40:58,780
Had a huge house on it,
swimming pool.

828
00:40:58,780 --> 00:41:01,740
Had a runway for airplanes
to come in.

829
00:41:01,740 --> 00:41:04,540
He had a fleet of aircraft,
including jets.

830
00:41:04,540 --> 00:41:08,940
Cars galore, air boats,
jet skis, ski boats.

831
00:41:08,940 --> 00:41:11,820
He had a zoo on it, brought in all
these exotic animals.

832
00:41:11,820 --> 00:41:14,180
Rhinos, zebras, camels.

833
00:41:14,180 --> 00:41:15,780
He introduced elephants
into Colombia.

834
00:41:17,180 --> 00:41:20,100
Forced from his home,
Escobar is on the run.

835
00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:23,660
And as the war against him continues
the Colombian government seizes

836
00:41:23,660 --> 00:41:27,580
four tons of cocaine
and over 11,000 cartel associates,

837
00:41:27,580 --> 00:41:29,700
but not Pablo

838
00:41:29,700 --> 00:41:32,540
whose long investment in loyalty
among the poor of Medellin

839
00:41:32,540 --> 00:41:34,820
is paying big dividends.

840
00:41:34,820 --> 00:41:36,860
The challenge with Pablo was

841
00:41:36,860 --> 00:41:38,420
that he had bought his way in

842
00:41:38,420 --> 00:41:41,020
so that he knew every move
the police were going to make,

843
00:41:41,020 --> 00:41:44,140
and he had absolute loyalty from
a whole army of people

844
00:41:44,140 --> 00:41:46,500
with whom he would pay
relatively little.

845
00:41:46,500 --> 00:41:49,100
As soon as any truck or car
would leave a police barracks,

846
00:41:49,100 --> 00:41:51,500
someone would simply pull out
their phones

847
00:41:51,500 --> 00:41:54,660
and tell Pablo where the convoy was
moving, where the car was moving.

848
00:41:54,660 --> 00:41:57,020
Still, though he evades capture,

849
00:41:57,020 --> 00:41:59,380
life on the run takes its toll
on Escobar

850
00:41:59,380 --> 00:42:01,260
and his multibillion
dollar business.

851
00:42:01,260 --> 00:42:04,100
He was still running his business
but he was very uncomfortable

852
00:42:04,100 --> 00:42:06,380
and the pressure that the government
was putting on him

853
00:42:06,380 --> 00:42:07,780
was very effective.

854
00:42:07,780 --> 00:42:11,220
And over the next several months
he responded with more bombs,

855
00:42:11,220 --> 00:42:15,660
and more intimidation,
more kidnappings, more threats.

856
00:42:15,660 --> 00:42:18,820
Meanwhile, the 1989
Colombian presidential race

857
00:42:18,820 --> 00:42:21,220
is in a sprint to election day.

858
00:42:21,220 --> 00:42:23,820
The slain Galan is replaced by his
debate chief

859
00:42:23,820 --> 00:42:27,220
and a former finance minister,
Cesar Gaviria,

860
00:42:27,220 --> 00:42:29,820
who rallies Colombia
against Escobar,

861
00:42:29,820 --> 00:42:33,140
and puts him directly in
Pablo's crosshairs.

862
00:42:33,140 --> 00:42:37,940
On the run and under pressure, Pablo
is desperate to end his persecution.

863
00:42:37,940 --> 00:42:42,340
To do it, he's going to carry out
his most craven act yet.

864
00:42:42,340 --> 00:42:46,220
Escobar thought Cesar Gaviria was
going to be onboard an airplane,

865
00:42:46,220 --> 00:42:51,100
on the Avianca commercial airline
that was going from Bogota to Cali.

866
00:42:51,100 --> 00:42:54,060
Pablo entrusts one of his deadliest
sicarios, La Quica,

867
00:42:54,060 --> 00:42:55,740
to co-ordinate the mission.

868
00:42:55,740 --> 00:42:59,340
La Quica got a briefcase
and La Quica told another sicario,

869
00:42:59,340 --> 00:43:02,340
"The boss, Pablo Escobar,
is trusting you with this job.

870
00:43:02,340 --> 00:43:05,060
"Here's a briefcase,
it's a recording device.

871
00:43:05,060 --> 00:43:08,020
"He wants you to record the guy
who's going to be on your right.

872
00:43:10,380 --> 00:43:13,700
When the plane takes off the sicario
flips a switch and it's a bomb.

873
00:43:15,060 --> 00:43:17,420
More than 100 people onboard
were killed

874
00:43:17,420 --> 00:43:20,380
when the Boeing 727 blew apart
just after taking off from Bogota.

875
00:43:20,380 --> 00:43:23,300
On November 27th 1989,

876
00:43:23,300 --> 00:43:26,060
110 civilians lose their lives
in the bombing,

877
00:43:26,060 --> 00:43:28,420
including two Americans.

878
00:43:28,420 --> 00:43:31,340
One life is spared -
the target himself.

879
00:43:31,340 --> 00:43:33,380
Gaviria narrowly escapes death

880
00:43:33,380 --> 00:43:36,780
thanks to last-minute intel
which keeps him off the plane.

881
00:43:36,780 --> 00:43:39,340
That's as low as you can go.

882
00:43:39,340 --> 00:43:41,300
That's how heinous this guy...

883
00:43:41,300 --> 00:43:44,660
This is how evil Pablo Escobar...
There...

884
00:43:44,660 --> 00:43:47,020
I don't have enough adjectives
in my vocabulary

885
00:43:47,020 --> 00:43:49,580
to adequately describe just
how terrible,

886
00:43:49,580 --> 00:43:51,980
how horrible this man really is.

887
00:43:51,980 --> 00:43:55,820
It's the kind of terrorism no
country can let go unanswered.

888
00:43:55,820 --> 00:43:59,660
The destruction of Avianca
flight 203 makes one thing clear -

889
00:43:59,660 --> 00:44:04,060
to fight Pablo Escobar, you have to
become as violent as Pablo Escobar.

890
00:44:04,060 --> 00:44:06,980
And some in Colombia are finally
prepared to do it.

891
00:44:10,100 --> 00:44:13,220
It's 1989, and after more than
a decade of wanton violence

892
00:44:13,220 --> 00:44:15,820
and destruction at
the hands of Pablo Escobar,

893
00:44:15,820 --> 00:44:18,660
US and Colombian forces have
finally coordinated

894
00:44:18,660 --> 00:44:21,420
a massive joint attack against
the cocaine kingpin.

895
00:44:21,420 --> 00:44:23,700
I'm here today to talk about war.

896
00:44:23,700 --> 00:44:25,100
They've raided his home...

897
00:44:25,100 --> 00:44:27,460
His pride and joy was Finca Napoles.

898
00:44:27,460 --> 00:44:30,180
This was his primary ranch,
this was his showplace.

899
00:44:30,180 --> 00:44:32,580
..seized drugs and large amounts
of cash,

900
00:44:32,580 --> 00:44:34,060
and sent him on the run.

901
00:44:35,540 --> 00:44:37,260
He was very uncomfortable

902
00:44:37,260 --> 00:44:39,580
and the pressure that the government
was putting on him

903
00:44:39,580 --> 00:44:41,060
was very effective.

904
00:44:41,060 --> 00:44:43,420
But the millions spent buying
intense loyalty

905
00:44:43,420 --> 00:44:46,260
from the poor of Medellin
helps Escobar survive.

906
00:44:46,260 --> 00:44:49,660
He had absolute loyalty
from a whole army of people.

907
00:44:49,660 --> 00:44:52,300
And somehow, even struggling
to evade capture,

908
00:44:52,300 --> 00:44:54,660
Escobar manages to run his empire,

909
00:44:54,660 --> 00:44:58,540
determined to avoid his biggest
fear, a US jail cell.

910
00:44:58,540 --> 00:45:00,500
And over the next several months,
you know,

911
00:45:00,500 --> 00:45:03,380
he responded with more bombs,
and more intimidation.

912
00:45:03,380 --> 00:45:07,780
Cornered, Escobar lashes out
with his most violent attack yet -

913
00:45:07,780 --> 00:45:12,900
the bombing of Avianca flight 203
and the murder of 110 people.

914
00:45:12,900 --> 00:45:16,700
Escobar becomes not just a threat
to US and Colombian security,

915
00:45:16,700 --> 00:45:19,060
but an international terrorist.

916
00:45:19,060 --> 00:45:23,140
I think that the levels of violence
that Pablo was willing to go to

917
00:45:23,140 --> 00:45:25,140
with the bombing gave
the United States

918
00:45:25,140 --> 00:45:27,580
sort of a different view
of the threat.

919
00:45:31,100 --> 00:45:33,460
Presidential candidate
Cesar Gaviria,

920
00:45:33,460 --> 00:45:35,100
the actual target of
the plane bombing,

921
00:45:35,100 --> 00:45:38,380
goes on to win the 1989 election
in a landslide.

922
00:45:38,380 --> 00:45:41,180
Initially when President Gaviria
was elected, you know,

923
00:45:41,180 --> 00:45:43,980
I was somewhat optimistic
because he talked about

924
00:45:43,980 --> 00:45:46,740
the importance of bringing peace
to Colombia.

925
00:45:46,740 --> 00:45:50,300
Since the United States war on
drugs began a decade ago,

926
00:45:50,300 --> 00:45:53,780
US efforts had been stymied by
Colombian government interference

927
00:45:53,780 --> 00:45:56,060
and their unwillingness
to provoke Escobar

928
00:45:56,060 --> 00:45:58,420
or threaten him with extradition.

929
00:45:58,420 --> 00:46:01,580
The US hopes Gaviria's election
will finally deliver Escobar

930
00:46:01,580 --> 00:46:04,980
to United States DEA agents,
but, in December 1990,

931
00:46:04,980 --> 00:46:08,500
Gaviria issues a decree that
shatters the DEA's hope

932
00:46:08,500 --> 00:46:11,500
of inflicting American justice
on Escobar.

933
00:46:11,500 --> 00:46:14,980
Gaviria, now president
of a war-weary Colombia,

934
00:46:14,980 --> 00:46:18,540
makes a deal any cartel
head would jump at -

935
00:46:18,540 --> 00:46:21,980
any trafficker who surrenders
can confess to a single crime,

936
00:46:21,980 --> 00:46:23,820
be housed in special jails,

937
00:46:23,820 --> 00:46:27,300
and under no circumstances
can they be extradited.

938
00:46:27,300 --> 00:46:31,180
He gave in to every demand that
Pablo Escobar asked for.

939
00:46:31,180 --> 00:46:34,100
But Pablo wants it in writing.

940
00:46:34,100 --> 00:46:36,180
And he gets his chance in 1991,

941
00:46:36,180 --> 00:46:40,580
as the Colombian Congress goes into
session to draft a new constitution.

942
00:46:40,580 --> 00:46:43,300
It became very evident from
intelligence that we were gathering

943
00:46:43,300 --> 00:46:46,780
that Escobar was playing
a very aggressive role

944
00:46:46,780 --> 00:46:51,660
in trying to influence the
assembly members by buying votes.

945
00:46:51,660 --> 00:46:54,060
On June 19th 1991,

946
00:46:54,060 --> 00:46:58,580
four years after Joe Toft arrived
in Bogota hoping to capture Escobar,

947
00:46:58,580 --> 00:47:02,500
the Colombian Congress votes
to permanently outlaw extradition,

948
00:47:02,500 --> 00:47:06,340
and hours later,
Pablo surrenders on his own terms.

949
00:47:06,340 --> 00:47:09,660
Pablo Escobar, the leader
of the Medellin drug cartel,

950
00:47:09,660 --> 00:47:13,420
gave up just hours after the
Constitutional Assembly of Colombia

951
00:47:13,420 --> 00:47:16,020
said no more extraditions to the US.

952
00:47:16,020 --> 00:47:18,060
Later that same day,

953
00:47:18,060 --> 00:47:21,580
a helicopter carries Pablo away
to his private prison,

954
00:47:21,580 --> 00:47:25,980
The Cathedral, where he'll carry out
only a five-year sentence.

955
00:47:25,980 --> 00:47:30,300
I remember watching it on TV
as nobody was allowed to go

956
00:47:30,300 --> 00:47:31,380
near the surrender site.

957
00:47:31,380 --> 00:47:34,780
The DEA agents who've risked their
lives to fight the cartel

958
00:47:34,780 --> 00:47:38,260
can only watch as Pablo slips out of
the United States' reach.

959
00:47:38,260 --> 00:47:40,700
The day that Escobar surrendered,

960
00:47:40,700 --> 00:47:43,580
um, I was sick.

961
00:47:43,580 --> 00:47:49,380
It was one of those moments in your
life where you say,

962
00:47:49,380 --> 00:47:51,220
"What was all this for?

963
00:47:51,220 --> 00:47:54,260
"What was all the innocent people
that got killed,

964
00:47:54,260 --> 00:47:57,540
"the police officers
that got killed,

965
00:47:57,540 --> 00:48:00,180
"all of this was for nothing."

966
00:48:00,180 --> 00:48:02,540
While many in the DEA's
Bogota office

967
00:48:02,540 --> 00:48:04,580
are demoralised by Pablo's coup,

968
00:48:04,580 --> 00:48:07,260
Steve Murphy arrives
still determined

969
00:48:07,260 --> 00:48:09,620
to break the back of the
Medellin Cartel.

970
00:48:09,620 --> 00:48:12,380
A veteran agent but new on the
ground in Colombia

971
00:48:12,380 --> 00:48:16,180
and speaking little Spanish, Steve
quickly finds a perfect partner

972
00:48:16,180 --> 00:48:19,700
in Javier Pena, a seasoned Bogota
field agent.

973
00:48:19,700 --> 00:48:22,260
My first week in Colombia,
I arrived on a Sunday.

974
00:48:22,260 --> 00:48:26,100
On Wednesday of that week is when
Pablo Escobar surrendered

975
00:48:26,100 --> 00:48:28,020
to his custom-built prison.

976
00:48:28,020 --> 00:48:30,500
High in the mountains
south of Medellin,

977
00:48:30,500 --> 00:48:33,580
Escobar chooses a prison that gives
him a commanding view

978
00:48:33,580 --> 00:48:35,580
of his empire's capital city.

979
00:48:35,580 --> 00:48:38,020
He personally selects who will be
guarding him,

980
00:48:38,020 --> 00:48:40,380
and the single crime he pleads
guilty to.

981
00:48:40,380 --> 00:48:42,940
Every other crime the man had ever
committed in his life,

982
00:48:42,940 --> 00:48:46,860
including thousands
and thousands of murders,

983
00:48:46,860 --> 00:48:49,700
were absolved, just went away.

984
00:48:49,700 --> 00:48:53,140
There were no stipulations
to take his wealth away from him.

985
00:48:53,140 --> 00:48:54,700
In a stunning addition,

986
00:48:54,700 --> 00:48:57,980
Escobar declares that no Colombian
National Police will be allowed

987
00:48:57,980 --> 00:49:00,940
within a 12-mile radius
of his prison.

988
00:49:00,940 --> 00:49:05,340
It's obvious to the DEA that Pablo's
planning on running his operation

989
00:49:05,340 --> 00:49:07,700
from within, which means the
best way to hurt him

990
00:49:07,700 --> 00:49:10,300
will be to continue disrupting
his cartel.

991
00:49:10,300 --> 00:49:12,740
We knew he wasn't going to stop
his criminal activities.

992
00:49:12,740 --> 00:49:15,100
I've been meeting with
the Colombian National Police

993
00:49:15,100 --> 00:49:17,860
in conjunction with Javier. We've
been trying to collect intelligence

994
00:49:17,860 --> 00:49:20,220
and investigative leads
against Escobar.

995
00:49:20,220 --> 00:49:23,460
Pena and Murphy's informants
deliver devastating news.

996
00:49:23,460 --> 00:49:26,300
Pablo's prison is no prison at all.

997
00:49:26,300 --> 00:49:28,220
Pablo's imprisonment
in the Cathedral

998
00:49:28,220 --> 00:49:29,860
was a farce from the beginning.

999
00:49:29,860 --> 00:49:34,260
Once Escobar entered the prison,
he started furnishing the place.

1000
00:49:34,260 --> 00:49:36,780
Pablo is using a truck with
a false wall

1001
00:49:36,780 --> 00:49:39,940
to smuggle in whatever contraband
he desires.

1002
00:49:39,940 --> 00:49:45,420
Pablo's cell was a two-room suite
with a full-size refrigerator,

1003
00:49:45,420 --> 00:49:48,900
flowery curtains that matched
the upholstery on the couches,

1004
00:49:48,900 --> 00:49:51,740
with million-dollar pieces
of artwork on the wall.

1005
00:49:51,740 --> 00:49:54,100
He had an audio-visual
centre there.

1006
00:49:54,100 --> 00:49:57,140
I mean, it was quite, you know,
the life of a millionaire narco

1007
00:49:57,140 --> 00:50:00,100
with barbecues and with parties
and pretty women.

1008
00:50:00,100 --> 00:50:02,220
His prison is more of a fortress,

1009
00:50:02,220 --> 00:50:04,580
and earns the nickname
Hotel Escobar.

1010
00:50:04,580 --> 00:50:06,940
The DEA tries to tell
the Colombian government

1011
00:50:06,940 --> 00:50:10,900
that Escobar is embarrassing them
but all warnings fall on deaf ears.

1012
00:50:10,900 --> 00:50:13,620
We started sharing our
intelligence with the president,

1013
00:50:13,620 --> 00:50:16,980
and the president kept telling us
that it was not true,

1014
00:50:16,980 --> 00:50:18,900
that our information was false.

1015
00:50:18,900 --> 00:50:21,620
If he accepts that intelligence,
what is he going to do?

1016
00:50:21,620 --> 00:50:27,700
How does he accept the fact that his
deal with Escobar was a failure?

1017
00:50:27,700 --> 00:50:30,340
Safely behind the walls
of his prison,

1018
00:50:30,340 --> 00:50:32,220
with US extradition outlawed

1019
00:50:32,220 --> 00:50:35,260
and a massive army of sicarios
ready to take orders,

1020
00:50:35,260 --> 00:50:39,660
Pablo steps up his efforts
to maintain his cartel's dominance.

1021
00:50:39,660 --> 00:50:41,660
He puts day-to-day control
of his empire

1022
00:50:41,660 --> 00:50:43,660
in the hands of his
childhood friends,

1023
00:50:43,660 --> 00:50:46,500
Fernando Galeano and
Gerardo Moncada.

1024
00:50:46,500 --> 00:50:49,340
When Pablo surrendered himself to
the prison

1025
00:50:49,340 --> 00:50:51,460
he imposed what we call a war tax

1026
00:50:51,460 --> 00:50:54,580
on all his fellow members
of the Medellin Cartel.

1027
00:50:54,580 --> 00:50:56,980
In exchange for his sacrifices,

1028
00:50:56,980 --> 00:51:01,660
Escobar demands each of his
lieutenants pay him $200,000 a week,

1029
00:51:01,660 --> 00:51:04,060
and over the next year Escobar
stashes away

1030
00:51:04,060 --> 00:51:05,980
hundreds of millions of dollars.

1031
00:51:07,660 --> 00:51:10,500
One day, some of his sicarios found
a stash of money

1032
00:51:10,500 --> 00:51:13,260
that belonged to the Moncada
and Galeano brothers.

1033
00:51:13,260 --> 00:51:15,700
This money had been shrink wrapped
and hidden in a cave

1034
00:51:15,700 --> 00:51:18,060
and it was beginning to rot,
and they said,

1035
00:51:18,060 --> 00:51:20,420
"Pablo, here you are suffering
in a prison,

1036
00:51:20,420 --> 00:51:23,780
"and they think it's such a joke,
they're just letting it rot away."

1037
00:51:23,780 --> 00:51:25,300
Pablo's cushy prison sentence

1038
00:51:25,300 --> 00:51:27,660
might have removed the
threat of extradition,

1039
00:51:27,660 --> 00:51:30,020
but being isolated from his
smuggling operation

1040
00:51:30,020 --> 00:51:32,580
leaves him feeling increasingly
paranoid about threats

1041
00:51:32,580 --> 00:51:34,700
from within his own cartel,

1042
00:51:34,700 --> 00:51:37,540
causing Pablo to see betrayals
at every turn.

1043
00:51:37,540 --> 00:51:40,380
So he summons Moncada and Galeano
for an audience.

1044
00:51:40,380 --> 00:51:42,220
They start trying
to explain to Pablo.

1045
00:51:42,220 --> 00:51:44,580
"Pablo, it's not what you're
thinking.

1046
00:51:44,580 --> 00:51:47,460
"We were not hiding this money
from you."

1047
00:51:47,460 --> 00:51:52,060
Pablo became so mad, so upset,
he took a stick and killed,

1048
00:51:52,060 --> 00:51:54,500
personally killed, Moncada himself.

1049
00:51:54,500 --> 00:51:57,740
The sicarios, they jump in,
they kill Fernando Galeano.

1050
00:51:57,740 --> 00:52:01,380
When Moncada and Galeano don't
return from their slaughter

1051
00:52:01,380 --> 00:52:04,860
at the Cathedral,
the scandal sweeps across Colombia.

1052
00:52:04,860 --> 00:52:07,460
Police started looking into it,
and it became a...

1053
00:52:07,460 --> 00:52:10,180
The news media got involved
and Gaviria had his nightmare -

1054
00:52:10,180 --> 00:52:11,700
it finally happened.

1055
00:52:11,700 --> 00:52:13,740
And it finally became too great
an embarrassment

1056
00:52:13,740 --> 00:52:16,100
for the Colombian government
to endure any more.

1057
00:52:16,100 --> 00:52:18,820
Allowing Pablo to commit murder
from his luxury prison

1058
00:52:18,820 --> 00:52:21,620
is a political disaster for
the Colombian government.

1059
00:52:21,620 --> 00:52:23,980
President Gaviria is forced
into action.

1060
00:52:23,980 --> 00:52:26,660
The President calls in
the Vice Minister of Justice,

1061
00:52:26,660 --> 00:52:28,460
a guy named Eduardo Mendoza.

1062
00:52:28,460 --> 00:52:31,260
Tells him, "I want you guys
to take some troops up there,

1063
00:52:31,260 --> 00:52:34,060
"and I want you to transfer Pablo
from Medellin to Bogota."

1064
00:52:34,060 --> 00:52:38,620
He's sending Mendoza, who was
a young guy, he was 29 years old,

1065
00:52:38,620 --> 00:52:45,420
to ask Escobar to please allow for
him to be moved to another location.

1066
00:52:45,420 --> 00:52:51,860
I honestly feel that he was
petrified of Pablo Escobar

1067
00:52:51,860 --> 00:52:54,220
and the power that he yielded
in Colombia.

1068
00:52:54,220 --> 00:52:59,020
While the US and DEA are left to
watch the events unfold,

1069
00:52:59,020 --> 00:53:03,100
Mendoza arrives at the gates of the
Cathedral with over 400 soldiers,

1070
00:53:03,100 --> 00:53:06,620
vastly outnumbering Escobar's
12 jailed sicarios.

1071
00:53:06,620 --> 00:53:09,940
But Mendoza's rank and file still
fear Escobar's wrath

1072
00:53:09,940 --> 00:53:12,420
and refuse to storm his fortress.

1073
00:53:12,420 --> 00:53:16,420
So Mendoza decides to enter himself
with only a Colombian colonel

1074
00:53:16,420 --> 00:53:18,780
and a few guards as protection.

1075
00:53:18,780 --> 00:53:21,060
I think Escobar made
the incorrect decision

1076
00:53:21,060 --> 00:53:22,780
that he was going to be killed.

1077
00:53:22,780 --> 00:53:26,060
Driven by fear, Escobar and his crew
overpower the guards

1078
00:53:26,060 --> 00:53:29,020
and take the Vice Minister
and Mendoza hostage.

1079
00:53:29,020 --> 00:53:32,900
Pablo Escobar is trying to talk
to the president of Colombia.

1080
00:53:32,900 --> 00:53:37,460
Nobody's answering the phone.
Pablo Escobar is going ballistic.

1081
00:53:37,460 --> 00:53:39,420
He's getting madder and madder.

1082
00:53:39,420 --> 00:53:43,820
The sicarios want to kill
the Vice Minister of Justice.

1083
00:53:43,820 --> 00:53:46,740
It's a nightmare scenario for
the Colombian President -

1084
00:53:46,740 --> 00:53:49,780
a cartel leader has taken a
high ranking official hostage

1085
00:53:49,780 --> 00:53:52,140
in an attempt to bring
a president to heel.

1086
00:53:52,140 --> 00:53:56,180
The Colombian government is finally
done letting Escobar dictate terms.

1087
00:53:56,180 --> 00:53:58,540
They bring in a specialised
military unit.

1088
00:53:58,540 --> 00:54:01,220
They launch an operation
to go save Mr Mendoza.

1089
00:54:02,540 --> 00:54:04,100
Now, you've got to remember,

1090
00:54:04,100 --> 00:54:06,980
all the guards at
the prison were Escobar's people.

1091
00:54:06,980 --> 00:54:08,500
He selected the guards.

1092
00:54:08,500 --> 00:54:11,220
They engage the Colombian
military in a firefight.

1093
00:54:11,220 --> 00:54:13,140
GUNFIRE, DOGS BARK

1094
00:54:13,140 --> 00:54:15,860
And Pablo has already planned

1095
00:54:15,860 --> 00:54:18,620
at least three successful
escape routes out of there

1096
00:54:18,620 --> 00:54:21,140
and so his hit men go out one way,
he went one way.

1097
00:54:21,140 --> 00:54:26,500
And Pablo walks out that door
from his prison untouched.

1098
00:54:30,860 --> 00:54:33,220
Escobar and some of his cronies
who came in with him

1099
00:54:33,220 --> 00:54:35,580
were installed here in a facility
on a mountaintop.

1100
00:54:35,580 --> 00:54:39,260
The world was told it was a prison,
but it was a prison in name only.

1101
00:54:39,260 --> 00:54:42,500
The 13 months Pablo Escobar
had spent in the safety

1102
00:54:42,500 --> 00:54:45,020
of his private prison,
The Cathedral,

1103
00:54:45,020 --> 00:54:48,620
had helped him maintain control
of his cocaine kingdom,

1104
00:54:48,620 --> 00:54:53,020
with over 70 tons of coke landing
on US shores each month.

1105
00:54:53,020 --> 00:54:57,700
And all the while, neither Colombian
forces nor the United States DEA

1106
00:54:57,700 --> 00:55:02,220
could come within 12 miles of
Escobar's luxury prison fortress.

1107
00:55:02,220 --> 00:55:05,860
But after Pablo brutally murders
two of his top lieutenants,

1108
00:55:05,860 --> 00:55:08,740
the Colombian military storms
The Cathedral,

1109
00:55:08,740 --> 00:55:11,740
only to find that Escobar
has escaped.

1110
00:55:11,740 --> 00:55:14,100
It was a huge embarrassment
for the Gaviria government,

1111
00:55:14,100 --> 00:55:17,340
who had been assuring both
the United States and his own people

1112
00:55:17,340 --> 00:55:20,140
that everything was under control,
and the United States was left

1113
00:55:20,140 --> 00:55:21,860
saying, essentially,
"We told you so."

1114
00:55:21,860 --> 00:55:24,260
We thought it was ridiculous.
It was a joke.

1115
00:55:24,260 --> 00:55:28,580
Gaviria's fear of Escobar
nailed him.

1116
00:55:28,580 --> 00:55:30,940
I mean, he looked like a fool.

1117
00:55:30,940 --> 00:55:33,380
Lots of questions
and finger pointing today,

1118
00:55:33,380 --> 00:55:37,780
but no sign at all of Colombian
cocaine boss Pablo Escobar.

1119
00:55:37,780 --> 00:55:41,260
Escobar's escape is bad for
a humiliated President Gaviria,

1120
00:55:41,260 --> 00:55:43,620
but good for the US DEA agents,

1121
00:55:43,620 --> 00:55:46,340
who have a new opportunity
to capture him.

1122
00:55:46,340 --> 00:55:49,540
Gaviria is forced to ask the DEA
for help.

1123
00:55:49,540 --> 00:55:51,540
It was a good moment for me

1124
00:55:51,540 --> 00:55:56,620
because I was overjoyed over the
fact that he had to face the truth.

1125
00:55:56,620 --> 00:56:01,020
So he said, "You know, we gotta do
something. You guys gotta help us."

1126
00:56:01,020 --> 00:56:03,740
And every American at the US Embassy
in Bogota

1127
00:56:03,740 --> 00:56:06,100
is ready to come to Colombia's aid.

1128
00:56:06,100 --> 00:56:08,820
That's not something that cops
normally would celebrate,

1129
00:56:08,820 --> 00:56:10,740
you know, when a criminal escapes,

1130
00:56:10,740 --> 00:56:12,580
but that was a day that we
all celebrated.

1131
00:56:12,580 --> 00:56:14,860
I was happy. I was real happy

1132
00:56:14,860 --> 00:56:17,860
because we were given another chance

1133
00:56:17,860 --> 00:56:20,220
to go after Pablo Escobar.

1134
00:56:20,220 --> 00:56:23,900
What follows is the biggest manhunt
in DEA history.

1135
00:56:23,900 --> 00:56:26,860
And the Colombian government
commissions an elite task force

1136
00:56:26,860 --> 00:56:29,540
whose sole focus
will be hunting Escobar -

1137
00:56:29,540 --> 00:56:33,100
the Search Bloc, Colombia's most
elite national police unit.

1138
00:56:33,100 --> 00:56:36,660
They picked the best of the Colombia
National Police officers.

1139
00:56:36,660 --> 00:56:39,980
They brought in
the best of their tactical unit,

1140
00:56:39,980 --> 00:56:44,700
the uniform guys who were especially
trained for mountain operations,

1141
00:56:44,700 --> 00:56:47,060
for urban operations.

1142
00:56:47,060 --> 00:56:50,140
They had about 500 uniformed
police officers.

1143
00:56:50,140 --> 00:56:52,500
And they had the
plainclothes officers

1144
00:56:52,500 --> 00:56:57,340
who were the intelligence-gathering
arm of the Search Bloc.

1145
00:56:57,340 --> 00:57:02,660
And the only mission was going after
Pablo Escobar.

1146
00:57:02,660 --> 00:57:06,260
The first order of business is to
make sure nobody in the Search Bloc

1147
00:57:06,260 --> 00:57:08,660
is compromised by Escobar.

1148
00:57:08,660 --> 00:57:11,300
Not a single one of those police
officers was from Medellin.

1149
00:57:11,300 --> 00:57:13,220
They had to leave their families.

1150
00:57:13,220 --> 00:57:15,860
They were all brought in from other
parts of Colombia

1151
00:57:15,860 --> 00:57:18,820
to try to escape the potential
for corruption.

1152
00:57:20,580 --> 00:57:23,740
Command of the Search Bloc is
considered the most dangerous post

1153
00:57:23,740 --> 00:57:26,260
in all of Colombia,
and nobody wants it.

1154
00:57:26,260 --> 00:57:29,900
So the Colombian government turns to
a man who has proven incorruptible,

1155
00:57:29,900 --> 00:57:34,300
and is an old enemy of Escobar's
- Colonel Hugo Martinez.

1156
00:57:34,300 --> 00:57:37,820
Pablo Escobar hated, hated,
Colonel Martinez.

1157
00:57:37,820 --> 00:57:41,460
There's one letter that Colonel
Martinez received from Pablo Escobar

1158
00:57:41,460 --> 00:57:45,300
that Pablo was going to kill
the Colonel's family.

1159
00:57:45,300 --> 00:57:49,660
I'll always remember that day -
the look in Colonel Martinez's eyes.

1160
00:57:49,660 --> 00:57:51,580
The guy had guts.

1161
00:57:51,580 --> 00:57:54,620
You know what,
Colonel Martinez never gave up.

1162
00:57:54,620 --> 00:57:57,740
Before Escobar's surrender
to The Cathedral,

1163
00:57:57,740 --> 00:58:00,500
Colonel Martinez had led
the hunt for Pablo.

1164
00:58:00,500 --> 00:58:02,940
Now, given a second chance
to capture Escobar

1165
00:58:02,940 --> 00:58:06,100
he and the Search Bloc know
they need to work alongside

1166
00:58:06,100 --> 00:58:10,060
the United States' best agents,
Steve Murphy and Javier Pena.

1167
00:58:10,060 --> 00:58:13,020
Javier and I had earned the respect
of the Colombian National Police

1168
00:58:13,020 --> 00:58:15,860
and they knew that we were dedicated
to the mission.

1169
00:58:15,860 --> 00:58:18,420
We had proven ourselves in battle
before with them,

1170
00:58:18,420 --> 00:58:21,100
and they trusted us. That's what
led to the invitation

1171
00:58:21,100 --> 00:58:23,020
for us to come and
live with them full-time.

1172
00:58:23,020 --> 00:58:26,260
So Steve and Javier leave their
life in Bogota behind,

1173
00:58:26,260 --> 00:58:29,740
and head to Medellin in July 1992.

1174
00:58:29,740 --> 00:58:32,100
And everybody lived in
the same place.

1175
00:58:32,100 --> 00:58:37,220
The famous Carlos Holguin School, it
was an old police base in Medellin.

1176
00:58:37,220 --> 00:58:41,020
There was one time when Pablo hired
a lady to become a cook,

1177
00:58:41,020 --> 00:58:43,020
there in the police base.

1178
00:58:43,020 --> 00:58:45,860
She gained everybody's trust, and
she was doing a good job as a cook.

1179
00:58:45,860 --> 00:58:49,420
And then she put poison in the food,
trying to kill us.

1180
00:58:49,420 --> 00:58:52,460
We didn't die, obviously.
Nobody died. We were sick

1181
00:58:52,460 --> 00:58:54,900
and we spent a lot of time in
the bathroom there for a while.

1182
00:58:54,900 --> 00:58:58,580
In South America today, a powerful
reminder, if one were needed,

1183
00:58:58,580 --> 00:59:02,460
how determined and dangerous the
Colombian drug traffickers remain.

1184
00:59:02,460 --> 00:59:06,340
Escobar's loyal army of sicarios
prove as deadly as ever.

1185
00:59:06,340 --> 00:59:09,420
In the first 15 days of
the Search Bloc's operation,

1186
00:59:09,420 --> 00:59:12,780
Escobar murders 30
of Colonel Martinez's men.

1187
00:59:12,780 --> 00:59:14,860
So they have to move quickly.

1188
00:59:14,860 --> 00:59:17,500
Wiretaps are going up left
and right, informants are calling.

1189
00:59:17,500 --> 00:59:20,500
We're trying to pursue every
potential lead we can.

1190
00:59:20,500 --> 00:59:23,660
Primarily restricted to advising
and gathering intelligence

1191
00:59:23,660 --> 00:59:26,620
for the Colombians, Steve and Javier
are further limited

1192
00:59:26,620 --> 00:59:28,460
by orders from their own embassy.

1193
00:59:28,460 --> 00:59:30,940
The orders from the US Embassy were

1194
00:59:30,940 --> 00:59:34,500
that we were to stay within the
confines of the base in Medellin.

1195
00:59:34,500 --> 00:59:37,500
Now, Javier and I,
we've never broken the law.

1196
00:59:37,500 --> 00:59:40,420
But we did break rules
and policies and procedures.

1197
00:59:40,420 --> 00:59:42,340
We would go out and meet informants.

1198
00:59:42,340 --> 00:59:44,700
One of the places we met
lots of informants

1199
00:59:44,700 --> 00:59:47,500
was the big bus station in Medellin.
It's huge,

1200
00:59:47,500 --> 00:59:50,540
and it was a little bit easier
for us to blend in there.

1201
00:59:50,540 --> 00:59:53,500
Cartel sicarios
and lookouts are everywhere.

1202
00:59:53,500 --> 00:59:56,140
And every time an agent meets
with an informant,

1203
00:59:56,140 --> 00:59:58,260
both are risking their lives,

1204
00:59:58,260 --> 01:00:01,340
but the critical information Steve
and Javier learn on the street

1205
01:00:01,340 --> 01:00:03,820
forms the backbone of the DEA
strategy

1206
01:00:03,820 --> 01:00:06,140
to dismantle Escobar's organisation.

1207
01:00:07,460 --> 01:00:09,940
We were targeting his assets,

1208
01:00:09,940 --> 01:00:13,420
and we seized tremendous amounts
of money from Escobar.

1209
01:00:13,420 --> 01:00:15,780
throughout the world.
not only in Colombia.

1210
01:00:15,780 --> 01:00:18,180
We were targeting his labs.
We were targeting his properties.

1211
01:00:18,180 --> 01:00:19,780
We'd go on patrols in the mountains

1212
01:00:19,780 --> 01:00:22,140
where the helicopters
would bring you in.

1213
01:00:22,140 --> 01:00:23,620
You just, you come in,
you hit the ground,

1214
01:00:23,620 --> 01:00:26,340
and you bail out the doors,
and typically Javier and I would go

1215
01:00:26,340 --> 01:00:29,180
with whoever the commander
of the operation was.

1216
01:00:29,180 --> 01:00:31,780
You kick the doors and you go
in and search.

1217
01:00:31,780 --> 01:00:33,780
But unlike their
Colombian counterparts,

1218
01:00:33,780 --> 01:00:37,460
Steve and Javier rush into danger
at a disadvantage.

1219
01:00:37,460 --> 01:00:39,820
They had the machine guns
and the shotguns.

1220
01:00:39,820 --> 01:00:44,220
Javier and I were allowed to carry
one 9mm pistol with two magazines.

1221
01:00:44,220 --> 01:00:46,620
We weren't allowed to carry
a long gun at all.

1222
01:00:46,620 --> 01:00:49,300
The government of Colombia
and the US government

1223
01:00:49,300 --> 01:00:51,140
did not want the appearance

1224
01:00:51,140 --> 01:00:53,460
that the United States was there
leading the efforts.

1225
01:00:55,220 --> 01:00:59,100
After Escobar's escape, he manages
to evade capture for months,

1226
01:00:59,100 --> 01:01:03,420
as the Search Bloc launches
daily raids in and around Medellin.

1227
01:01:03,420 --> 01:01:05,540
But Pablo is nowhere to be found.

1228
01:01:05,540 --> 01:01:07,900
We knew that when Pablo was
on the lam

1229
01:01:07,900 --> 01:01:10,820
after he'd escaped from his prison,
that he was communicating.

1230
01:01:10,820 --> 01:01:14,140
And we also knew that he knew he
couldn't stay on the phone too long.

1231
01:01:14,140 --> 01:01:16,620
Because we'd... You would hear
him say that on the intercepts -

1232
01:01:16,620 --> 01:01:18,100
"I've got to hang up now."

1233
01:01:18,100 --> 01:01:22,020
It was extremely hard to hunt Pablo,
not only because of the corruption

1234
01:01:22,020 --> 01:01:24,620
but also because of the fact
that he was constantly moving.

1235
01:01:24,620 --> 01:01:27,260
He hardly ever stayed in any one
place more than a couple days.

1236
01:01:29,100 --> 01:01:33,500
He had an incredibly loyal
base of people where he could hide,

1237
01:01:33,500 --> 01:01:36,460
where people viewed him as
a really good guy,

1238
01:01:36,460 --> 01:01:38,900
the only person who had ever done
anything for them,

1239
01:01:38,900 --> 01:01:41,260
and where no-one was going to rat
him out to the police.

1240
01:01:41,260 --> 01:01:44,340
His loyalty to them, and theirs
to him, was unconditional.

1241
01:01:44,340 --> 01:01:47,300
Often, it seems the DEA's
noose is tightening,

1242
01:01:47,300 --> 01:01:50,060
only to see Escobar somehow
slip through.

1243
01:01:50,060 --> 01:01:52,740
We almost found him several times.

1244
01:01:52,740 --> 01:01:55,940
There was a couple of operations
in which we were there.

1245
01:01:55,940 --> 01:01:57,500
He had just left.

1246
01:01:57,500 --> 01:02:00,060
The coffee was still hot.
The food was still hot.

1247
01:02:00,060 --> 01:02:02,900
We would find weapons stashed,
communications gear,

1248
01:02:02,900 --> 01:02:05,740
military-style clothing,
ammo, hand grenades,

1249
01:02:05,740 --> 01:02:08,180
almost anything you can think
of that you need to fight a war.

1250
01:02:10,020 --> 01:02:13,540
Despite many close calls,
Escobar is still on the loose.

1251
01:02:13,540 --> 01:02:16,300
So the DEA takes a page
out of Pablo's playbook

1252
01:02:16,300 --> 01:02:19,060
and tries to turn his allies
against him with money,

1253
01:02:19,060 --> 01:02:21,460
and asylum in the United States.

1254
01:02:21,460 --> 01:02:24,220
We established a countrywide
800 number for people to call in

1255
01:02:24,220 --> 01:02:26,100
with tips about Pablo Escobar.

1256
01:02:26,100 --> 01:02:30,180
And the United States government
was offering a $5 million reward

1257
01:02:30,180 --> 01:02:32,860
if you provided the information that
led to the capture of Pablo.

1258
01:02:32,860 --> 01:02:36,340
Steve and Javier's information
yields bigger and bigger results,

1259
01:02:36,340 --> 01:02:38,700
enabling the DEA and the Search Bloc

1260
01:02:38,700 --> 01:02:41,460
to catch Pablo's violent sicarios
off guard.

1261
01:02:41,460 --> 01:02:44,140
We were taking out other members
of his organisation.

1262
01:02:44,140 --> 01:02:46,980
Not by particularly
traditional means.

1263
01:02:46,980 --> 01:02:49,980
It's like, we know for a fact,
100% of these guys,

1264
01:02:49,980 --> 01:02:52,340
when we surrounded them,
we tried to get them to come out

1265
01:02:52,340 --> 01:02:53,940
because we wanted
to take them alive.

1266
01:02:53,940 --> 01:02:56,300
And 100% of them came out shooting.

1267
01:02:56,300 --> 01:02:58,580
The Colombian National Police
had no alternative

1268
01:02:58,580 --> 01:03:00,620
but to react and protect themselves.

1269
01:03:00,620 --> 01:03:02,340
But the more success they have,

1270
01:03:02,340 --> 01:03:04,700
the more they hurt
the cartel's business,

1271
01:03:04,700 --> 01:03:07,980
the more dangerous things become
for the DEA agents on the ground.

1272
01:03:07,980 --> 01:03:09,420
For their efforts,

1273
01:03:09,420 --> 01:03:12,860
Steve and Javier are each rewarded
with a price on their heads.

1274
01:03:12,860 --> 01:03:15,660
Pablo Escobar had put bounties
on us.

1275
01:03:15,660 --> 01:03:17,140
The bounty on police officers,

1276
01:03:17,140 --> 01:03:19,940
Colombian National police officers,
at $100 a head.

1277
01:03:19,940 --> 01:03:22,220
Pablo put a bounty on Javier
and I as well.

1278
01:03:22,220 --> 01:03:24,500
And the bounty was $300,000 each.

1279
01:03:24,500 --> 01:03:26,340
With prices on their heads

1280
01:03:26,340 --> 01:03:29,740
and an army of assassins walking
the streets of Colombia,

1281
01:03:29,740 --> 01:03:34,100
the DEA agents are in a race to get
Escobar before he can get them.

1282
01:03:37,060 --> 01:03:39,660
In January of 1993,
it's been almost six months

1283
01:03:39,660 --> 01:03:42,140
since he's escaped
from his prison fortress,

1284
01:03:42,140 --> 01:03:44,860
and Pablo Escobar is still on
the run.

1285
01:03:44,860 --> 01:03:48,540
United States DEA agents
Steve Murphy and Javier Pena

1286
01:03:48,540 --> 01:03:51,660
are in Medellin, embedded with
the most elite police unit

1287
01:03:51,660 --> 01:03:54,220
in Colombian history -
the Search Bloc -

1288
01:03:54,220 --> 01:03:57,140
hunting Escobar from
safehouse to safehouse.

1289
01:03:57,140 --> 01:04:00,500
The troops scoured the nearby
jungles and farms repeatedly,

1290
01:04:00,500 --> 01:04:03,420
swooping down on houses
and setting up roadblocks,

1291
01:04:03,420 --> 01:04:05,420
hunting for Pablo Escobar,

1292
01:04:05,420 --> 01:04:08,940
the billionaire cocaine trafficker
who killed anyone who opposed him.

1293
01:04:08,940 --> 01:04:13,020
But just as the DEA gets
a lead on Escobar's location,

1294
01:04:13,020 --> 01:04:15,380
Pablo gets tipped off on
their arrival.

1295
01:04:15,380 --> 01:04:18,100
The cocaine kingpin stays
a step or two ahead

1296
01:04:18,100 --> 01:04:19,700
of a frustrated Search Bloc.

1297
01:04:19,700 --> 01:04:22,260
It's discouraging when you
continually follow up on operations

1298
01:04:22,260 --> 01:04:23,580
and you're unsuccessful,

1299
01:04:23,580 --> 01:04:25,940
and you just think,
"Man, is this ever going to end?

1300
01:04:25,940 --> 01:04:27,820
"Are we ever
going to capture this guy?"

1301
01:04:27,820 --> 01:04:30,980
But in their fight against Escobar,
help comes from a surprising source.

1302
01:04:32,660 --> 01:04:36,340
What we did not expect is
the involvement of the Los Pepes.

1303
01:04:36,340 --> 01:04:40,740
Shortly after he escaped,
the Los Pepes entered the picture.

1304
01:04:40,740 --> 01:04:43,740
Los Pepes, the people persecuted
by Pablo Escobar,

1305
01:04:43,740 --> 01:04:47,540
are the newest player in
the war that rages across Colombia.

1306
01:04:47,540 --> 01:04:50,380
While the members are anonymous,
their mission is not,

1307
01:04:50,380 --> 01:04:52,660
and they release statements
to warn Pablo

1308
01:04:52,660 --> 01:04:54,340
that they're ready for a fight.

1309
01:04:54,340 --> 01:04:58,100
Pepes - the vigilantes waging war
on those associated

1310
01:04:58,100 --> 01:05:00,100
with the notorious drug lord.

1311
01:05:00,100 --> 01:05:03,900
We started getting intelligence
as to who the Los Pepes were.

1312
01:05:03,900 --> 01:05:06,260
Names start popping up that
the Los Pepes

1313
01:05:06,260 --> 01:05:09,100
were actually people in
the Medellin Cartel.

1314
01:05:09,100 --> 01:05:11,780
We couldn't quite see what
the hell was happening.

1315
01:05:11,780 --> 01:05:15,500
After Pablo Escobar killed two
of his top men inside The Cathedral,

1316
01:05:15,500 --> 01:05:18,220
Fernando Galeano
and Gerardo Moncada,

1317
01:05:18,220 --> 01:05:20,740
it created a rift in
the Medellin Cartel,

1318
01:05:20,740 --> 01:05:23,020
with everyone wondering
if they'd be next.

1319
01:05:23,020 --> 01:05:24,740
Former rivals, survivors,

1320
01:05:24,740 --> 01:05:27,460
of business partners he had killed,
and others,

1321
01:05:27,460 --> 01:05:30,180
joining forces in
a kind of illicit collaboration.

1322
01:05:30,180 --> 01:05:32,620
These were people who knew
Pablo's habits.

1323
01:05:32,620 --> 01:05:34,460
They knew the way he thought.

1324
01:05:34,460 --> 01:05:38,020
Los Pepes' strategy is to turn
Pablo's tactics against him.

1325
01:05:38,020 --> 01:05:41,300
And they decided to play dirty.
In other words,

1326
01:05:41,300 --> 01:05:43,620
to go to try to kill anybody

1327
01:05:43,620 --> 01:05:46,500
associated with Pablo Escobar.

1328
01:05:46,500 --> 01:05:49,020
Whatever properties they found
associated with Escobar,

1329
01:05:49,020 --> 01:05:50,780
they'd blow them up.

1330
01:05:50,780 --> 01:05:53,260
If you were in any way associated
with Pablo Escobar

1331
01:05:53,260 --> 01:05:55,620
they would kill you.
If you were Pablo's attorneys,

1332
01:05:55,620 --> 01:05:58,340
if you were Pablo's doctors,
innocent people being killed.

1333
01:05:58,340 --> 01:06:01,220
Los Pepes are sending
a clear message to Escobar.

1334
01:06:01,220 --> 01:06:03,700
They went after people who worked
with Escobar,

1335
01:06:03,700 --> 01:06:05,420
to say, "Look, if you can't
defend them,

1336
01:06:05,420 --> 01:06:07,380
"then people will see that
you're powerless,"

1337
01:06:07,380 --> 01:06:09,860
which for a guy like Escobar,
was intolerable, obviously.

1338
01:06:09,860 --> 01:06:12,220
Escobar's power came
through intimidation.

1339
01:06:12,220 --> 01:06:14,180
To have former underlings
hunting him

1340
01:06:14,180 --> 01:06:16,540
makes Escobar rattled and paranoid.

1341
01:06:16,540 --> 01:06:18,820
And Los Pepes turns up the heat
by targeting

1342
01:06:18,820 --> 01:06:20,540
the people he cares for most.

1343
01:06:20,540 --> 01:06:25,060
Their main targets were
to kill Pablo Escobar's mother,

1344
01:06:25,060 --> 01:06:28,380
his wife and his children.

1345
01:06:28,380 --> 01:06:32,900
In 1976, Pablo had married
Maria Victoria Henao,

1346
01:06:32,900 --> 01:06:36,860
only 14 at the time
and 11 years younger than Pablo.

1347
01:06:36,860 --> 01:06:40,620
The pair had two children -
Juan Pablo, born in 1977,

1348
01:06:40,620 --> 01:06:42,820
and Manuela in 1984.

1349
01:06:44,380 --> 01:06:47,420
Los Pepes strike at Escobar's
family, detonating car bombs

1350
01:06:47,420 --> 01:06:50,420
outside the Medellin apartment
buildings where they sleep.

1351
01:06:53,220 --> 01:06:56,740
The initial public reaction
to Los Pepes was all positive.

1352
01:06:56,740 --> 01:07:01,780
They felt like somebody was finally
meeting Pablo on his own terms.

1353
01:07:01,780 --> 01:07:04,060
And it was putting a lot of pressure
on Pablo,

1354
01:07:04,060 --> 01:07:05,700
which worked in our favour.

1355
01:07:05,700 --> 01:07:08,180
We were picking up
Escobar on wiretaps.

1356
01:07:08,180 --> 01:07:11,460
He's feeling more and more isolated,
he's feeling he can't trust anybody.

1357
01:07:11,460 --> 01:07:13,820
He's feeling that people around him
are disappearing.

1358
01:07:13,820 --> 01:07:16,220
Sooner or later we felt he was
going to make a mistake.

1359
01:07:19,140 --> 01:07:22,900
By late 1993, 15 months after his
escape from prison,

1360
01:07:22,900 --> 01:07:26,820
with constant attacks from Los Pepes
and the DEA on his heels,

1361
01:07:26,820 --> 01:07:31,220
Pablo is desperate to get his family
out of Colombia and into safety.

1362
01:07:31,220 --> 01:07:34,580
He wants his family out of the
country in the worst possible way,

1363
01:07:34,580 --> 01:07:36,860
because he figures that
the Los Pepes

1364
01:07:36,860 --> 01:07:38,900
will eventually get to his family.

1365
01:07:38,900 --> 01:07:41,300
Escobar is scared, rattled,
but defiant,

1366
01:07:41,300 --> 01:07:43,260
ready to unleash mass violence

1367
01:07:43,260 --> 01:07:46,060
as soon as he can get his family
out of harm's way.

1368
01:07:46,060 --> 01:07:49,780
Pablo started to come up on
the monitor a little bit more.

1369
01:07:49,780 --> 01:07:53,460
We knew that if Pablo got his family
to a place of safety

1370
01:07:53,460 --> 01:07:56,260
he was going to declare war against
the country of Colombia -

1371
01:07:56,260 --> 01:07:57,900
a war like we had never seen.

1372
01:08:00,180 --> 01:08:01,860
As a sign of their desperation,

1373
01:08:01,860 --> 01:08:04,860
Pablo's family turns to
an unlikely source for help.

1374
01:08:04,860 --> 01:08:06,620
At one point the son appears
at the embassy

1375
01:08:06,620 --> 01:08:09,540
wanting to speak to the ambassador.
The ambassador calls me and says,

1376
01:08:09,540 --> 01:08:11,940
"Escobar's son is downstairs.
Do you want to talk to him?"

1377
01:08:11,940 --> 01:08:13,500
I said, "Sure, I'll talk to him."

1378
01:08:13,500 --> 01:08:16,700
So Juan Pablo Escobar,
only 16 years old,

1379
01:08:16,700 --> 01:08:19,940
faces off with the DEA chief
hunting his father.

1380
01:08:19,940 --> 01:08:24,780
And basically what he said is,
"I'm here to beg for US visas.

1381
01:08:24,780 --> 01:08:27,060
"You know, we've got to get out
of the country.

1382
01:08:27,060 --> 01:08:28,660
"Los Pepes are going to kill us."

1383
01:08:28,660 --> 01:08:31,060
I basically said,
"I'm sorry, I can't help you."

1384
01:08:31,060 --> 01:08:34,500
And I felt sorry for the kid.
I mean, he'd seen a lot.

1385
01:08:34,500 --> 01:08:39,340
Despite Toft turning them down, the
Escobars manage to acquire US visas.

1386
01:08:39,340 --> 01:08:42,260
The DEA knows that if they leave
Colombia,

1387
01:08:42,260 --> 01:08:45,980
there's nothing to stop Pablo from
raining more terror than ever.

1388
01:08:45,980 --> 01:08:48,980
Javier Pena races to
the Medellin airport,

1389
01:08:48,980 --> 01:08:50,740
desperate to catch the Escobars.

1390
01:08:50,740 --> 01:08:54,420
The family's destination
is Pablo's old US base.

1391
01:08:54,420 --> 01:08:58,220
Pablo Escobar had a lot of
associates in the Miami area.

1392
01:08:58,220 --> 01:09:02,180
So, sure enough, they had tickets
to go to Miami.

1393
01:09:02,180 --> 01:09:05,420
They had US visas on
their passports.

1394
01:09:05,420 --> 01:09:08,140
How brazen,
coming to the United States!

1395
01:09:08,140 --> 01:09:12,700
As Pablo's family boards the flight
for Miami, Javier stops the plane,

1396
01:09:12,700 --> 01:09:15,020
and turns to the US
ambassador for guidance.

1397
01:09:15,020 --> 01:09:16,620
The ambassador gets on the phone

1398
01:09:16,620 --> 01:09:20,380
and orders Javier
to take their passports

1399
01:09:20,380 --> 01:09:23,620
and tear the US visas
out of the passports.

1400
01:09:23,620 --> 01:09:28,460
With the door to the US sealed shut,
Escobar hatches a new plan.

1401
01:09:28,460 --> 01:09:30,940
I remember the cops calling me,
saying,

1402
01:09:30,940 --> 01:09:34,740
"Hey, the Escobar family bought
tickets for a whole bunch

1403
01:09:34,740 --> 01:09:38,220
"of different flights,
maybe even different countries."

1404
01:09:38,220 --> 01:09:42,620
On November 29th 1993,
the DEA sends Steve and Javier

1405
01:09:42,620 --> 01:09:45,900
to the El Dorado Airport in Bogota
to run surveillance,

1406
01:09:45,900 --> 01:09:48,180
where they get word
the Escobar family

1407
01:09:48,180 --> 01:09:50,860
is attempting to escape to Germany.

1408
01:09:50,860 --> 01:09:53,940
We realised that Escobar was going
to do everything he could

1409
01:09:53,940 --> 01:09:55,820
to get the family out of there.

1410
01:09:55,820 --> 01:09:59,580
And, sure enough, he tried to get
them to go to Germany.

1411
01:09:59,580 --> 01:10:01,180
They boarded an airplane.

1412
01:10:01,180 --> 01:10:03,620
I put an agent and a cop on
the plane.

1413
01:10:03,620 --> 01:10:05,980
As Escobar's family flies
to Germany,

1414
01:10:05,980 --> 01:10:08,340
the DEA knows forcing them back
to Colombia

1415
01:10:08,340 --> 01:10:12,180
is their only chance to exploit
Pablo's greatest weakness.

1416
01:10:12,180 --> 01:10:15,540
Washington begins to exert pressure
on the government of Germany

1417
01:10:15,540 --> 01:10:19,460
to not allow the Escobar family
entry into the country.

1418
01:10:19,460 --> 01:10:21,900
The ambassador called
the State Department in Washington.

1419
01:10:21,900 --> 01:10:24,340
I called the DEA in Washington.

1420
01:10:24,340 --> 01:10:27,540
I called the German Embassy. We told
them what the hell was going on.

1421
01:10:27,540 --> 01:10:30,180
I said, "You've got to help us.
We've got to deny him."

1422
01:10:30,180 --> 01:10:32,580
So when the flight finally landed
in Frankfurt,

1423
01:10:32,580 --> 01:10:34,260
the family was placed in quarantine.

1424
01:10:34,260 --> 01:10:36,780
The next morning they were placed on
a flight back to Bogota.

1425
01:10:36,780 --> 01:10:42,740
With his family trapped in Colombia,
in the crosshairs of Los Pepes,

1426
01:10:42,740 --> 01:10:47,780
Escobar is alone and on the run,
and the United States DEA closes in,

1427
01:10:47,780 --> 01:10:51,260
knowing there's nothing Escobar
won't do to avoid capture.

1428
01:10:51,260 --> 01:10:53,300
Escobar just lost it.

1429
01:10:53,300 --> 01:10:54,460
Lost it.

1430
01:10:57,820 --> 01:10:59,540
By the fall of 1993,

1431
01:10:59,540 --> 01:11:02,420
Pablo Escobar has been evading
capture for over a year

1432
01:11:02,420 --> 01:11:05,180
since he escaped from his
prison fortress.

1433
01:11:05,180 --> 01:11:08,380
In addition to the United States DEA
and Colombian forces

1434
01:11:08,380 --> 01:11:10,780
using all their resources
to flush him out,

1435
01:11:10,780 --> 01:11:14,340
a violent group of rival cartel
members called Los Pepes

1436
01:11:14,340 --> 01:11:17,220
has declared war on Escobar
and his family.

1437
01:11:17,220 --> 01:11:19,500
These were people who knew
Pablo's habits.

1438
01:11:19,500 --> 01:11:20,860
They knew the way he thought.

1439
01:11:20,860 --> 01:11:23,860
Escobar is desperate to move his
family out of harm's way,

1440
01:11:23,860 --> 01:11:26,460
so he can launch his most epic war
against Colombia

1441
01:11:26,460 --> 01:11:28,260
without anything to lose.

1442
01:11:28,260 --> 01:11:31,860
He wants his family out of the
country in the worst possible way.

1443
01:11:31,860 --> 01:11:35,100
But on November 29th,
after succumbing to US pressure,

1444
01:11:35,100 --> 01:11:37,940
Germany sends Escobar's family
back to Bogota.

1445
01:11:39,740 --> 01:11:41,780
The government decides to put
the family

1446
01:11:41,780 --> 01:11:44,140
in a very nice hotel
in downtown Bogota.

1447
01:11:44,140 --> 01:11:46,500
Despite being the most wanted man
in Colombia,

1448
01:11:46,500 --> 01:11:49,860
the government agrees to protect
the lives of Escobar's family.

1449
01:11:49,860 --> 01:11:51,860
They asked for protection

1450
01:11:51,860 --> 01:11:54,620
because they were being targeted
by the Los Pepes.

1451
01:11:54,620 --> 01:11:57,260
That's the right thing to do.
They would have been slaughtered.

1452
01:11:57,260 --> 01:12:00,500
But the Colombian government's
generosity has an ulterior motive.

1453
01:12:00,500 --> 01:12:02,980
Putting Escobar's family under
government protection

1454
01:12:02,980 --> 01:12:05,820
infuriates Pablo
and puts him under more pressure.

1455
01:12:05,820 --> 01:12:08,460
Pablo, because of his necessity,

1456
01:12:08,460 --> 01:12:11,780
starts talking to his son,
Juan Pablo,

1457
01:12:11,780 --> 01:12:15,420
using a radio-type telephone.

1458
01:12:15,420 --> 01:12:18,660
In the early '90s cellphones
are still extremely rare.

1459
01:12:18,660 --> 01:12:22,180
Pablo's radiotelephone allows him
to communicate with his son

1460
01:12:22,180 --> 01:12:25,740
by selecting one out of thousands
of standard radio frequencies

1461
01:12:25,740 --> 01:12:29,300
and having both Escobars dial in
to the same number.

1462
01:12:29,300 --> 01:12:31,860
The DEA knows their best chance
to find Pablo

1463
01:12:31,860 --> 01:12:34,220
is to figure out that frequency.

1464
01:12:34,220 --> 01:12:40,140
The challenge here is scanning
the entire radio frequency spectrum

1465
01:12:40,140 --> 01:12:43,340
in the hopes of stopping
on the exact frequency

1466
01:12:43,340 --> 01:12:47,100
that the one person you want to hear
is talking at the exact same time

1467
01:12:47,100 --> 01:12:49,180
you stop on that frequency.

1468
01:12:49,180 --> 01:12:51,860
Talk about trying to find
a needle in a haystack.

1469
01:12:51,860 --> 01:12:54,140
But Javier's skill
at cultivating informants

1470
01:12:54,140 --> 01:12:55,820
is about to pay huge dividends.

1471
01:12:55,820 --> 01:12:59,180
One of his informants happened
to be one of the guards at the hotel

1472
01:12:59,180 --> 01:13:01,180
who was walking through the room
one day

1473
01:13:01,180 --> 01:13:03,460
when Juan Pablo was talking
to his father.

1474
01:13:03,460 --> 01:13:05,100
The informant happened to look down,

1475
01:13:05,100 --> 01:13:08,180
saw the frequency that they were
talking on, memorised it,

1476
01:13:08,180 --> 01:13:10,540
and called Javier and said,
"This is the frequency."

1477
01:13:10,540 --> 01:13:12,540
Once Pablo's frequency
is identified,

1478
01:13:12,540 --> 01:13:17,740
the DEA turns to a World War II-era
spy technique - triangulation.

1479
01:13:17,740 --> 01:13:20,140
Triangulation uses
high-powered antennas

1480
01:13:20,140 --> 01:13:22,580
to scan for the source direction
of Pablo's frequency

1481
01:13:22,580 --> 01:13:25,780
while he's on the phone.
Once the first point is charted,

1482
01:13:25,780 --> 01:13:29,220
aerial surveillance pulls additional
coordinates to create a zone

1483
01:13:29,220 --> 01:13:32,460
as large as several city blocks
around the source of the call.

1484
01:13:32,460 --> 01:13:34,420
When three coordinates
are confirmed,

1485
01:13:34,420 --> 01:13:37,780
pairs of high-tech surveillance vans
deploy across Medellin

1486
01:13:37,780 --> 01:13:40,620
in an attempt to close in
on the source.

1487
01:13:40,620 --> 01:13:45,020
20-plus years ago, the margin of
error was pretty large.

1488
01:13:45,020 --> 01:13:47,380
And you're talking about
a city of Medellin

1489
01:13:47,380 --> 01:13:50,460
that's 2-2.5 million people,
densely populated.

1490
01:13:50,460 --> 01:13:52,860
Escobar manages to evade
surveillance

1491
01:13:52,860 --> 01:13:55,660
with constant movement
and short calls.

1492
01:13:55,660 --> 01:13:58,140
But after nearly
a year and a half on the run,

1493
01:13:58,140 --> 01:14:01,420
a frustrated and war-weary Pablo
finally gets sloppy.

1494
01:14:01,420 --> 01:14:02,940
He is so upset over the fact

1495
01:14:02,940 --> 01:14:05,820
that his family has been denied
entry into Germany,

1496
01:14:05,820 --> 01:14:10,220
he starts talking on the phone
a long time to his kids.

1497
01:14:10,220 --> 01:14:12,500
There was a Colombian
National Police officer

1498
01:14:12,500 --> 01:14:14,180
named Lieutenant Hugo Martinez.

1499
01:14:14,180 --> 01:14:16,740
Lieutenant Martinez is the son of
Search Bloc leader

1500
01:14:16,740 --> 01:14:18,340
Colonel Hugo Martinez.

1501
01:14:18,340 --> 01:14:22,180
What you have here is
a good guy father-son team -

1502
01:14:22,180 --> 01:14:25,300
Colonel Martinez
and Lieutenant Martinez -

1503
01:14:25,300 --> 01:14:28,860
going after the bad guy
father-son team -

1504
01:14:28,860 --> 01:14:32,220
Pablo Escobar talking
to his son, Juan Pablo Escobar.

1505
01:14:32,220 --> 01:14:34,780
The younger Martinez has taught
himself how to track

1506
01:14:34,780 --> 01:14:38,300
radio frequencies, and has spent
months tracking Pablo.

1507
01:14:38,300 --> 01:14:41,300
Then, on December 2nd 1993,

1508
01:14:41,300 --> 01:14:44,620
only three days after the Escobar
family returns to Colombia

1509
01:14:44,620 --> 01:14:46,980
from Germany, he locks on to
Pablo's signal.

1510
01:14:46,980 --> 01:14:48,660
He was having trouble locating
the signal.

1511
01:14:48,660 --> 01:14:51,020
Apparently there was
a creek somewhere in the vicinity

1512
01:14:51,020 --> 01:14:53,380
and that signal was bouncing
from the water,

1513
01:14:53,380 --> 01:14:57,020
so he was desperately trying
to find the location.

1514
01:14:57,020 --> 01:15:01,420
In Lieutenant Martinez's own words,
he says he's driving down the street

1515
01:15:01,420 --> 01:15:03,780
and his meter's telling him
to look up to the left.

1516
01:15:03,780 --> 01:15:06,140
He looks up, and there's Pablo
talking on the phone,

1517
01:15:06,140 --> 01:15:08,460
looking out the window of
a three-storey row house.

1518
01:15:08,460 --> 01:15:10,260
He called his father for help.

1519
01:15:10,260 --> 01:15:12,620
And he says,
"I got a location on him.

1520
01:15:12,620 --> 01:15:14,980
"I have a visual on him,
he's on the phone."

1521
01:15:14,980 --> 01:15:18,220
DEA field agents and thousands
of Colombian National Police

1522
01:15:18,220 --> 01:15:21,540
have risked or given their lives
hoping for this moment.

1523
01:15:21,540 --> 01:15:24,900
Pablo Escobar, the richest and most
violent drug kingpin

1524
01:15:24,900 --> 01:15:28,340
in world history, is cowering in
a modest three-storey row house

1525
01:15:28,340 --> 01:15:29,980
in the Medellin suburbs.

1526
01:15:29,980 --> 01:15:32,020
With an army of informants
on the street,

1527
01:15:32,020 --> 01:15:35,060
Escobar has stayed one step
ahead of the Search Bloc.

1528
01:15:35,060 --> 01:15:39,380
This sighting is an opportunity
the DEA agents know won't last long.

1529
01:15:39,380 --> 01:15:40,500
I'm back at the police base,

1530
01:15:40,500 --> 01:15:42,860
I see activity at
Colonel Martinez's office.

1531
01:15:42,860 --> 01:15:45,500
He motioned for me to come on in.
And he's on the radio.

1532
01:15:45,500 --> 01:15:47,220
Colonel Martinez tells him,

1533
01:15:47,220 --> 01:15:49,580
"Secure the area.
We're loading the troops."

1534
01:15:49,580 --> 01:15:54,140
Lieutenant Martinez knows that if
he waits for his father, or the DEA,

1535
01:15:54,140 --> 01:15:57,180
Pablo might once again slip through
their fingers.

1536
01:15:57,180 --> 01:15:59,780
It takes a while to get 600 people
with all their weapons

1537
01:15:59,780 --> 01:16:02,140
and gear loaded up
and out to this location.

1538
01:16:02,140 --> 01:16:04,780
Lieutenant Martinez made
the decision to go in

1539
01:16:04,780 --> 01:16:09,660
with about seven of the plainclothes
Search Bloc police officers.

1540
01:16:09,660 --> 01:16:13,380
Two officers circle to the back of
the house to secure the property.

1541
01:16:13,380 --> 01:16:16,420
And Lieutenant Martinez
launches his raid.

1542
01:16:16,420 --> 01:16:18,260
They blow open the front door...

1543
01:16:18,260 --> 01:16:20,140
EXPLOSION
..they make their way up the steps.

1544
01:16:20,140 --> 01:16:21,820
They heard Pablo say on the phone,

1545
01:16:21,820 --> 01:16:24,100
"I got to go, there's something
going on here."

1546
01:16:24,100 --> 01:16:25,940
The raid catches Pablo off guard,

1547
01:16:25,940 --> 01:16:28,220
and as the Search Bloc moves
through the house,

1548
01:16:28,220 --> 01:16:30,180
what they find surprises them.

1549
01:16:30,180 --> 01:16:32,660
Here's a man,
who at one point in his heyday

1550
01:16:32,660 --> 01:16:37,060
had as many as 500 sicarios
surrounding him, working for him.

1551
01:16:37,060 --> 01:16:39,420
Pablo Escobar only had one
bodyguard left.

1552
01:16:39,420 --> 01:16:43,740
Inside the cramped row house,
Pablo is outnumbered, afraid,

1553
01:16:43,740 --> 01:16:45,700
and about to make his last stand.

1554
01:16:45,700 --> 01:16:47,220
GUNSHOTS, SCREAMING

1555
01:16:52,300 --> 01:16:55,340
For more than two decades,
Pablo Escobar built the largest,

1556
01:16:55,340 --> 01:16:59,220
most lucrative and most violent drug
kingdom the world had ever seen.

1557
01:16:59,220 --> 01:17:01,500
He'd held his own
poor nation hostage

1558
01:17:01,500 --> 01:17:03,460
while keeping a superpower at bay.

1559
01:17:05,260 --> 01:17:08,700
It was extremely hard to hunt Pablo,
not only because of the corruption

1560
01:17:08,700 --> 01:17:10,980
but also because of the fact that
he was constantly moving.

1561
01:17:13,700 --> 01:17:17,060
But now, on December 2nd 1993,

1562
01:17:17,060 --> 01:17:21,060
after a 16-month manhunt through
the jungles and cities of Colombia,

1563
01:17:21,060 --> 01:17:24,340
the Search Bloc, with the aid of
the United States DEA

1564
01:17:24,340 --> 01:17:27,020
and agents Steve Murphy
and Javier Pena,

1565
01:17:27,020 --> 01:17:30,580
has cornered Pablo Escobar inside
a three-storey row house

1566
01:17:30,580 --> 01:17:32,140
on the outskirts of Medellin.

1567
01:17:35,660 --> 01:17:37,580
Surrounded by his enemies,

1568
01:17:37,580 --> 01:17:40,700
Escobar has only one bodyguard
left to protect him.

1569
01:17:40,700 --> 01:17:43,500
Pablo's lone bodyguard, Limon,

1570
01:17:43,500 --> 01:17:46,260
goes out the window onto the roof
of the two-storey house

1571
01:17:46,260 --> 01:17:48,620
behind the row house Pablo was in,

1572
01:17:48,620 --> 01:17:51,100
and he started shooting at the two
police officers on the ground.

1573
01:17:51,100 --> 01:17:52,500
They returned fire...

1574
01:17:52,500 --> 01:17:54,220
GUNSHOTS
..he takes off running,

1575
01:17:54,220 --> 01:17:55,740
thinking he's going to escape.

1576
01:17:55,740 --> 01:17:58,580
The cops engage him in a firefight.

1577
01:17:58,580 --> 01:18:01,060
He's shot off the roof
and he falls dead on the ground.

1578
01:18:05,940 --> 01:18:08,660
As the Search Bloc makes its way
through the safehouse,

1579
01:18:08,660 --> 01:18:11,260
Pablo begins to exchange fire.

1580
01:18:11,260 --> 01:18:13,780
Pablo Escobar is shooting
at the police,

1581
01:18:13,780 --> 01:18:16,060
the police shooting at Pablo.
GUNSHOTS

1582
01:18:16,060 --> 01:18:17,900
As they get to the second floor,

1583
01:18:17,900 --> 01:18:20,380
they see Pablo on the third floor,
looking down.

1584
01:18:20,380 --> 01:18:22,820
And he actually shoots at one
of the police officers.

1585
01:18:22,820 --> 01:18:26,820
He tripped on the step and fell flat
on his face, which saved his life

1586
01:18:26,820 --> 01:18:29,260
because the bullet went over
his head and missed him.

1587
01:18:29,260 --> 01:18:32,060
Pablo is pinned down,
desperate for a way out.

1588
01:18:32,060 --> 01:18:34,420
Pablo gets up to that
third floor window.

1589
01:18:34,420 --> 01:18:36,780
He climbs out the window down
to the second level.

1590
01:18:36,780 --> 01:18:39,300
He wants to make his way out,
but he doesn't see Limon,

1591
01:18:39,300 --> 01:18:40,820
so he knows something
bad's happened.

1592
01:18:43,460 --> 01:18:45,900
All alone and with
the Search Bloc closing in,

1593
01:18:45,900 --> 01:18:47,820
Pablo tries to make an escape.

1594
01:18:47,820 --> 01:18:49,660
There was an area of that roof

1595
01:18:49,660 --> 01:18:52,100
that the guys on the ground
could not see you,

1596
01:18:52,100 --> 01:18:53,540
if you were in that area.

1597
01:18:53,540 --> 01:18:56,220
But Pablo knew the police officers
were coming up the steps,

1598
01:18:56,220 --> 01:18:58,500
and they would be able to look out
the window and see him.

1599
01:18:58,500 --> 01:19:00,460
They followed him to the rooftop.

1600
01:19:00,460 --> 01:19:03,820
And while they're chasing him,
he's got two pistols,

1601
01:19:03,820 --> 01:19:08,420
and he is shooting at the police.
The police are shooting at him.

1602
01:19:08,420 --> 01:19:11,300
Once Pablo Escobar is forced
into the open,

1603
01:19:11,300 --> 01:19:15,740
alone, with no army of bodyguards
to protect him, his fate is sealed.

1604
01:19:15,740 --> 01:19:17,300
There's no way for him to hide.

1605
01:19:17,300 --> 01:19:19,340
He tries to make a run across
the roof.

1606
01:19:19,340 --> 01:19:22,060
They catch him in a crossfire...
GUNSHOTS

1607
01:19:23,900 --> 01:19:26,620
..and he's killed right there
on top of that roof.

1608
01:19:26,620 --> 01:19:30,940
Colombia's 20-year hell is over
in only 20 minutes.

1609
01:19:30,940 --> 01:19:33,420
In a barrage of final gunfire,

1610
01:19:33,420 --> 01:19:36,900
cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar
finally meets his fate.

1611
01:19:36,900 --> 01:19:38,460
Pablo was shot three times.

1612
01:19:38,460 --> 01:19:40,820
Once in the back of the leg,
once in the rump -

1613
01:19:40,820 --> 01:19:43,820
which are knock-down shots, but
neither one of those are kill-shots.

1614
01:19:43,820 --> 01:19:46,820
And then the kill shot was through
the right ear.

1615
01:19:46,820 --> 01:19:50,580
With a final bullet,
the DEA's decades-long hunt

1616
01:19:50,580 --> 01:19:54,180
for the world's most wanted criminal
becomes its greatest victory.

1617
01:19:54,180 --> 01:19:58,260
You could hear across the radio,
"Viva Colombia, Pablo is dead."

1618
01:19:58,260 --> 01:20:01,260
I got to tell you,
we were pretty happy.

1619
01:20:01,260 --> 01:20:03,220
It felt like the weight of the world

1620
01:20:03,220 --> 01:20:05,820
had been lifted off of
everybody's shoulders.

1621
01:20:05,820 --> 01:20:08,460
There's high fives,
there's back slapping.

1622
01:20:08,460 --> 01:20:10,820
It's hard to explain
the exhilaration we all felt,

1623
01:20:10,820 --> 01:20:12,700
because this thing was
finally over.

1624
01:20:16,020 --> 01:20:18,780
It was the mission
of any DEA agent's life,

1625
01:20:18,780 --> 01:20:22,020
but Steve Murphy has one final task
to complete it.

1626
01:20:22,020 --> 01:20:24,380
I run back to call my
number one boss, Joe Toft.

1627
01:20:24,380 --> 01:20:26,900
The phone rang and Steve Murphy's
on the phone.

1628
01:20:26,900 --> 01:20:29,900
And Steve says,
"Boss, Pablo is dead!"

1629
01:20:29,900 --> 01:20:32,500
He says, "Murph, I want you to get
your camera and get out there

1630
01:20:32,500 --> 01:20:34,940
"and make confirmation
this is Pablo Escobar."

1631
01:20:34,940 --> 01:20:38,220
If you look at his photo,
he was barefooted,

1632
01:20:38,220 --> 01:20:40,580
he was fat, unkempt.

1633
01:20:40,580 --> 01:20:44,460
It was signs of a person
who was running,

1634
01:20:44,460 --> 01:20:48,180
who was hiding,
who was not organised.

1635
01:20:48,180 --> 01:20:50,860
One of those photographs,
I'm in there.

1636
01:20:50,860 --> 01:20:55,260
The reason we're all smiling is
because every single one of us knew

1637
01:20:55,260 --> 01:20:59,660
that effective the very second
that Pablo Escobar was killed,

1638
01:20:59,660 --> 01:21:03,340
every citizen in the country of
Colombia was safer,

1639
01:21:03,340 --> 01:21:05,780
simply because one man was dead.

1640
01:21:05,780 --> 01:21:08,260
I got to the Colombian National
Police Headquarters

1641
01:21:08,260 --> 01:21:10,620
and bottles of champagne
are popping.

1642
01:21:10,620 --> 01:21:13,580
All the innocent people,
all the police officers,

1643
01:21:13,580 --> 01:21:15,620
all the politicians,

1644
01:21:15,620 --> 01:21:19,300
dignitaries, that were killed by
Pablo Escobar.

1645
01:21:19,300 --> 01:21:22,100
Colombia finally took their
country back.

1646
01:21:22,100 --> 01:21:25,060
Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug
king, who was for years

1647
01:21:25,060 --> 01:21:28,380
one of the world's most wanted men,
was gunned down today.

1648
01:21:28,380 --> 01:21:30,420
On December 3rd 1993,

1649
01:21:30,420 --> 01:21:34,380
Pablo Escobar, and the reign of
terror he inflicted on the Colombian

1650
01:21:34,380 --> 01:21:37,740
and American public,
is buried in Medellin.

1651
01:21:37,740 --> 01:21:41,380
In the wake of Pablo's shooting,
Escobar's family is forced to flee

1652
01:21:41,380 --> 01:21:44,700
the country by Pablo's rivals,
fearing for their lives.

1653
01:21:44,700 --> 01:21:47,180
His once mighty cartel
is dismantled.

1654
01:21:47,180 --> 01:21:49,740
With the demise of Pablo Escobar,
this was the first

1655
01:21:49,740 --> 01:21:54,140
in international law enforcement
history in which we had completely

1656
01:21:54,140 --> 01:21:57,500
taken out an entire cocaine
criminal organisation.

1657
01:21:57,500 --> 01:21:59,860
No narco would ever possess

1658
01:21:59,860 --> 01:22:03,180
the unimaginable power or wealth
of Escobar.

1659
01:22:03,180 --> 01:22:05,540
And no longer would a single figure
like Pablo

1660
01:22:05,540 --> 01:22:08,420
control the entire chain
of cocaine supply.

1661
01:22:08,420 --> 01:22:12,140
But what he had invented left
blueprints for others to follow.

1662
01:22:12,140 --> 01:22:13,660
All these years later,

1663
01:22:13,660 --> 01:22:16,020
what's the legacy associated
with Pablo Escobar?

1664
01:22:16,020 --> 01:22:18,660
In my opinion, his legacy has never
been anything

1665
01:22:18,660 --> 01:22:20,180
but death and destruction.