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On "America's War on Drugs"...

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Cocaine is
the atom bomb of Latin America.

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He was given
a cellmate with whom

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he would go on
to change the drug world.

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I could get us enough coke
to get the whole world high.

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Pablo Escobar had tremendous
political ambitions.

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If you're gonna mess with Pablo,
you know, Pablo will kill you.

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I must speak to you tonight
about a mounting danger

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in Central America.

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This is an outlaw regime.

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There's lying, secret
shipments of weapons down,

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and then coming back
with cocaine.

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I'm going after
the drug dealers

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that they were protecting.

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We were really playing
Russian roulette with our lives.

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I knew it went
all the way to the White House.

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I do not deny that I engaged
in shredding on November 21st.

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You basically have a
secret CIA operation laid bare.

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It's really hard for me
to fantasize that something

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so small could be so valuable.

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Pots big enough to cook me in.

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It was like, this is
what I was made for.

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It's important
to think about cocaine

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almost not as a drug.

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But what it really was
was a currency.

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Any valuable currency
has an inherent power to it.

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And cocaine became
that currency.

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Two years
after Richard Nixon

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declares the War on Drugs,

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the Watergate scandal
rocks the nation.

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Nixon's on his way out.

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And drug use is on the rise.

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In the early to mid-'70s,

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because Nixon had been obsessed
with marijuana and heroin,

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nobody talked that much
about cocaine.

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And within a very short
period of time,

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it became one of
the biggest moneymakers

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in drug smuggling in the world.

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And it caught everyone
by surprise.

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The story of how cocaine

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took America by storm
starts here

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in a Connecticut federal prison

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where this man is doing
time for car theft --

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Carlos Lehder.

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Son of a German father
and Colombian mother,

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Carlos Lehder is
a man of contradictions.

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He worships Hitler
and John Lennon.

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He was a car thief
in the beginning.

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He used a lot of coke himself,
he had delusions of grandeur.

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He was crazy in many ways,
but also he was a visionary.

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At a fairly young age,

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he went to jail in Danbury
in Connecticut,

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and that might have been
the end of his criminal career,

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but it wasn't.

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He was given a cellmate
with whom he would go on

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to change the drug world.

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Lehder's cell mate
is an American

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with a passion for aviation.

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George Jung, a hippie misfit,
who specializes in smuggling

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marijuana from Mexico into
the U.S. on small planes.

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Jung had been importing cannabis
from Mexico to the United States

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using a light aircraft.

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He'd never thought of
importing anything else.

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These relatively unknown
criminals hooked up together

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and became partners.

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It was this match made in heaven

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because Jung had
experience with airplanes

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and with smuggling marijuana

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and Lehder had experience
with cocaine.

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The combination of these two
guys resulted in the conclusion

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to revolutionize the cocaine
trade in the United States.

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Camila!

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Medellin is the center

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of Colombia's burgeoning
cocaine underworld,

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and the home of the man
with whom

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Carlos Lehder
and George Jung

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will revolutionize
the cocaine trade.

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Senorita!

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Pablo Escobar Gaviria --

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As a teenager was already
a petty thief,

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allegedly stealing gravestones

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and then sanding them down
to be resold.

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He sells contraband cigarettes
on the Colombian black market.

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Then he moves on to cocaine.

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Pablo Escobar
was sort of like

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if you founded a company,

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you need a chief of operations.

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Escobar's job was to help
manage this network

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of cocaine processing labs,

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and then to help manage
the smuggling

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of the cocaine product
into North America.

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What's wrong?

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And Escobar
is looking for a better product

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to compete
in the North American market.

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Escobar's meeting
with a Chilean chemist

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who just fled a bloody coup.

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In the early '70s,
Chile, not Colombia,

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is the center
of the cocaine trade.

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Chile's also a Cold War hotspot,

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where the U.S. is worried
a left-wing government

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will turn Communist.

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On September 11, 1973,

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a CIA-backed coup overthrows

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the democratically-elected
government.

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An American ally,

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Augusto Pinochet
begins cracking down

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on criminals
and those he considers

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to be enemies of the state.

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The best chemists in the world

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for making cocaine from coca
were in Chile.

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When they cracked down on them,
they split and left

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and went to Colombia.

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America's attempts to foster
the replacement

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of left-leaning governments
with governments

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that were more friendly
to the United States backfire.

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That, ultimately,
was the beginning.

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With help from
the Chilean chemists,

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Escobar and his partners
in Medellin

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are soon making some of
the best cocaine in the world.

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There was a lack
of attention initially paid

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to drug trafficking
in Colombia

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by the U.S.
intelligence services

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because they weren't communists.

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The basic policy
was capitalism is good.

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Become capitalists
and everything will be okay.

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But that was exactly what
the narcos were doing, right?

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Carlos Lehder is out of prison,

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and he has convinced
Pablo Escobar to allow him

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to distribute his cocaine
in the U.S.

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Inside his luggage
is 50 kilograms

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of Pablo Escobar's
nearly-pure cocaine.

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It will be worth
more than $2 million

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if Lehder's old cellmate
George Jung

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can get it out of the airport.

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Against the wall,
by the escalator.

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Excuse me.

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Using his old marijuana
connections,

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Jung tests the market
of L.A.'s party circuit.

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George Jung came out
to California with cocaine

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and found himself at the head

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of this party
and nightclub scene.

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Cocaine was the drug of doctors
and lawyers

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and famous people were using it
in discotheques.

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Jung and people like him
selling cocaine,

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distributing it,
they became rock stars.

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Cocaine inhaled
as crystalline powder

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causes a buildup of dopamine,

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the feel-good neurotransmitters
that kick in

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when you're eating chocolate
or having sex.

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Jimmy Carter's
top drug-policy official

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was a cocaine user and said
there is just as much reason

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to legalize cocaine as there is
to legalize marijuana.

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Greed and pleasure
were on the rise

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and the consciousness expansion
of the late '60s were waning.

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George Jung quickly unloads
his entire 50 kilogram stash.

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In just two weeks,
he makes $2.2 million dollars --

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worth over $9 million
in today's money.

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It's like
a light bulb goes off

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in his head and he's like,
"Oh my God,

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this is the business
that I need to be in."

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But whenever I got involved
with anybody

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who was in the cocaine business,

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bad stuff happened
every single time.

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George Jung delivers
the cash to his old cellmate

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Carlos Lehder.

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His successful trip to L.A.
just proved that demand

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for cocaine in the U.S.
far outstrips supply,

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and they'll soon become
Pablo Escobar's

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main U.S. distributors.

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But there's a weak link --
transportation.

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Stewardesses and other civilians
are being used to smuggle coke

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in luggage
on commercial flights,

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but it's not enough.

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Large amounts of cocaine

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are also snuck
in on cargo ships,

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hidden inside wood
or other merchandise.

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But ships are easy targets.

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It's all about logistics.

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It's all about
moving the product

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from one place to another.

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Anybody who can figure out
how to get it there,

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that's what it really
comes down to.

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Carlos Lehder is about to make

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one of the most audacious moves

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in the history
of the war on drugs.

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Jung has convinced him
that small planes hold the key

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to their takeover
of the American cocaine market.

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Carlos Lehder was a visionary
when it came to logistics.

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The man who figured out
the best smuggling routes

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into the United States.

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The round trip flight
from Colombia to Florida

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is too far for a small aircraft
to make without refueling.

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So Lehder finds a small Bahamian
Island with a long runway.

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It's called Norman's Cay.

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Norman's Cay
was a stroke of genius

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because nobody was watching
planes laden with cocaine

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flying from Colombia
into Norman's Cay.

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He buys up half the properties
on the island in cash

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and then threatens to kill
anyone who won't leave.

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Carlos Lehder took over
and threw all the normal people

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who were living there out
and brought his boys in,

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and it became just
a completely insane situation.

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Man #1: All right.
I will consult you.

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Drop 500.
You're coming in too slow.

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Man #2: Clear.

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Check. 8-4-0.

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The Medellin Cartel
now has their own island.

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Sí.

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Planes land and take off
around the clock,

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carrying hundreds
of kilos of cocaine

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destined for Florida.

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Lehder is bringing
in $20 million a month.

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It was nuts, it was crazy.

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They were bringing women
in there.

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There were orgies.

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It was party central.

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Party central with
a lot of cocaine.

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He was getting high on
his own supply, but hugely so.

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I mean, these guys
would party for days.

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It became nuts,
completely insane.

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Carlos Lehder is so coked up
at that time,

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he was getting really paranoid.

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George Jung, the guy
who really got him started

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in this whole thing,
kicks him off the island.

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Despite the madness,
Carlos Lehder is now

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head of logistics
for Pablo Escobar.

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00:13:03,260 --> 00:13:08,962
Carlos Lehder went on to
really pioneer the explosion

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00:13:09,005 --> 00:13:11,138
of cocaine traffic in the U.S.

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But few people at the time
realize Lehder and Escobar

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are just middlemen

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in a much larger
cocaine production network

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allegedly protected
by the highest level

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of the American government.

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I'm going after the drug dealers

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that they were protecting
for Central Intelligence.

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We were really playing
Russian roulette with our lives.

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Aah!

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The foothills of the Andes --

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one of the only places
in the world

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where the coca plant grows.

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00:14:12,939 --> 00:14:16,072
The greatest drug lord
no one knows is about to launch

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a revolution
in the war on drugs.

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00:14:19,902 --> 00:14:23,950
Roberto Suárez, a descendant
of the rubber baron of Bolivia,

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00:14:23,993 --> 00:14:25,908
his family's plantations

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00:14:25,952 --> 00:14:29,520
were more than four times
the size of New Jersey.

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00:14:29,564 --> 00:14:34,874
Roberto Suárez was a handsome,
very charismatic leader.

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00:14:36,049 --> 00:14:37,572
The Bolivian people,

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among the poorest people
on earth, loved him.

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Why? Because Roberto
feeds the people.

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In the mid-'70s,
Suárez switches his empire

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to a more lucrative crop --
coca.

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00:14:52,282 --> 00:14:54,545
He was a rancher
in the Beni region of Bolivia

253
00:14:54,589 --> 00:14:56,983
where I happened to live
for many years.

254
00:14:57,026 --> 00:15:00,029
He began buying up large
quantities of land,

255
00:15:00,073 --> 00:15:04,512
began mass producing
the huge labs in the jungles.

256
00:15:04,555 --> 00:15:08,646
They had air strips hidden
under the jungle canopy.

257
00:15:08,690 --> 00:15:13,260
Roberto Suárez
was in control of 60%-80%

258
00:15:13,303 --> 00:15:17,264
of the global cocaine market.

259
00:15:17,307 --> 00:15:21,050
Pablo Escobar was just
a customer of Roberto Suárez.

260
00:15:21,094 --> 00:15:24,053
DEA agent Michael Levine

261
00:15:24,097 --> 00:15:26,055
is based in South America,

262
00:15:26,099 --> 00:15:28,928
working undercover
on some of the biggest cases

263
00:15:28,971 --> 00:15:31,582
in the growing cocaine trade.

264
00:15:31,626 --> 00:15:33,584
I was part of an undercover team

265
00:15:33,628 --> 00:15:38,415
that had penetrated
the Roberto Suárez organization.

266
00:15:38,459 --> 00:15:42,332
Posing as a half-Sicilian,
half-Puerto Rican Mafia don

267
00:15:42,376 --> 00:15:45,466
from the U.S., I had made deals

268
00:15:45,509 --> 00:15:48,904
face to face with, uh,
Roberto Suárez and company.

269
00:15:48,948 --> 00:15:52,516
We were in position
to take them down.

270
00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,867
Enter American special interest

271
00:15:55,911 --> 00:15:59,523
in the form of the CIA.

272
00:15:59,567 --> 00:16:01,786
By the mid-'70s, South America

273
00:16:01,830 --> 00:16:04,267
is not only the center
of the cocaine underworld,

274
00:16:04,311 --> 00:16:07,444
it's also become
a Cold War hotspot.

275
00:16:07,488 --> 00:16:11,057
The Cold War brought
a conscious fear,

276
00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:13,973
on the part of our leadership,

277
00:16:14,016 --> 00:16:17,367
of the encroachment
of communism.

278
00:16:17,411 --> 00:16:21,067
The U.S. backs
right-wing dictatorships

279
00:16:21,110 --> 00:16:24,070
against a perceived
communist threat.

280
00:16:24,113 --> 00:16:26,115
In the Cold War,
everything was viewed through

281
00:16:26,159 --> 00:16:28,378
who could take
advantage of what.

282
00:16:28,422 --> 00:16:30,293
If we didn't do this, would
the Soviets taking advantage?

283
00:16:30,337 --> 00:16:33,035
So we propped up dictators
across the hemisphere.

284
00:16:39,694 --> 00:16:42,958
And it's here in Bolivia
the U.S. worries

285
00:16:43,002 --> 00:16:47,484
a leftist president is leaning
toward the communist side.

286
00:16:47,528 --> 00:16:50,531
Roberto Suárez began realizing
that this access to money

287
00:16:50,574 --> 00:16:52,228
gave him political power.

288
00:16:52,272 --> 00:16:54,970
And so he offered to pay off
all of Bolivia's debt,

289
00:16:55,014 --> 00:16:58,104
and the government said no.

290
00:16:58,147 --> 00:16:59,496
Roberto Suárez

291
00:16:59,540 --> 00:17:03,283
decides to take over the country
himself.

292
00:17:03,326 --> 00:17:05,415
But he needs muscle to do it,

293
00:17:05,459 --> 00:17:07,200
so he turns to one
of the 20th century's

294
00:17:07,243 --> 00:17:09,811
most notorious war criminals --

295
00:17:09,854 --> 00:17:11,856
Klaus Barbie,

296
00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:14,337
one of Hitler's top
Gestapo officers

297
00:17:14,381 --> 00:17:16,078
in occupied France --

298
00:17:16,122 --> 00:17:19,647
known as the "Butcher of Lyon."

299
00:17:19,690 --> 00:17:24,652
After the war, Barbie becomes
a U.S. intelligence asset,

300
00:17:24,695 --> 00:17:26,871
and like many
high-ranking Nazis,

301
00:17:26,915 --> 00:17:29,570
he flees to South America.

302
00:17:29,613 --> 00:17:31,528
Living under an assumed
name in Bolivia,

303
00:17:31,572 --> 00:17:34,314
he's part of Operation Condor,

304
00:17:34,357 --> 00:17:36,403
the CIA-connected covert plan

305
00:17:36,446 --> 00:17:39,884
to eliminate communists
across South America.

306
00:17:41,843 --> 00:17:45,412
Barbie's now working
for Roberto Suárez.

307
00:17:48,545 --> 00:17:53,159
His team of Nazi mercenaries
known as the Fiancés of Death

308
00:17:53,202 --> 00:17:56,162
help capture and torture
Suárez's enemies --

309
00:17:56,205 --> 00:17:59,121
other drug lords,
anyone in the way.

310
00:17:59,165 --> 00:18:01,123
They were all serial killers.

311
00:18:05,084 --> 00:18:07,651
They were part of the Bolivian
bloody revolution,

312
00:18:07,695 --> 00:18:09,175
they were killing,
they were torturing.

313
00:18:11,873 --> 00:18:15,442
They're working for a guy
who is powerful enough

314
00:18:15,485 --> 00:18:19,837
to take over his country
that CIA is helping him.

315
00:18:19,881 --> 00:18:22,101
What do I do with it?
Who do I turn to?

316
00:18:28,150 --> 00:18:30,109
No lo sé.

317
00:18:37,768 --> 00:18:39,944
Roberto Suárez
overthrows

318
00:18:39,988 --> 00:18:44,297
the Bolivian government
with the help of CIA assets.

319
00:18:46,125 --> 00:18:48,692
I'm going after the drug dealers
that they were protecting

320
00:18:48,736 --> 00:18:51,304
for Central Intelligence.

321
00:18:51,347 --> 00:18:54,002
They were playing
Russian roulette with our lives.

322
00:18:54,045 --> 00:18:56,787
People in the Bolivian
government were murdered,

323
00:18:56,831 --> 00:18:58,441
raped, exiled.

324
00:18:58,485 --> 00:19:00,443
I would look up
to heaven and say,

325
00:19:00,487 --> 00:19:02,402
"Is anybody keeping
track of this ?"

326
00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,192
Suárez installs
his own president

327
00:19:10,236 --> 00:19:13,064
and cocaine production
goes into high gear.

328
00:19:13,108 --> 00:19:15,763
It was a seminal moment
because it showed

329
00:19:15,806 --> 00:19:20,246
that these guys could actually
take control of a country.

330
00:19:20,289 --> 00:19:22,813
Roberto Suárez essentially
turned Bolivia into the first

331
00:19:22,857 --> 00:19:24,989
fully functional narco state.

332
00:19:35,739 --> 00:19:38,438
Suárez plies children
with cocaine cigarettes

333
00:19:38,481 --> 00:19:40,396
to stomp the coca leaves.

334
00:19:42,572 --> 00:19:46,968
Kerosene is used to isolate the
active ingredients of cocaine.

335
00:19:50,450 --> 00:19:51,886
Once in a hard paste,

336
00:19:51,929 --> 00:19:54,541
Suárez uses
Bolivian Air Force planes

337
00:19:54,584 --> 00:19:57,065
to fly it by the ton
across the border

338
00:19:57,108 --> 00:20:00,373
and into the hands of
Pablo Escobar and his partners.

339
00:20:00,416 --> 00:20:02,766
They needed a huge
supply of cocaine,

340
00:20:02,810 --> 00:20:04,638
so when the coup takes place
in Bolivia,

341
00:20:04,681 --> 00:20:06,466
perfect timing for them.

342
00:20:06,509 --> 00:20:10,209
Now they've got access
to huge amounts of cocaine

343
00:20:10,252 --> 00:20:12,211
that they could then smuggle
into the United States.

344
00:20:18,217 --> 00:20:20,828
The Medellin Cartel
is now out to take control

345
00:20:20,871 --> 00:20:22,351
of South Florida's drug trade

346
00:20:22,395 --> 00:20:25,441
from the Cubans and the Mafia,

347
00:20:25,485 --> 00:20:27,530
and one of their own
is on the ground

348
00:20:27,574 --> 00:20:29,837
doing their dirty work.

349
00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:31,882
Griselda Blanco,

350
00:20:31,926 --> 00:20:34,233
raised in the slums of Medellin,

351
00:20:34,276 --> 00:20:36,147
she made a name
for herself designing

352
00:20:36,191 --> 00:20:39,281
and manufacturing undergarments
to smuggle cocaine.

353
00:20:39,325 --> 00:20:41,936
July 4, 1976 --

354
00:20:41,979 --> 00:20:44,199
when over 1,000 ships
from around the world

355
00:20:44,243 --> 00:20:45,592
fill New York Harbor

356
00:20:45,635 --> 00:20:47,985
to celebrate
America's Bicentennial,

357
00:20:48,029 --> 00:20:51,380
Blanco reportedly slips 6 kilos
onto a ship

358
00:20:51,424 --> 00:20:54,209
sent by the Colombian Navy.

359
00:20:56,037 --> 00:20:58,082
She earns the nickname,
the Black Widow,

360
00:20:58,126 --> 00:21:01,390
for allegedly
killing two of her husbands.

361
00:21:01,434 --> 00:21:04,567
Griselda Blanco,
from all my experience with her

362
00:21:04,611 --> 00:21:08,049
and her group, was an animal.

363
00:21:08,092 --> 00:21:11,748
Blanco engineers
a wave of violence across Miami.

364
00:21:27,808 --> 00:21:31,202
Two men are dead,

365
00:21:31,246 --> 00:21:33,988
the shop clerk wounded,

366
00:21:34,031 --> 00:21:37,905
bullets are everywhere.

367
00:21:37,948 --> 00:21:41,300
Investigators
make an alarming discovery

368
00:21:41,343 --> 00:21:44,694
when they inspect the van
the shooters leave behind.

369
00:21:44,738 --> 00:21:48,350
The van's a killing machine --

370
00:21:48,394 --> 00:21:51,005
armor-plated siding
for protection,

371
00:21:51,048 --> 00:21:54,704
specially designed window slats
for sniper fire,

372
00:21:54,748 --> 00:21:57,054
bulletproof vests,
and an arsenal

373
00:21:57,098 --> 00:21:59,535
of high-caliber
automatic weapons.

374
00:22:02,016 --> 00:22:06,455
The Dadeland shooting really
jarred the public consciousness

375
00:22:06,499 --> 00:22:08,936
in Miami and the rest
of the United States.

376
00:22:11,547 --> 00:22:13,680
Anytime you've got
that massive amount

377
00:22:13,723 --> 00:22:16,378
of drugs flowing into
one geographical area,

378
00:22:16,422 --> 00:22:20,382
you're going to have war.

379
00:22:25,039 --> 00:22:27,476
While the
cocaine cowboy war body count

380
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,043
mounts in Miami,

381
00:22:29,086 --> 00:22:33,787
so does the money.

382
00:22:33,830 --> 00:22:36,964
The cocaine trade is now
worth four times more

383
00:22:37,007 --> 00:22:40,010
than Florida's orange harvest.

384
00:22:40,054 --> 00:22:42,926
Miami's booming.

385
00:22:42,970 --> 00:22:45,494
It's just cash just flowing
through that city

386
00:22:45,538 --> 00:22:49,193
like nothing you've ever seen.

387
00:22:49,237 --> 00:22:52,762
It's important to think
about cocaine not as a drug.

388
00:22:52,806 --> 00:22:55,199
But what it really was
was a currency.

389
00:22:55,243 --> 00:22:58,681
It's easily transportable,
easily smuggled,

390
00:22:58,725 --> 00:23:02,642
and you can trade it for dollars
anywhere in the world.

391
00:23:02,685 --> 00:23:06,036
It's one of the most universally
convertible currencies

392
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:07,777
that exists in the world.

393
00:23:07,821 --> 00:23:11,085
Any valuable currency
has an inherent power to it.

394
00:23:11,128 --> 00:23:15,742
And cocaine became
that currency.

395
00:23:15,785 --> 00:23:17,091
But their new wealth and fame

396
00:23:17,134 --> 00:23:21,138
has made the drug lords
into targets.

397
00:23:21,182 --> 00:23:25,447
A private island,
enormous mansions,

398
00:23:25,491 --> 00:23:29,016
unlimited amounts of women
and booze and coke.

399
00:23:29,059 --> 00:23:31,671
You can't do that
and not attract notice.

400
00:23:35,283 --> 00:23:37,024
Deep in the jungle,

401
00:23:37,067 --> 00:23:39,809
leftist rebels known as M-19

402
00:23:39,853 --> 00:23:41,724
are desperate to finance
their war

403
00:23:41,768 --> 00:23:44,771
against the Colombian
government.

404
00:23:44,814 --> 00:23:48,383
They hatch a risky plot --

405
00:23:48,427 --> 00:23:50,907
kidnap Martha Ochoa,

406
00:23:50,951 --> 00:23:54,650
the sister of three
of the Medellin Cartel leaders.

407
00:23:54,694 --> 00:23:58,393
The rebels demand $12 million
for her safe return.

408
00:24:09,709 --> 00:24:12,320
When Martha Ochoa
gets kidnapped,

409
00:24:12,363 --> 00:24:15,497
the cartel guys get together
and make things happen

410
00:24:15,541 --> 00:24:18,761
that even the government
of Colombia couldn't do.

411
00:24:18,805 --> 00:24:21,329
The Cartel leaders
respond by putting together

412
00:24:21,372 --> 00:24:26,465
a team of assassins
they call Death to Kidnappers.

413
00:24:26,508 --> 00:24:31,252
Cartel hit men hunt down and
execute M-19 rebels one by one.

414
00:24:31,295 --> 00:24:35,996
When they can't find one,
they kill their families.

415
00:24:36,039 --> 00:24:40,391
The brutality is shocking
even by Colombian standards.

416
00:24:40,435 --> 00:24:42,176
When the Colombians
had a grudge,

417
00:24:42,219 --> 00:24:43,960
they would break
into the house,

418
00:24:44,004 --> 00:24:45,614
they would kill
the guy they wanted,

419
00:24:45,658 --> 00:24:47,398
they would kill his family,

420
00:24:47,442 --> 00:24:49,966
they would kill the maid,
they would kill the dog,

421
00:24:50,010 --> 00:24:52,665
they would even kill the fish.

422
00:24:52,708 --> 00:24:54,754
The rebels
finally back down

423
00:24:54,797 --> 00:24:56,582
and a deal is brokered.

424
00:24:56,625 --> 00:24:59,889
Martha Ochoa is set free
unharmed.

425
00:24:59,933 --> 00:25:02,283
The kidnapping of Martha Ochoa

426
00:25:02,326 --> 00:25:05,025
also brings
the cartel leaders together.

427
00:25:16,558 --> 00:25:18,952
Faced with
the common threat of kidnapping,

428
00:25:18,995 --> 00:25:20,649
the Medellin Cartel leaders

429
00:25:20,693 --> 00:25:22,738
call a meeting
with their main rivals,

430
00:25:22,782 --> 00:25:25,915
the cartel from
the city of Cali.

431
00:25:42,192 --> 00:25:44,412
They sit down and they carve up
the United States

432
00:25:44,455 --> 00:25:47,197
and they say, okay, you'll
get Chicago and that area.

433
00:25:47,241 --> 00:25:50,418
We'll take New York City
and the East Coast.

434
00:25:50,461 --> 00:25:52,289
Cali will get New York.

435
00:25:52,333 --> 00:25:55,031
Medellin will get Florida
and the Southern states.

436
00:25:55,075 --> 00:25:57,773
California is left up for grabs.

437
00:26:03,866 --> 00:26:05,955
Cartels generally don't make
peace with each other.

438
00:26:05,999 --> 00:26:07,827
They're usually at war.
But in some cases,

439
00:26:07,870 --> 00:26:09,219
they get together and decide

440
00:26:09,263 --> 00:26:10,569
that they've got more to gain

441
00:26:10,612 --> 00:26:12,353
by a cease-fire.

442
00:26:18,925 --> 00:26:20,622
With the cartels aligned,

443
00:26:20,666 --> 00:26:22,798
cocaine distribution
reaches new highs.

444
00:26:29,675 --> 00:26:33,809
Blanco has pushed
the violence too far.

445
00:26:33,853 --> 00:26:35,898
Police say
she might be responsible

446
00:26:35,942 --> 00:26:38,161
for more than 200 murders.

447
00:26:38,205 --> 00:26:42,122
Griselda,
being the bloodthirsty person

448
00:26:42,165 --> 00:26:45,952
that she became also pioneered
the methods of violence

449
00:26:45,995 --> 00:26:50,609
that really wreaked havoc
in South Florida.

450
00:26:50,652 --> 00:26:52,915
Blanco
was known for repopularizing

451
00:26:52,959 --> 00:26:55,744
an old mob technique...

452
00:27:01,402 --> 00:27:02,751
...the drive-by shooting.

453
00:27:08,496 --> 00:27:11,281
The steady flow
of cocaine coming into the city

454
00:27:11,325 --> 00:27:14,589
has turned it into
the murder capital of America.

455
00:27:14,633 --> 00:27:19,246
By 1981, Miami really
is a paradise lost,

456
00:27:19,289 --> 00:27:23,729
the burgeoning hot zone
for the drug wars.

457
00:27:23,772 --> 00:27:26,079
Over the last year,

458
00:27:26,122 --> 00:27:29,256
the murder rates reached
an all-time high.

459
00:27:29,299 --> 00:27:32,085
By the end of July,
the Medical Examiner's Office

460
00:27:32,128 --> 00:27:34,348
is forced to rent
a refrigeration truck

461
00:27:34,391 --> 00:27:35,915
from a local Ryder.

462
00:27:35,958 --> 00:27:38,091
The morgue is overflowing

463
00:27:38,134 --> 00:27:41,181
and the public
is in a state of panic.

464
00:27:46,273 --> 00:27:49,755
When President Reagan
takes office, this is a crisis.

465
00:27:49,798 --> 00:27:52,148
These types of things don't
happen in the United States.

466
00:27:52,192 --> 00:27:54,281
You don't have bloodshed
in the middle of the streets.

467
00:27:54,324 --> 00:27:57,719
All the agencies
and law enforcement

468
00:27:57,763 --> 00:28:00,026
will be brought together
in a comprehensive attack

469
00:28:00,069 --> 00:28:02,028
on drug trafficking
and organized crime.

470
00:28:22,483 --> 00:28:24,050
Man #1: What kind of shape
is this guy in?

471
00:28:24,093 --> 00:28:25,312
Man #2: He was hit once
here in the groin area

472
00:28:25,355 --> 00:28:27,314
and another one down
on the...

473
00:28:27,357 --> 00:28:29,446
As cocaine trafficking
and murder rates soar

474
00:28:29,490 --> 00:28:30,839
in South Florida,

475
00:28:30,883 --> 00:28:32,754
the new president
is forced to confront

476
00:28:32,798 --> 00:28:34,887
a growing crisis.

477
00:28:34,930 --> 00:28:37,846
Nixon, the '70s,
that's the first stage.

478
00:28:37,890 --> 00:28:39,718
That kinda plateaus.

479
00:28:39,761 --> 00:28:44,548
In the 1980s, Reagan initiates
a second war on drugs.

480
00:28:44,592 --> 00:28:47,638
One of the most critical duties
that we faced upon taking office

481
00:28:47,682 --> 00:28:50,598
was controlling the influx
of illegal drugs

482
00:28:50,641 --> 00:28:52,643
into this country.

483
00:28:52,687 --> 00:28:55,081
Ronald Reagan --
a former actor

484
00:28:55,124 --> 00:28:58,432
who goes on to become
the governor of California.

485
00:28:58,475 --> 00:29:02,479
As president, he promises to
restore the crumbling economy,

486
00:29:02,523 --> 00:29:04,220
fight the communist threat,

487
00:29:04,264 --> 00:29:07,484
and relaunch Nixon's
forgotten War on Drugs.

488
00:29:07,528 --> 00:29:09,660
This is the "Miami Vice" era

489
00:29:09,704 --> 00:29:11,314
of drugs running pretty freely

490
00:29:11,358 --> 00:29:13,273
between the Caribbean
and Florida.

491
00:29:13,316 --> 00:29:15,710
And so President Reagan
put George Bush in charge of it

492
00:29:15,754 --> 00:29:18,321
and told him to do his best.

493
00:29:18,365 --> 00:29:20,367
George H.W. Bush,

494
00:29:20,410 --> 00:29:23,457
the blue-blood son
of a powerful U.S. Senator.

495
00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:27,548
George Bush was a fighter pilot.

496
00:29:27,591 --> 00:29:30,377
He later gets into
the oil business

497
00:29:30,420 --> 00:29:33,162
and in the '70s
under Gerald Ford

498
00:29:33,206 --> 00:29:37,514
is made head
of Central Intelligence.

499
00:29:37,558 --> 00:29:40,256
Now Vice President Bush
is put in charge

500
00:29:40,300 --> 00:29:42,084
of a special task force

501
00:29:42,128 --> 00:29:45,261
to stop the flow of cocaine
into South Florida.

502
00:29:45,305 --> 00:29:47,089
Those
who have been asking for a fight

503
00:29:47,133 --> 00:29:49,091
are now going to get one.

504
00:29:49,135 --> 00:29:52,791
Now the war will be fought
with a brain trust of expertise,

505
00:29:52,834 --> 00:29:55,315
with federal, state,
and local resources

506
00:29:55,358 --> 00:29:56,925
pitted against the criminals

507
00:29:56,969 --> 00:30:00,842
and drug traffickers
and hired assassins.

508
00:30:00,886 --> 00:30:02,583
It's a young task force,

509
00:30:02,626 --> 00:30:05,804
a task force that has just
begun the battle

510
00:30:05,847 --> 00:30:08,850
of the drug war
in South Florida.

511
00:30:11,722 --> 00:30:15,030
Bush has elements
of the Army, Air Force,

512
00:30:15,074 --> 00:30:18,120
Navy, DEA, FBI, Coast Guard

513
00:30:18,164 --> 00:30:20,601
and local police
under his command.

514
00:30:20,644 --> 00:30:24,126
-Police force!
-Put your hands up, man!

515
00:30:24,170 --> 00:30:26,737
Almost overnight,
Miami starts to look like

516
00:30:26,781 --> 00:30:29,175
a military occupation.

517
00:30:29,218 --> 00:30:32,091
But the real battle will be
fought in the shallow waters

518
00:30:32,134 --> 00:30:33,962
of the Caribbean.

519
00:30:34,006 --> 00:30:36,965
When Carlos Lehder
bought Norman's Cay

520
00:30:37,009 --> 00:30:40,751
and was flying cocaine
from Colombia into his island,

521
00:30:40,795 --> 00:30:45,582
a lot of that cocaine moved out
into Florida via airplane.

522
00:30:45,626 --> 00:30:47,367
A lot of it also went by boats.

523
00:30:49,978 --> 00:30:53,634
The Coast Guard's being outrun
by the smugglers' speed boats,

524
00:30:53,677 --> 00:30:56,637
so Bush turns to
an old friend for help.

525
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,161
George Bush had a fascination
with boats, you know,

526
00:30:59,205 --> 00:31:02,208
that sort of blue-blood
Connecticut lifestyle.

527
00:31:02,251 --> 00:31:05,559
And Don Aronow was the boat guy.

528
00:31:05,602 --> 00:31:09,780
Don Aronow,
a legend in South Florida.

529
00:31:09,824 --> 00:31:12,914
He builds some of the fastest
speed boats in the world,

530
00:31:12,958 --> 00:31:16,091
popular with Miami's elite,
Hollywood stars...

531
00:31:16,135 --> 00:31:18,746
We have Cary Grant running one
of our Cigarettes, you know?

532
00:31:20,226 --> 00:31:24,491
...and increasingly,
cocaine smugglers.

533
00:31:24,534 --> 00:31:28,799
Don Aronow was
the premiere race boat builder.

534
00:31:28,843 --> 00:31:32,455
He built race boats
that George Bush enjoyed.

535
00:31:32,499 --> 00:31:35,502
They were fast, they could
make round trips

536
00:31:35,545 --> 00:31:39,114
between Miami and the Bahamas
in a matter of hours.

537
00:31:39,158 --> 00:31:43,466
And so all of the drug smugglers
were gravitating to the fastest,

538
00:31:43,510 --> 00:31:45,686
most badass boats on the water,

539
00:31:45,729 --> 00:31:47,601
and these were built
by Don Aronow.

540
00:31:47,644 --> 00:31:51,170
Bush asks Aronow to
build him a fleet of chase boats

541
00:31:51,213 --> 00:31:53,520
faster than the smugglers'.

542
00:31:53,563 --> 00:31:56,305
Aronow calls the boats
Blue Thunder,

543
00:31:56,349 --> 00:32:00,092
and outfits them with
two 650 horsepower engines,

544
00:32:00,135 --> 00:32:02,616
promising Bush they are
the state of the art

545
00:32:02,659 --> 00:32:04,400
in pursuit watercraft.

546
00:32:04,444 --> 00:32:06,185
When you want to look
tough on drugs,

547
00:32:06,228 --> 00:32:08,230
having your picture
snapped aboard Blue Thunder

548
00:32:08,274 --> 00:32:11,581
is one way to do it.

549
00:32:13,409 --> 00:32:15,846
Recommended course --
3-0 degrees.

550
00:32:15,890 --> 00:32:20,677
-Speed -- 20.
-Side 8-4-0.

551
00:32:20,721 --> 00:32:22,505
The Blue Thunder fleet
is dispatched

552
00:32:22,549 --> 00:32:24,507
from the first-ever
command center

553
00:32:24,551 --> 00:32:28,294
built exclusively
for the War on Drugs.

554
00:32:28,337 --> 00:32:30,949
We have an unidentified vessel
just west of West End,

555
00:32:30,992 --> 00:32:32,951
Grand Bahama.

556
00:32:32,994 --> 00:32:35,040
A state-of-the-art
radar monitoring system

557
00:32:35,083 --> 00:32:37,346
tracks suspected smugglers.

558
00:32:43,657 --> 00:32:45,876
There's definitely a lot
of stuff on the boat.

559
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,968
Looks like he might be dumping
some more stuff here, yep.

560
00:32:50,011 --> 00:32:51,708
And he's changing course.

561
00:32:51,752 --> 00:32:52,666
Man #2: This guy's
going to beach here

562
00:32:52,709 --> 00:32:56,322
pretty soon I think.

563
00:32:56,365 --> 00:32:59,847
The Coast Guard soon realizes
they have a problem.

564
00:32:59,890 --> 00:33:02,110
Don Aronow had
two sets of customers then.

565
00:33:02,154 --> 00:33:05,331
He was selling to both
the federal government

566
00:33:05,374 --> 00:33:07,333
that was trying
to interdict drugs

567
00:33:07,376 --> 00:33:09,988
and he was selling
to the dopers

568
00:33:10,031 --> 00:33:11,772
who were bringing
the drugs in.

569
00:33:11,815 --> 00:33:13,426
While the Blue Thunder boats

570
00:33:13,469 --> 00:33:16,342
fly over the calm waters
of Miami harbor,

571
00:33:16,385 --> 00:33:20,781
their wide hull design slows
them down in the open ocean.

572
00:33:20,824 --> 00:33:25,264
The cigarette boats Aronow sells
the narcos beat them every time.

573
00:33:25,307 --> 00:33:27,570
Was the flaw
in Blue Thunder

574
00:33:27,614 --> 00:33:29,790
something that was intentional,

575
00:33:29,833 --> 00:33:32,836
to help sort of
the other customer base,

576
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:34,621
or was it something
that was unintentional

577
00:33:34,664 --> 00:33:36,536
and just pure happenstance

578
00:33:36,579 --> 00:33:39,191
that ended up putting a crimp
in law enforcement efforts?

579
00:33:39,234 --> 00:33:40,757
It was just so Miami

580
00:33:40,801 --> 00:33:43,847
because here was this rich,
colorful figure,

581
00:33:43,891 --> 00:33:46,720
seemingly playing both sides
in law enforcement

582
00:33:46,763 --> 00:33:49,984
and with the dopers
bringing in cocaine.

583
00:33:50,028 --> 00:33:52,073
Don Aronow was
gunned down near his boat yard

584
00:33:52,117 --> 00:33:53,422
in North Miami.

585
00:33:53,466 --> 00:33:55,033
Witnesses said a man
in a Lincoln

586
00:33:55,076 --> 00:33:57,078
pulled alongside
Aronow's Mercedes

587
00:33:57,122 --> 00:33:59,167
and shot him five times.

588
00:33:59,211 --> 00:34:01,561
Don Aronow ended up
getting murdered

589
00:34:01,604 --> 00:34:04,868
and many of those questions that
we may have about Blue Thunder,

590
00:34:04,912 --> 00:34:06,827
and sort of what was
going on ended up,

591
00:34:06,870 --> 00:34:09,090
you know, dying with him.

592
00:34:09,134 --> 00:34:12,441
I am the first to admit
that we have not shut down

593
00:34:12,485 --> 00:34:15,531
the drug smuggling
into South Florida.

594
00:34:15,575 --> 00:34:19,970
But nobody denies that we've
made it much more difficult

595
00:34:20,014 --> 00:34:22,495
for these smugglers
to do business.

596
00:34:22,538 --> 00:34:24,801
But with the heat on
in South Florida,

597
00:34:24,845 --> 00:34:26,977
the Colombians look
to find other routes

598
00:34:27,021 --> 00:34:30,285
to bring cocaine
into the United States.

599
00:34:37,162 --> 00:34:41,079
A small plane has just crossed
the Arkansas state border

600
00:34:41,122 --> 00:34:44,647
and a new era in the drug war
is about to begin.

601
00:34:44,691 --> 00:34:49,087
Logging the 316 delta
bravo flight at 2:00.

602
00:34:49,130 --> 00:34:51,089
The flight's manifest
says the pilot

603
00:34:51,132 --> 00:34:53,787
took a pleasure trip
to Florida for the weekend.

604
00:34:53,830 --> 00:34:55,093
See the lakes down there?

605
00:34:55,136 --> 00:34:58,270
He did in fact have fun,

606
00:34:58,313 --> 00:35:00,750
but he wasn't in Florida.

607
00:35:10,325 --> 00:35:11,457
-Come on, come on!
-Aaaah!

608
00:35:17,202 --> 00:35:22,250
Barry Seal -- a legend
in the world of drug smuggling.

609
00:35:22,294 --> 00:35:26,515
Seal becomes the youngest pilot
ever for TWA,

610
00:35:26,559 --> 00:35:29,779
until he is arrested for
attempting to smuggle explosives

611
00:35:29,823 --> 00:35:33,392
to anti-Castro Cubans,
but he's never charged.

612
00:35:33,435 --> 00:35:35,785
Barry Seal had
a long history of both

613
00:35:35,829 --> 00:35:39,485
working for the CIA, working
as a commercial airline pilot,

614
00:35:39,528 --> 00:35:41,400
and also for smuggling drugs.

615
00:35:41,443 --> 00:35:43,750
He would fly weapons
for the CIA.

616
00:35:43,793 --> 00:35:48,233
He would fly drugs for cartels.
It didn't matter what.

617
00:35:48,276 --> 00:35:50,844
The exciting thing in life
to me is to get into

618
00:35:50,887 --> 00:35:52,498
a life-threatening situation.

619
00:35:52,541 --> 00:35:54,761
Now, that's excitement.

620
00:35:58,156 --> 00:36:01,724
In Colombia, Seal
makes a deal with Pablo Escobar

621
00:36:01,768 --> 00:36:03,465
and the Medellin Cartel.

622
00:36:03,509 --> 00:36:05,815
Missed you last night, huh?

623
00:36:05,859 --> 00:36:07,165
You should have come, man.
Those chicas,

624
00:36:07,208 --> 00:36:08,514
they were fantastic.

625
00:36:08,557 --> 00:36:10,516
I can't thank you enough.

626
00:36:12,735 --> 00:36:15,477
It's hard to come up with
a more colorful character

627
00:36:15,521 --> 00:36:19,264
than Barry Seal
when it comes to smuggling.

628
00:36:19,307 --> 00:36:22,528
With the Cartel
looking to bypass South Florida,

629
00:36:22,571 --> 00:36:26,271
Barry Seal provides an answer
using a small airport

630
00:36:26,314 --> 00:36:28,577
in the tiny city
of Mena, Arkansas,

631
00:36:28,621 --> 00:36:31,319
where Bill Clinton's governor.

632
00:36:31,363 --> 00:36:34,627
Seal pilots his own plane
to Colombia 500 times

633
00:36:34,670 --> 00:36:37,151
to ferry drugs
to the United States,

634
00:36:37,195 --> 00:36:39,893
earning an average
of $1.5 million a trip.

635
00:36:46,813 --> 00:36:49,511
With demand for cocaine
growing across the country...

636
00:36:51,948 --> 00:36:54,951
...the U.S. government
decides to take the fight

637
00:36:54,995 --> 00:36:57,563
directly to the source.

638
00:36:57,606 --> 00:37:00,435
Flying fast and low
over the jungle,

639
00:37:00,479 --> 00:37:02,089
Colombian National Police

640
00:37:02,132 --> 00:37:04,178
narrow in on a remote drug lab

641
00:37:04,222 --> 00:37:06,093
called Tranquilandia.

642
00:37:06,136 --> 00:37:09,139
It's the size of a small town.

643
00:37:09,183 --> 00:37:13,883
It's owned by Pablo Escobar
and the Medellin Cartel.

644
00:37:13,927 --> 00:37:18,714
On one of its first major
international raids is the DEA.

645
00:37:22,544 --> 00:37:26,679
The DEA is part of
the Department of Justice,

646
00:37:26,722 --> 00:37:29,551
sort of like international
FBI agents

647
00:37:29,595 --> 00:37:32,641
trying to catch people
that are breaking the law

648
00:37:32,685 --> 00:37:36,732
by smuggling or facilitating
the illegal drug trade.

649
00:37:36,776 --> 00:37:38,821
The DEA is
the only agency in the world

650
00:37:38,865 --> 00:37:41,346
that can enter
into hostile zones

651
00:37:41,389 --> 00:37:44,871
and develop an investigation
and a prosecution.

652
00:37:44,914 --> 00:37:47,569
Patrol to all units.
Please be advised.

653
00:38:01,061 --> 00:38:03,629
The DEA and
the Colombian National Police

654
00:38:03,672 --> 00:38:05,935
have carried out a raid
on Pablo Escobar's

655
00:38:05,979 --> 00:38:09,156
jungle cocaine labs
with deadly effect.

656
00:38:11,506 --> 00:38:17,686
11 are dead, 40 are arrested,
including an American pilot.

657
00:38:17,730 --> 00:38:21,821
And they begin
destroying the labs.

658
00:38:21,864 --> 00:38:24,389
The take down of
the Tranquilandia drug labs,

659
00:38:24,432 --> 00:38:27,479
by far the biggest
anyone had seen.

660
00:38:27,522 --> 00:38:30,743
It was a significant blow to
the actual production of cocaine

661
00:38:30,786 --> 00:38:32,658
on a on a worldwide level.

662
00:38:34,703 --> 00:38:37,619
That just pissed Pablo off.

663
00:38:37,663 --> 00:38:41,406
The DEA's growing role
in Colombia's war on drugs

664
00:38:41,449 --> 00:38:45,235
is largely thanks to the
country's Minister of Justice,

665
00:38:45,279 --> 00:38:48,151
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla --

666
00:38:48,195 --> 00:38:51,372
a fearless crusader
against the cartels.

667
00:38:51,416 --> 00:38:54,506
He's teamed up with American
law enforcement to arrest

668
00:38:54,549 --> 00:38:57,552
and extradite cartel leaders
to the U.S.

669
00:38:57,596 --> 00:38:59,598
Lara Bonilla grasped
the magnitude

670
00:38:59,641 --> 00:39:02,122
of what Colombia was facing
in ways

671
00:39:02,165 --> 00:39:06,082
that most of the political elite
didn't or simply didn't care to.

672
00:39:06,126 --> 00:39:08,520
He was a brave guy
who took on the cartels,

673
00:39:08,563 --> 00:39:10,522
took on Pablo Escobar,

674
00:39:10,565 --> 00:39:13,525
and everybody knew that the
cartels were going to get him.

675
00:39:26,059 --> 00:39:29,149
Less than two months
after the Tranquilandia raid,

676
00:39:29,192 --> 00:39:33,588
Lara Bonilla's car is ambushed.

677
00:39:33,632 --> 00:39:36,896
He's shot seven times
and dies instantly.

678
00:39:39,159 --> 00:39:41,553
The young shooter
arrested at the scene

679
00:39:41,596 --> 00:39:44,730
tells police Pablo Escobar
promised him a payment

680
00:39:44,773 --> 00:39:47,297
of 2 million Colombian pesos --

681
00:39:47,341 --> 00:39:51,127
the equivalent of just $650.

682
00:39:53,869 --> 00:39:55,871
Killing the
attorney general of the country,

683
00:39:55,915 --> 00:39:57,699
that was unprecedented.

684
00:39:57,743 --> 00:39:59,875
It showed if you're going
to mess with Pablo,

685
00:39:59,919 --> 00:40:01,399
you know,
Pablo will kill you,

686
00:40:01,442 --> 00:40:02,835
and it doesn't matter
really who you are.

687
00:40:02,878 --> 00:40:04,837
It doesn't matter
if you're in Downtown Bogotá,

688
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:06,360
doesn't matter
if you have bodyguards,

689
00:40:06,404 --> 00:40:07,666
doesn't matter if you
have an armed car.

690
00:40:07,709 --> 00:40:09,407
We're going to get you.

691
00:40:09,450 --> 00:40:11,670
And that was a powerful message
to the elites

692
00:40:11,713 --> 00:40:15,587
in ways that terrified them.

693
00:40:15,630 --> 00:40:18,067
There's no limits to
which these guys won't go.

694
00:40:18,111 --> 00:40:20,287
And they have the money,
they have the power,

695
00:40:20,330 --> 00:40:21,810
they have the weapons.

696
00:40:21,854 --> 00:40:23,246
So you either play along
with them

697
00:40:23,290 --> 00:40:25,379
or you're gonna die.

698
00:40:25,423 --> 00:40:28,687
I actually met with
Pablo Escobar Jr. years later.

699
00:40:28,730 --> 00:40:32,125
He went back to Colombia
and met with Lara Bonilla's son

700
00:40:32,168 --> 00:40:35,955
to apologize for that murder,
which is a pretty amazing story.

701
00:40:37,783 --> 00:40:40,612
As the country mourns
Lara Bonilla's death,

702
00:40:40,655 --> 00:40:43,179
the Colombian government
doesn't back down,

703
00:40:43,223 --> 00:40:45,486
forming an alliance
with the Americans

704
00:40:45,530 --> 00:40:47,357
to begin extraditing drug lords

705
00:40:47,401 --> 00:40:49,403
for trial in the United States.

706
00:40:49,447 --> 00:40:52,493
The United States decided
that it wanted

707
00:40:52,537 --> 00:40:54,626
to begin extraditing people
out of these countries

708
00:40:54,669 --> 00:40:56,932
because it was clear
that the judicial systems

709
00:40:56,976 --> 00:40:59,544
of those countries
couldn't handle the pressure.

710
00:40:59,587 --> 00:41:02,416
But it became a really
hated by the narcos.

711
00:41:06,159 --> 00:41:08,553
Escobar
and the other cartel leaders

712
00:41:08,596 --> 00:41:11,469
band together,
launching a public campaign

713
00:41:11,512 --> 00:41:13,340
against extradition.

714
00:41:13,383 --> 00:41:16,474
There was so much
power within this group of guys.

715
00:41:16,517 --> 00:41:19,694
Pablo Escobar had tremendous
political ambitions.

716
00:41:19,738 --> 00:41:22,784
He he put together
a group of drug dealers

717
00:41:22,828 --> 00:41:26,309
that were going to pay off
the national debt of Colombia

718
00:41:26,353 --> 00:41:29,617
if they would agree to
block any extradition

719
00:41:29,661 --> 00:41:32,446
of Colombian drug lords
to the United States.

720
00:41:32,490 --> 00:41:34,361
Escobar's head of logistics,

721
00:41:34,404 --> 00:41:37,451
Carlos Lehder, even starts
his own political party

722
00:41:37,495 --> 00:41:39,671
and eventually runs for office.

723
00:41:39,714 --> 00:41:41,890
Carlos Lehder
began to hate the United States

724
00:41:41,934 --> 00:41:44,371
and became psychotic.

725
00:41:47,069 --> 00:41:50,682
Cocaine is
the atom bomb of Latin America.

726
00:41:50,725 --> 00:41:55,034
He ultimately saw
cocaine as a way of destroying

727
00:41:55,077 --> 00:41:58,080
the society
in the United States.

728
00:41:58,124 --> 00:42:00,561
Colombia could have been taken
over by Escobar and his people.

729
00:42:12,834 --> 00:42:15,315
30 gunmen
have launched an attack

730
00:42:15,358 --> 00:42:18,971
on the Colombian Supreme Court,

731
00:42:19,014 --> 00:42:21,887
and have taken 300 hostages.

732
00:42:23,671 --> 00:42:27,109
The attackers are left-wing
M-19 guerrillas...

733
00:42:30,417 --> 00:42:32,593
...the same group
who kidnapped the sister

734
00:42:32,637 --> 00:42:35,117
of Pablo Escobar's partners.

735
00:42:35,161 --> 00:42:37,946
Now they're fighting
for the cartel.

736
00:42:37,990 --> 00:42:41,210
Escobar has allegedly
paid them $2 million to wage war

737
00:42:41,254 --> 00:42:43,430
on the Colombian government.

738
00:43:04,799 --> 00:43:07,628
When the battle's
over, more than 100 are dead,

739
00:43:07,672 --> 00:43:11,023
including 11 judges.

740
00:43:11,066 --> 00:43:13,765
And the court building
is in flames --

741
00:43:13,808 --> 00:43:16,289
along with all the evidence
the government had compiled

742
00:43:16,332 --> 00:43:18,813
to extradite the cartel leaders.

743
00:43:18,857 --> 00:43:20,467
All of those documents
were destroyed.

744
00:43:20,510 --> 00:43:23,644
That probably made Pablo Escobar

745
00:43:23,688 --> 00:43:27,735
and the Medellin Cartel
extremely happy.

746
00:43:27,779 --> 00:43:29,955
But before
the government can retaliate,

747
00:43:29,998 --> 00:43:34,176
the cartel leaders
flee the country.

748
00:43:34,220 --> 00:43:37,745
Carlos Lehder finds
sanctuary in Nicaragua

749
00:43:37,789 --> 00:43:39,921
where the M-19 rebels
have connected him

750
00:43:39,965 --> 00:43:44,099
to their allies,
the communist Sandinistas.

751
00:43:44,143 --> 00:43:46,667
Escobar goes to Panama,

752
00:43:46,711 --> 00:43:48,669
where he has long been
laundering his money

753
00:43:48,713 --> 00:43:52,499
with the corrupt president
Manuel Noriega.

754
00:43:52,542 --> 00:43:54,980
Central America

755
00:43:55,023 --> 00:43:59,158
increasingly becomes
the cartel's transit hub.

756
00:43:59,201 --> 00:44:03,902
And Barry Seal is now one of the
cartel's most trusted pilots.

757
00:44:03,945 --> 00:44:05,817
It was very easy for Barry Seal

758
00:44:05,860 --> 00:44:08,254
to fly drugs into North America

759
00:44:08,297 --> 00:44:12,562
throughout Central America
for narco traffickers.

760
00:44:12,606 --> 00:44:16,697
That was one aspect
of his life only.

761
00:44:16,741 --> 00:44:18,830
What Pablo Escobar doesn't know

762
00:44:18,873 --> 00:44:23,225
is Seal has another,
even more powerful, employer --

763
00:44:23,269 --> 00:44:25,924
the United States Government.

764
00:44:47,685 --> 00:44:50,165
At home,
President Reagan is waging

765
00:44:50,209 --> 00:44:52,733
a reinvigorated War on Drugs.

766
00:44:54,779 --> 00:44:56,737
Abroad,
the administration's

767
00:44:56,781 --> 00:45:00,045
main focus
is the communist threat.

768
00:45:00,088 --> 00:45:02,221
And Central America
is the new battleground

769
00:45:02,264 --> 00:45:05,746
for Cold War covert operations.

770
00:45:05,790 --> 00:45:08,009
Central America
in the early '80s

771
00:45:08,053 --> 00:45:09,968
is basically a hot mess.

772
00:45:10,011 --> 00:45:13,711
We've got atrocities,
we've got insurgencies,

773
00:45:13,754 --> 00:45:15,756
counterinsurgencies,

774
00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:19,412
all kinds of nefarious groups
with different motives,

775
00:45:19,455 --> 00:45:22,023
and we get elbow-deep
in all of that.

776
00:45:24,939 --> 00:45:27,768
Nicaragua
is run by the Sandinistas,

777
00:45:27,812 --> 00:45:29,509
Marxist rebels who overthrew

778
00:45:29,552 --> 00:45:33,078
an American-backed dictator
in 1979.

779
00:45:33,121 --> 00:45:35,994
Reagan almost immediately
starts painting

780
00:45:36,037 --> 00:45:38,605
for the American public,
a very vivid

781
00:45:38,648 --> 00:45:41,434
and very ominous picture --

782
00:45:41,477 --> 00:45:44,698
this idea that
if the Soviets gain influence

783
00:45:44,742 --> 00:45:47,353
in Central America
and Nicaragua,

784
00:45:47,396 --> 00:45:50,878
a week from today, they could be
on the -- the beaches in Texas.

785
00:45:53,054 --> 00:45:54,752
The White House
is eager to paint

786
00:45:54,795 --> 00:45:58,146
Nicaragua's communist leaders
as drug traffickers.

787
00:45:58,190 --> 00:46:02,020
And they enlist an unlikely
accomplice -- Barry Seal.

788
00:46:02,063 --> 00:46:03,848
The cartel smuggler
has been busted

789
00:46:03,891 --> 00:46:06,198
and is now
a government informant.

790
00:46:08,940 --> 00:46:12,508
One of the strangest missions
that Barry Seal ever flew

791
00:46:12,552 --> 00:46:15,511
occurred when
the Reagan Administration

792
00:46:15,555 --> 00:46:18,776
sent Barry Seal into Nicaragua

793
00:46:18,819 --> 00:46:21,126
in an airplane that had cameras,

794
00:46:21,169 --> 00:46:25,304
where he could film
Nicaraguans handling cocaine

795
00:46:25,347 --> 00:46:28,742
that was being
shipped to the U.S.

796
00:46:28,786 --> 00:46:30,657
Get those in the back,
okay?

797
00:46:30,700 --> 00:46:33,660
The purpose of Barry Seal's
mission was to frame

798
00:46:33,703 --> 00:46:37,838
the Nicaraguan government
as narco traffickers.

799
00:46:37,882 --> 00:46:40,101
Barry Seal became a very
important part of this

800
00:46:40,145 --> 00:46:42,103
because he claimed
to have knowledge

801
00:46:42,147 --> 00:46:45,324
that Pablo Escobar
and the Medellin Cartel

802
00:46:45,367 --> 00:46:50,111
were actually supplying
the Sandinistas with cocaine.

803
00:46:50,155 --> 00:46:52,679
The CIA outfits
a military transport plane

804
00:46:52,722 --> 00:46:54,159
with hidden cameras,

805
00:46:54,202 --> 00:46:55,943
and Seal takes off
to record a deal

806
00:46:55,987 --> 00:46:59,599
with Sandinista officials
and Pablo Escobar himself.

807
00:47:03,908 --> 00:47:08,651
10 seconds.
Stand by, please, sir.

808
00:47:08,695 --> 00:47:11,829
My fellow Americans,
I must speak to you tonight

809
00:47:11,872 --> 00:47:14,309
about a mounting danger
in Central America

810
00:47:14,353 --> 00:47:16,921
that threatens the security
of the United States.

811
00:47:16,964 --> 00:47:18,705
The communist government
of Nicaragua

812
00:47:18,748 --> 00:47:21,577
has launched a campaign
to subvert and topple

813
00:47:21,621 --> 00:47:23,666
its democratic neighbors.

814
00:47:23,710 --> 00:47:25,712
The Sandinistas
have even involved themselves

815
00:47:25,755 --> 00:47:27,235
in the international
drug trade.

816
00:47:27,279 --> 00:47:29,498
This picture, secretly taken

817
00:47:29,542 --> 00:47:32,110
at a military airfield
outside Managua,

818
00:47:32,153 --> 00:47:34,547
shows Federico Vaughan,

819
00:47:34,590 --> 00:47:36,766
a top aide to one of
the nine comandantes

820
00:47:36,810 --> 00:47:38,464
who rule Nicaragua,

821
00:47:38,507 --> 00:47:41,423
loading an aircraft
with illegal narcotics

822
00:47:41,467 --> 00:47:44,122
bound for the United States.

823
00:47:44,165 --> 00:47:46,733
No, there seems to be no crime

824
00:47:46,776 --> 00:47:48,996
to which the Sandinistas
will not stoop.

825
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:53,000
This is an outlaw regime.

826
00:47:53,044 --> 00:47:57,439
They return to some of
the original tactics of the CIA.

827
00:47:57,483 --> 00:48:02,923
We can back insurgency groups
that are against our enemies.

828
00:48:02,967 --> 00:48:05,534
We can give them money.
We can give them training.

829
00:48:05,578 --> 00:48:10,017
We can get them to conduct
the dirty war.

830
00:48:10,061 --> 00:48:12,628
The CIA starts
training and funding

831
00:48:12,672 --> 00:48:16,458
a secret army to take back
the country from communism.

832
00:48:16,502 --> 00:48:20,158
They're called the Contras.

833
00:48:20,201 --> 00:48:25,206
The Contras were people
who had been disenfranchised.

834
00:48:25,250 --> 00:48:27,817
A lot of these people were
elites, people with money,

835
00:48:27,861 --> 00:48:30,385
people with connections,
sometimes people

836
00:48:30,429 --> 00:48:34,041
with a high level of corruption.

837
00:48:34,085 --> 00:48:37,088
Things start to go awry.

838
00:48:37,131 --> 00:48:40,526
It starts to emerge
that they're committing

839
00:48:40,569 --> 00:48:43,485
a number of atrocities --
mining harbors,

840
00:48:43,529 --> 00:48:47,228
torturing people.

841
00:48:47,272 --> 00:48:50,144
When the brutality
of the Contras is made public,

842
00:48:50,188 --> 00:48:53,539
Congress passes
the Boland Amendment.

843
00:48:53,582 --> 00:48:56,934
The Boland Amendment
says the U.S. can only give

844
00:48:56,977 --> 00:49:00,938
humanitarian, non-lethal
support to the Contras.

845
00:49:00,981 --> 00:49:03,331
So, what develops out of this

846
00:49:03,375 --> 00:49:06,813
is an effort to covertly
raise money

847
00:49:06,856 --> 00:49:10,425
to buy military supplies.

848
00:49:10,469 --> 00:49:12,993
Yet again,
the Agency finds itself

849
00:49:13,037 --> 00:49:15,996
in that moral quagmire.

850
00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:20,261
"We need to find other ways
to fund these operations."

851
00:49:28,487 --> 00:49:32,404
Ilopango Air Base
in El Salvador --

852
00:49:32,447 --> 00:49:34,580
the American military's hub
for its battle

853
00:49:34,623 --> 00:49:39,628
against communism
across Central America.

854
00:49:39,672 --> 00:49:43,545
Arriving in this plane
is an undercover DEA agent...

855
00:49:47,071 --> 00:49:49,856
Celerino Castillo --

856
00:49:49,899 --> 00:49:53,120
a second generation combat
veteran from South Texas.

857
00:49:53,164 --> 00:49:57,298
He earns a Bronze Star
in Vietnam,

858
00:49:57,342 --> 00:49:59,605
then joins the DEA in New York

859
00:49:59,648 --> 00:50:02,651
and goes undercover
as a trafficker,

860
00:50:02,695 --> 00:50:05,306
but when his fellow cops
pocket seized drug money,

861
00:50:05,350 --> 00:50:08,222
Castillo refuses.

862
00:50:08,266 --> 00:50:10,224
Supervisor came up
and says, "Look,

863
00:50:10,268 --> 00:50:12,096
everybody gets a handful."

864
00:50:12,139 --> 00:50:14,054
And, and I says,
"I can't do that, man,

865
00:50:14,098 --> 00:50:17,275
because if I do that,
then I am just like them."

866
00:50:20,756 --> 00:50:23,585
Working undercover,
Castillo infiltrates the base,

867
00:50:23,629 --> 00:50:27,589
where he's heard rumors of
large-scale cocaine trafficking.

868
00:50:27,633 --> 00:50:31,115
The Ilopango airport
in El Salvador

869
00:50:31,158 --> 00:50:34,553
was like the O'Hare Airport.

870
00:50:34,596 --> 00:50:37,991
The traffic was enormous,
crisscrossing.

871
00:50:38,035 --> 00:50:40,776
People would land with
permission, without permission,

872
00:50:40,820 --> 00:50:43,214
some of them crash-landed.

873
00:50:43,257 --> 00:50:47,000
The safe houses
were all over the place.

874
00:50:47,044 --> 00:50:51,135
The girls were everywhere,
the partying was huge.

875
00:50:53,137 --> 00:50:57,141
I had an informant,
who I paid a lot of money,

876
00:50:57,184 --> 00:51:00,753
who actually believed
in what I was doing.

877
00:51:00,796 --> 00:51:05,627
He was the tower controller
at Ilopango,

878
00:51:05,671 --> 00:51:08,717
and he was able to give me
the tail numbers of the planes

879
00:51:08,761 --> 00:51:10,458
that were coming in
with the drugs.

880
00:51:10,502 --> 00:51:12,504
Castillo starts
photographing the planes

881
00:51:12,547 --> 00:51:16,464
the tower controllers
identified.

882
00:51:16,508 --> 00:51:20,990
We started to
identify the pilots.

883
00:51:21,034 --> 00:51:23,863
He identifies one of the pilots
as Barry Seal,

884
00:51:23,906 --> 00:51:25,865
the cartel smuggler.

885
00:51:25,908 --> 00:51:28,737
Barry Seal could fly
his fleet of planes

886
00:51:28,781 --> 00:51:32,263
without being questioned at all.

887
00:51:32,306 --> 00:51:33,829
He was very well known.

888
00:51:33,873 --> 00:51:37,311
He was just one of
many American pilots

889
00:51:37,355 --> 00:51:40,532
that were running
out of Ilopango.

890
00:51:40,575 --> 00:51:42,229
When Castillo
begins to identify

891
00:51:42,273 --> 00:51:45,841
other known cocaine smugglers,
he alerts his superiors.

892
00:51:45,885 --> 00:51:47,887
When I got all the intelligence,

893
00:51:47,930 --> 00:51:52,065
I went to see
the U.S. ambassador.

894
00:51:52,109 --> 00:51:54,502
"Ambassador,
this is what we have.

895
00:51:54,546 --> 00:51:56,983
You have a guy here in Salvador

896
00:51:57,026 --> 00:52:00,639
who's running large amounts
of drugs into the U.S."

897
00:52:00,682 --> 00:52:02,119
Gave him the guy's name.

898
00:52:02,162 --> 00:52:05,905
He says, "He works
for Félix Rodríguez."

899
00:52:05,948 --> 00:52:07,950
Félix Rodríguez --

900
00:52:07,994 --> 00:52:11,650
His family was forced to flee
Cuba after the revolution.

901
00:52:11,693 --> 00:52:15,175
Rodríguez has devoted his life
to killing communists.

902
00:52:15,219 --> 00:52:17,786
He fights at the Bay of Pigs,

903
00:52:17,830 --> 00:52:20,876
and helps in the hunt
to kill Che Guevara.

904
00:52:20,920 --> 00:52:23,879
He's on the front lines
in Southeast Asia,

905
00:52:23,923 --> 00:52:26,055
and now Central America.

906
00:52:28,928 --> 00:52:32,453
Many of the characters who had
shown up in Southeast Asia,

907
00:52:32,497 --> 00:52:36,544
like Félix Rodríguez,
now appear in Central America.

908
00:52:39,765 --> 00:52:42,333
But Castillo begins
to suspect Rodríguez

909
00:52:42,376 --> 00:52:45,292
is part of a larger
covert operation.

910
00:52:50,689 --> 00:52:53,126
He went around
bragging that he was connected

911
00:52:53,170 --> 00:52:56,260
to the Vice President,
George H.W. Bush,

912
00:52:56,303 --> 00:52:59,306
and that he only answered
to him.

913
00:53:02,570 --> 00:53:08,402
Castillo develops
a source close to Rodríguez.

914
00:53:08,446 --> 00:53:10,622
The best places
to get my intelligence

915
00:53:10,665 --> 00:53:12,798
were the whorehouses
where Sandra worked.

916
00:53:15,888 --> 00:53:20,762
Sandra was Félix's
regular girlfriend.

917
00:53:20,806 --> 00:53:22,590
Sandra allegedly tells Castillo

918
00:53:22,634 --> 00:53:25,245
when Rodríguez leaves town
and when he returns.

919
00:53:28,770 --> 00:53:31,251
He compares Rodríguez's travel
with the flights

920
00:53:31,295 --> 00:53:35,603
of suspected cocaine smugglers.

921
00:53:35,647 --> 00:53:38,258
The pilots were
running drugs all the way

922
00:53:38,302 --> 00:53:40,217
from Colombia
into Central America.

923
00:53:40,260 --> 00:53:42,523
Ilopango turned out to be
the trampoline.

924
00:53:42,567 --> 00:53:45,004
The drugs coming in,
they bounce right there

925
00:53:45,047 --> 00:53:49,051
and go to every part
of the United States.

926
00:53:49,095 --> 00:53:51,837
Castillo believes he's
discovered something shocking.

927
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:56,537
Some CIA contract pilots
illegally arming the Contras

928
00:53:56,581 --> 00:54:00,062
in violation
of the Boland Amendment

929
00:54:00,106 --> 00:54:04,284
are also smuggling cocaine
to help the cause.

930
00:54:04,328 --> 00:54:06,330
Castillo believes much
of the operation

931
00:54:06,373 --> 00:54:09,420
is under the command
of Félix Rodríguez.

932
00:54:09,463 --> 00:54:11,987
It turned out to be arms
coming south

933
00:54:12,031 --> 00:54:16,514
and cocaine going north
in the C-130s.

934
00:54:16,557 --> 00:54:20,518
In a shadowy war,
you're moving supplies

935
00:54:20,561 --> 00:54:23,477
and personnel into
these theaters of war,

936
00:54:23,521 --> 00:54:26,306
so you're establishing
smuggling routes.

937
00:54:26,350 --> 00:54:29,266
And you have a group
of armed men

938
00:54:29,309 --> 00:54:32,747
who are ready to do illegal
and dangerous things,

939
00:54:32,791 --> 00:54:36,925
so layering drugs on top
of that is very easy.

940
00:54:36,969 --> 00:54:40,494
I started getting intelligence
from U.S. Customs.

941
00:54:40,538 --> 00:54:42,322
They were getting
the same information.

942
00:54:42,366 --> 00:54:43,584
We were sharing information.

943
00:54:43,628 --> 00:54:46,065
The FBI was doing
the same thing.

944
00:54:46,108 --> 00:54:49,416
And when I questioned the CIA,
they would say,

945
00:54:49,460 --> 00:54:53,115
"It's a covert operation
being run by the White House."

946
00:54:53,159 --> 00:54:55,770
According to Castillo,
his superiors refuse

947
00:54:55,814 --> 00:54:59,513
to follow up on his allegations
about Ilopango.

948
00:54:59,557 --> 00:55:02,777
And to this day,
Rodríguez denies any involvement

949
00:55:02,821 --> 00:55:05,084
with drug trafficking
at the base.

950
00:55:05,127 --> 00:55:08,087
My supervisor says,
"Don't get involved, man,

951
00:55:08,130 --> 00:55:10,872
because we got orders
to stay away from it."

952
00:55:10,916 --> 00:55:13,788
I say, "This is not
what I signed up for.

953
00:55:13,832 --> 00:55:16,356
I became a federal agent
because I was gonna fight.

954
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:19,968
I don't care who's involved."

955
00:55:20,012 --> 00:55:25,017
I was in Guatemala at
the ambassador's cocktail party.

956
00:55:25,060 --> 00:55:28,150
I didn't want to go because
I'm not that type of guy

957
00:55:28,194 --> 00:55:30,892
to mingle with people like that.

958
00:55:30,936 --> 00:55:35,288
But when
the guest of honor arrives,

959
00:55:35,332 --> 00:55:40,511
Castillo sees the opportunity
to reveal what he's uncovered

960
00:55:40,554 --> 00:55:44,732
to highest level
of the American government.

961
00:55:44,776 --> 00:55:48,170
I was standing there,
and he comes up to me.

962
00:55:48,214 --> 00:55:52,827
And he says,
"So what do you do here?"

963
00:55:52,871 --> 00:55:55,221
And I explained to him
that I was a DEA agent

964
00:55:55,264 --> 00:55:57,136
assigned to Central America.

965
00:55:57,179 --> 00:55:59,051
And he says, "Well,
that's good for you."

966
00:55:59,094 --> 00:56:03,403
And I say, "By the way,
we have received intelligence

967
00:56:03,447 --> 00:56:08,800
that the Contras are heavily
involved in the drug trade."

968
00:56:08,843 --> 00:56:14,458
And he smiled at me
and just walked away from me.

969
00:56:14,501 --> 00:56:18,070
It was right there and then
that I knew that it went

970
00:56:18,113 --> 00:56:21,160
all the way to the White House.

971
00:56:41,963 --> 00:56:43,487
By the mid-1980s,

972
00:56:43,530 --> 00:56:45,402
cocaine has spread from Miami

973
00:56:45,445 --> 00:56:48,492
and is now flooding
America's inner cities.

974
00:56:51,103 --> 00:56:53,105
In South Central Los Angeles,

975
00:56:53,148 --> 00:56:55,499
an up-and-coming cocaine dealer

976
00:56:55,542 --> 00:56:58,545
is about to make a deal
that will change his life

977
00:56:58,589 --> 00:57:00,504
and the war on drugs forever.

978
00:57:07,728 --> 00:57:09,251
Rick Ross --

979
00:57:09,295 --> 00:57:11,906
also known as "Freeway Rick."

980
00:57:11,950 --> 00:57:16,041
Raised in the projects, he was
a teenage tennis prodigy.

981
00:57:16,084 --> 00:57:18,173
My dream was to go
to a four-year university.

982
00:57:19,784 --> 00:57:22,221
It's crazy how somebody
can fool themselves

983
00:57:22,264 --> 00:57:24,441
into believing that they're
going to a four-year university

984
00:57:24,484 --> 00:57:25,790
when they can't read or write,

985
00:57:25,833 --> 00:57:28,488
so I found myself
on the streets.

986
00:57:28,532 --> 00:57:31,317
And it's there where
a friend first introduces Ross

987
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:35,147
to a drug few in his
neighborhood had ever seen.

988
00:57:35,190 --> 00:57:36,322
I couldn't believe...

989
00:57:36,365 --> 00:57:37,889
a small amount of cocaine,

990
00:57:37,932 --> 00:57:42,110
it was probably about
the size of a match head,

991
00:57:42,154 --> 00:57:43,938
and he was telling me
that it was worth 50 bucks,

992
00:57:43,982 --> 00:57:45,897
and it was really hard
for me to fantasize

993
00:57:45,940 --> 00:57:49,074
that something so small
could be so valuable.

994
00:57:49,117 --> 00:57:53,034
It was like, this is
what I was made for.

995
00:57:55,559 --> 00:57:58,562
Ross finds he is
a natural at selling cocaine,

996
00:57:58,605 --> 00:58:01,129
and soon business is booming.

997
00:58:04,568 --> 00:58:06,178
His only problem --

998
00:58:06,221 --> 00:58:10,443
getting his hands
on enough supply.

999
00:58:15,709 --> 00:58:17,668
Everybody liked Freeway Rick.

1000
00:58:17,711 --> 00:58:20,279
He was someone that didn't have
to rely on violence

1001
00:58:20,322 --> 00:58:21,585
in order to sell his product.

1002
00:58:21,628 --> 00:58:25,110
It was just relationships
that he had.

1003
00:58:25,153 --> 00:58:29,157
Ross is meeting with a man he
only knows by the name Danilo.

1004
00:58:29,201 --> 00:58:31,551
I would always see
Danilo lurking around,

1005
00:58:31,595 --> 00:58:33,031
you know, kinda like,
in the shadows.

1006
00:58:33,074 --> 00:58:34,815
Every now and then,
he would give me a nod.

1007
00:58:34,859 --> 00:58:36,295
I've heard good things
about you, too.

1008
00:58:36,338 --> 00:58:38,645
He offers to sell Ross
large quantities

1009
00:58:38,689 --> 00:58:41,822
of high-quality cocaine
at a heavy discount.

1010
00:58:41,866 --> 00:58:44,999
I got like a $2,000 discount
per kilo,

1011
00:58:45,043 --> 00:58:48,437
which for me was, like,
unheard of.

1012
00:58:48,481 --> 00:58:50,614
You know, my profit margin
just -- just skyrocketed.

1013
00:58:57,185 --> 00:59:00,362
Ross soon realizes
he can make even more profit

1014
00:59:00,406 --> 00:59:03,061
if he uses a new way
of processing cocaine

1015
00:59:03,104 --> 00:59:05,759
that is increasingly popular
on the streets.

1016
00:59:05,803 --> 00:59:07,935
I run into a guy
who was a pimp.

1017
00:59:07,979 --> 00:59:09,763
What he was doing
is he was making it into

1018
00:59:09,807 --> 00:59:13,854
what we call rock form.

1019
00:59:13,898 --> 00:59:16,596
Rock, or what
will soon be known as crack,

1020
00:59:16,640 --> 00:59:19,599
is a mixture of baking soda
and powder cocaine

1021
00:59:19,643 --> 00:59:23,124
that delivers an instantaneous
and euphoric high.

1022
00:59:28,565 --> 00:59:30,958
But the high wears off quickly

1023
00:59:31,002 --> 00:59:33,918
and soon the user
needs another hit.

1024
00:59:33,961 --> 00:59:36,790
Powder cocaine.
It's the cocaine base

1025
00:59:36,834 --> 00:59:40,011
along with a hydrochloride
group attached to it.

1026
00:59:40,054 --> 00:59:42,753
Remove that hydrochloride group
that's attached,

1027
00:59:42,796 --> 00:59:44,929
then that's just
the cocaine base.

1028
00:59:44,972 --> 00:59:46,844
That's the freeing of the base.

1029
00:59:46,887 --> 00:59:48,715
You can smoke that.

1030
00:59:48,759 --> 00:59:51,544
Crack changes
the economics of cocaine ---

1031
00:59:51,588 --> 00:59:55,287
crack rocks are sold for
as little as $10 a hit.

1032
00:59:55,330 --> 00:59:59,421
Cheap to produce and cheap to
distribute, cheap to purchase.

1033
00:59:59,465 --> 01:00:01,641
It also created, in some ways,
more of an addiction

1034
01:00:01,685 --> 01:00:03,600
because it wasn't
really strong enough

1035
01:00:03,643 --> 01:00:05,297
to get you high for very long,

1036
01:00:05,340 --> 01:00:07,604
so you needed more of it.

1037
01:00:11,695 --> 01:00:14,654
Thanks to his source's
cut-rate cocaine,

1038
01:00:14,698 --> 01:00:18,005
and rising demand
on the streets,

1039
01:00:18,049 --> 01:00:19,790
Ross expands his operation,

1040
01:00:19,833 --> 01:00:23,097
building industrial-size labs
to cook crack.

1041
01:00:23,141 --> 01:00:27,580
We cookin' in pots
big enough to cook me in.

1042
01:00:29,843 --> 01:00:33,673
It became kind of like
an assembly line of production.

1043
01:00:37,546 --> 01:00:42,987
The demand just kept coming,
kept coming, kept coming.

1044
01:00:43,030 --> 01:00:46,730
His cooks are capable of making
50-kilogram rocks at a time.

1045
01:00:46,773 --> 01:00:48,296
Hm.

1046
01:00:48,340 --> 01:00:51,648
It takes a pickaxe
to break them up.

1047
01:00:51,691 --> 01:00:54,302
We went from $300 a day,
next thing you know,

1048
01:00:54,346 --> 01:00:55,913
we're making
a million dollars a day,

1049
01:00:55,956 --> 01:00:57,349
sometimes $3 million dollars.

1050
01:00:57,392 --> 01:00:59,786
And the rest is history.

1051
01:00:59,830 --> 01:01:01,788
He became the most
successful coke dealer

1052
01:01:01,832 --> 01:01:03,703
in South Central Los Angeles.

1053
01:01:03,747 --> 01:01:05,357
Everybody wanted to be
Rick Ross.

1054
01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:07,838
Everybody wanted to be
this big baller.

1055
01:01:07,881 --> 01:01:11,276
You know, something that
you dream of becoming.

1056
01:01:13,713 --> 01:01:15,846
But what no one
at the time in L.A. knows,

1057
01:01:15,889 --> 01:01:17,717
including Ross himself,

1058
01:01:17,761 --> 01:01:22,722
is that his main supplier
has a dark secret.

1059
01:01:22,766 --> 01:01:27,292
His full name --
Oscar Danilo Blandón.

1060
01:01:27,335 --> 01:01:30,730
He's a former Nicaraguan
government official,

1061
01:01:30,774 --> 01:01:34,212
who's now part of the CIA-backed
Contra war effort

1062
01:01:34,255 --> 01:01:37,694
to overthrow the communist
Sandinista government.

1063
01:01:37,737 --> 01:01:39,913
Danilo Blandón ended up
in California

1064
01:01:39,957 --> 01:01:42,742
as part of the political wing
of the Contras.

1065
01:01:42,786 --> 01:01:45,049
It was very difficult
for the organizers

1066
01:01:45,092 --> 01:01:47,355
of the political wing
of the Contras

1067
01:01:47,399 --> 01:01:50,315
to get any type of support
for their cause.

1068
01:01:50,358 --> 01:01:51,795
And so some
of these guys resorted

1069
01:01:51,838 --> 01:01:54,754
to very controversial means.

1070
01:01:54,798 --> 01:01:57,409
Danilo had connections
all over the country.

1071
01:01:57,452 --> 01:01:58,802
It was kind of like this whole

1072
01:01:58,845 --> 01:02:01,152
little Nicaraguan
connect, you know?

1073
01:02:01,195 --> 01:02:02,849
Blandón told me that money

1074
01:02:02,893 --> 01:02:05,199
that he made went toward
fighting this war.

1075
01:02:05,243 --> 01:02:07,332
They wanted this war to be won.

1076
01:02:07,375 --> 01:02:09,203
That was as far
as I went with it.

1077
01:02:09,247 --> 01:02:12,206
The less you know
about somebody, the better.

1078
01:02:12,250 --> 01:02:15,949
And Blandón starts offering
Ross more than just coke.

1079
01:02:15,993 --> 01:02:21,215
He started bringing Uzis
and MAC-10s and Thompsons,

1080
01:02:21,259 --> 01:02:27,134
AKs, and just
an arsenal of weapons,

1081
01:02:27,178 --> 01:02:28,919
that that we had
never saw before.

1082
01:02:28,962 --> 01:02:33,532
Okay, but the real
surprise -- this.

1083
01:02:33,575 --> 01:02:35,273
Blandón even provides Ross

1084
01:02:35,316 --> 01:02:38,319
sophisticated
police radio scanners.

1085
01:02:38,363 --> 01:02:40,408
You know when they're coming,

1086
01:02:40,452 --> 01:02:43,237
where they're coming
from, how many.

1087
01:02:43,281 --> 01:02:46,023
So Rick and his henchmen,
any time the police

1088
01:02:46,066 --> 01:02:47,981
started closing in
on his network,

1089
01:02:48,025 --> 01:02:50,114
he was able to find
out about it.

1090
01:02:50,157 --> 01:02:53,900
And every time they did a raid,
there was nothing there.

1091
01:02:53,944 --> 01:02:57,382
By 1986, crack has
spread across the country

1092
01:02:57,425 --> 01:03:00,254
and Freeway Rick Ross is
running a drug empire

1093
01:03:00,298 --> 01:03:02,474
that stretches across
20 states --

1094
01:03:02,517 --> 01:03:06,260
with an alleged income
of $900 million.

1095
01:03:06,304 --> 01:03:08,001
Well, the thing that made
Freeway Ricky Ross

1096
01:03:08,045 --> 01:03:10,656
such a successful crack kingpin

1097
01:03:10,699 --> 01:03:13,137
is the fact that he had
a very reliable supply

1098
01:03:13,180 --> 01:03:14,965
of cheap cocaine.

1099
01:03:15,008 --> 01:03:17,141
He was selling everything
that he was getting

1100
01:03:17,184 --> 01:03:18,969
as quickly as he got it.

1101
01:03:19,012 --> 01:03:21,710
And thanks to
Blandón's never-ending supply

1102
01:03:21,754 --> 01:03:23,408
of discount cocaine,

1103
01:03:23,451 --> 01:03:26,367
Ross helps change
the demographics of the drug --

1104
01:03:26,411 --> 01:03:29,980
from a rich man's party favor
to a cheap street high.

1105
01:03:34,506 --> 01:03:36,334
For many of us
who fell through the cracks

1106
01:03:36,377 --> 01:03:38,510
of society, crack was a way out.

1107
01:03:38,553 --> 01:03:40,860
But it had a devastating effect.

1108
01:03:40,904 --> 01:03:44,516
It was more like a bomb that was
dropped on the black community.

1109
01:03:44,559 --> 01:03:47,475
Hands behind your back!

1110
01:03:47,519 --> 01:03:51,871
That drug destroyed
families, communities,

1111
01:03:51,915 --> 01:03:55,701
and eventually it destroyed
part of the black race.

1112
01:03:55,744 --> 01:03:57,616
The people
that were most involved

1113
01:03:57,659 --> 01:04:02,012
in cocaine trafficking
in the early 1980s to mid-1980s

1114
01:04:02,055 --> 01:04:06,277
were the very same people
that the CIA was employing

1115
01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:09,236
to help channel weapons
to the Contras

1116
01:04:09,280 --> 01:04:12,109
and support those operations.

1117
01:04:12,152 --> 01:04:15,416
We had three or four
cases where we arrested

1118
01:04:15,460 --> 01:04:18,767
CIA contract workers
with cocaine,

1119
01:04:18,811 --> 01:04:23,381
and I get a phone call that
the charges have been dismissed.

1120
01:04:23,424 --> 01:04:26,863
You know, we are risking
our lives,

1121
01:04:26,906 --> 01:04:31,998
making cases against
significant drug traffickers.

1122
01:04:32,042 --> 01:04:34,914
Then on the other hand, you got
another government agency

1123
01:04:34,958 --> 01:04:38,570
allowing the drugs to come in.

1124
01:04:38,613 --> 01:04:41,268
And we're not talking
about 100 pounds,

1125
01:04:41,312 --> 01:04:44,489
we're talking about tons.

1126
01:04:44,532 --> 01:04:47,187
I don't care if you call it
national security or whatever.

1127
01:04:47,231 --> 01:04:50,364
That introduction

1128
01:04:50,408 --> 01:04:54,716
of white powder

1129
01:04:54,760 --> 01:05:00,548
was killing black people.

1130
01:05:10,776 --> 01:05:13,213
As the crack cocaine
epidemic spreads,

1131
01:05:13,257 --> 01:05:15,346
the White House creates
one of the most memorable

1132
01:05:15,389 --> 01:05:18,566
public-relations campaigns
in history.

1133
01:05:18,610 --> 01:05:21,787
What should you do
when someone offers you drugs?

1134
01:05:21,830 --> 01:05:24,833
Just say no!

1135
01:05:24,877 --> 01:05:27,184
Nancy Reagan's
"Just Say No" symbolized

1136
01:05:27,227 --> 01:05:29,490
the kind of zero tolerance,

1137
01:05:29,534 --> 01:05:32,276
puritanical approach
that America has always taken.

1138
01:05:32,319 --> 01:05:34,626
America is not good
doing nuance.

1139
01:05:34,669 --> 01:05:37,324
We don't do grays.

1140
01:05:37,368 --> 01:05:39,674
Hollywood also gets involved,

1141
01:05:39,718 --> 01:05:43,287
with celebrities joining
the anti-crack chorus.

1142
01:05:43,330 --> 01:05:47,204
This is crack -- rock cocaine.

1143
01:05:47,247 --> 01:05:52,122
It isn't glamorous or cool
or kid's stuff.

1144
01:05:52,165 --> 01:05:56,256
It's the most addictive kind
of cocaine, and it can kill you.

1145
01:05:56,300 --> 01:05:58,824
What will you do
when someone offers you drugs?

1146
01:05:58,867 --> 01:06:01,914
Just say no!

1147
01:06:01,958 --> 01:06:03,481
I can't hear you! Louder!

1148
01:06:03,524 --> 01:06:06,397
Just say no!

1149
01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:08,529
That's wonderful.

1150
01:06:10,879 --> 01:06:14,057
What's really ironic
is the fact that Nancy Reagan

1151
01:06:14,100 --> 01:06:17,364
was waging this huge
just say no to drugs campaign

1152
01:06:17,408 --> 01:06:21,629
and making drug use
a national moral issue,

1153
01:06:21,673 --> 01:06:24,632
at the same time that
her husband's administration

1154
01:06:24,676 --> 01:06:27,722
was elbow-deep
in the drug trade.

1155
01:06:27,766 --> 01:06:30,682
Down with dope.
Up with hope.

1156
01:06:30,725 --> 01:06:32,466
Down with dope.

1157
01:06:32,510 --> 01:06:37,732
Fast forward into
the summer of 1986...

1158
01:06:37,776 --> 01:06:40,213
Len Bias, the basketball player,

1159
01:06:40,257 --> 01:06:45,436
the second overall draft pick
of the 1986 draft dies.

1160
01:06:45,479 --> 01:06:48,221
Initial reports
were that Len Bias

1161
01:06:48,265 --> 01:06:50,397
had taken crack cocaine.

1162
01:06:50,441 --> 01:06:53,618
And so the reports were,
"This drug is so unpredictable

1163
01:06:53,661 --> 01:06:57,056
and so addictive
that it killed this athlete

1164
01:06:57,100 --> 01:06:59,319
at the height of his powers."

1165
01:06:59,363 --> 01:07:01,365
Then a week later, Don Rogers,

1166
01:07:01,408 --> 01:07:04,803
a Cleveland Brown, dies.

1167
01:07:04,846 --> 01:07:06,979
In both cases, it was
powder cocaine,

1168
01:07:07,023 --> 01:07:08,502
but it didn't matter.

1169
01:07:08,546 --> 01:07:11,505
In the American people's
conscience, it was crack.

1170
01:07:11,549 --> 01:07:14,291
And crack was so unpredictable
and so addictive

1171
01:07:14,334 --> 01:07:16,902
that it took down
these two great athletes

1172
01:07:16,945 --> 01:07:19,600
at the peak of their powers.

1173
01:07:19,644 --> 01:07:24,083
Jesse Jackson gives the eulogy
at Len Bias's funeral.

1174
01:07:24,127 --> 01:07:27,304
He says that crack has killed
more black people

1175
01:07:27,347 --> 01:07:31,873
than Klu Klux Klan ropes.

1176
01:07:31,917 --> 01:07:34,963
Congressman in Harlem,
Charlie Rangel,

1177
01:07:35,007 --> 01:07:40,186
was on President Reagan about
not doing enough for drugs.

1178
01:07:40,230 --> 01:07:42,928
All of these forces
are coming together.

1179
01:07:42,971 --> 01:07:45,931
And so Congress did the only
thing that they could do

1180
01:07:45,974 --> 01:07:48,064
and President
signed the legislation,

1181
01:07:48,107 --> 01:07:54,200
and that's the 1986
Anti-Drug Abuse Act.

1182
01:07:54,244 --> 01:07:59,640
Well, today it gives me great
pleasure to sign legislation

1183
01:07:59,684 --> 01:08:01,381
that reflects
the total commitment

1184
01:08:01,425 --> 01:08:03,862
of the American people
and their government

1185
01:08:03,905 --> 01:08:06,734
to fight the evil of drugs.

1186
01:08:06,778 --> 01:08:08,736
Under these new
sentencing guidelines,

1187
01:08:08,780 --> 01:08:10,999
five grams of crack cocaine,

1188
01:08:11,043 --> 01:08:14,351
often sold by and to
African-Americans,

1189
01:08:14,394 --> 01:08:18,094
carries a mandatory
five-year sentence.

1190
01:08:18,137 --> 01:08:22,228
For powder cocaine, often sold
by and to white Americans,

1191
01:08:22,272 --> 01:08:25,710
it would take 100 times that
amount for the same sentence.

1192
01:08:30,845 --> 01:08:32,412
All of a sudden,
they just started locking up

1193
01:08:32,456 --> 01:08:36,242
basically these kids.

1194
01:08:36,286 --> 01:08:39,767
These guys were coming in
for small amounts of crack

1195
01:08:39,811 --> 01:08:41,682
and getting more time
than a guy who's busted

1196
01:08:41,726 --> 01:08:44,076
with a kilo of pure cocaine.

1197
01:08:46,905 --> 01:08:50,517
Removing them from the
community, what does that do?

1198
01:08:50,561 --> 01:08:53,477
Now you don't have the people
who are bread winners

1199
01:08:53,520 --> 01:08:56,784
to support families.

1200
01:08:56,828 --> 01:09:00,397
The protectors of
the communities, they're gone.

1201
01:09:02,312 --> 01:09:04,662
What does the Reagan
War on Drugs do?

1202
01:09:04,705 --> 01:09:07,099
Well, consider this -- in 1980,

1203
01:09:07,143 --> 01:09:09,841
African-Americans are 12%
of the American population,

1204
01:09:09,884 --> 01:09:15,194
and they constitute 23%
of people arrested for drugs.

1205
01:09:15,238 --> 01:09:18,066
10 years later, they're still
12% of the overall population,

1206
01:09:18,110 --> 01:09:20,068
but now they constitute 40%

1207
01:09:20,112 --> 01:09:21,896
of everyone arrested for drugs,

1208
01:09:21,940 --> 01:09:25,073
and 60% of everyone convicted.

1209
01:09:35,954 --> 01:09:38,391
Authorities believe
last night's machine-gun killing

1210
01:09:38,435 --> 01:09:40,524
of top drug informant Barry Seal

1211
01:09:40,567 --> 01:09:43,483
was ordered by drug bosses
in Medellin, Colombia,

1212
01:09:43,527 --> 01:09:47,792
who sent five men
to Baton Rouge to kill Seal.

1213
01:09:47,835 --> 01:09:51,099
Barry Seal met an ignoble end.

1214
01:09:51,143 --> 01:09:55,669
He was gunned-down
in the streets.

1215
01:09:55,713 --> 01:10:00,935
Questions linger over
exactly who killed him.

1216
01:10:00,979 --> 01:10:02,807
Seal was a tough-guy pilot

1217
01:10:02,850 --> 01:10:05,462
who became one of the most
important and daring

1218
01:10:05,505 --> 01:10:07,464
undercover operatives
infiltrating

1219
01:10:07,507 --> 01:10:09,944
the top Colombian
drug operations.

1220
01:10:09,988 --> 01:10:14,122
Barry Seal was supposed to be
a highly protected witness

1221
01:10:14,166 --> 01:10:15,820
at the time of his death

1222
01:10:15,863 --> 01:10:19,476
and yet, the gunmen were
very easily able to find him

1223
01:10:19,519 --> 01:10:22,914
and shoot him down in public.

1224
01:10:22,957 --> 01:10:24,742
It was Seal
who posed as a smuggler

1225
01:10:24,785 --> 01:10:27,571
and flew into Nicaragua
and took these pictures

1226
01:10:27,614 --> 01:10:30,704
showing Colombian drug dealers
and Sandinista officials

1227
01:10:30,748 --> 01:10:32,619
loading cocaine on his plane.

1228
01:10:32,663 --> 01:10:34,578
Seal was scheduled to be
the key witness

1229
01:10:34,621 --> 01:10:37,363
against this man -- Jorge Ochoa,

1230
01:10:37,407 --> 01:10:39,322
the top Colombian drug boss

1231
01:10:39,365 --> 01:10:41,237
responsible for
the assassination

1232
01:10:41,280 --> 01:10:45,197
of Colombia's attorney general
and now the murder in Louisiana.

1233
01:10:45,241 --> 01:10:47,765
There were a number of people
that Seal

1234
01:10:47,808 --> 01:10:51,769
had begun to infuriate.

1235
01:10:51,812 --> 01:10:55,947
Barry Seal began telling people
that he was flying weapons

1236
01:10:55,990 --> 01:11:00,038
for the Central Intelligence
Agency into Central America

1237
01:11:00,081 --> 01:11:03,520
in support of the Contras.

1238
01:11:03,563 --> 01:11:06,305
He also talked about
Pablo Escobar,

1239
01:11:06,349 --> 01:11:10,614
and a lot of people believe
that Barry Seal's death

1240
01:11:10,657 --> 01:11:12,529
was basically a collusion

1241
01:11:12,572 --> 01:11:16,924
between the U.S. government
and the cartels.

1242
01:11:16,968 --> 01:11:20,798
What's interesting is that
a year after Barry Seal's death,

1243
01:11:20,841 --> 01:11:23,714
the Contra operation unraveled.

1244
01:11:29,981 --> 01:11:32,636
Deep in the jungles
of Nicaragua,

1245
01:11:32,679 --> 01:11:35,073
Marxist Sandinistas soldiers

1246
01:11:35,116 --> 01:11:37,684
just shot down
a military cargo plane.

1247
01:11:40,383 --> 01:11:44,430
Lo and behold, out
of the jungle comes this guy.

1248
01:11:48,565 --> 01:11:50,915
His plane has been shot down,

1249
01:11:50,958 --> 01:11:52,656
the two other crew members
are killed,

1250
01:11:52,699 --> 01:11:55,354
and a 17-year-old
Sandinista soldier

1251
01:11:55,398 --> 01:11:57,269
has him bound by the hands

1252
01:11:57,313 --> 01:11:59,358
and is leading him
out of the forest

1253
01:11:59,402 --> 01:12:03,188
with a rifle over his shoulder.

1254
01:12:03,231 --> 01:12:05,625
And from that
totally spectacular

1255
01:12:05,669 --> 01:12:07,975
and unexpected moment,

1256
01:12:08,019 --> 01:12:11,501
a whole series
of revelations unfolds.

1257
01:12:11,544 --> 01:12:14,330
The lone survivor of the crash,

1258
01:12:14,373 --> 01:12:20,379
Eugene Hasenfus, is no stranger
to covert operations.

1259
01:12:20,423 --> 01:12:22,512
He's a veteran of Air America,

1260
01:12:22,555 --> 01:12:26,298
the CIA airline that allegedly
helped fuel the heroin trade

1261
01:12:26,342 --> 01:12:30,476
during the Vietnam War.

1262
01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:34,437
If you told the average person
that there were Americans

1263
01:12:34,480 --> 01:12:37,004
who had fought in a secret war
in Laos

1264
01:12:37,048 --> 01:12:38,919
doing the same thing
in Central America,

1265
01:12:38,963 --> 01:12:40,617
most people would've
thought you were crazy.

1266
01:12:42,445 --> 01:12:46,057
The very same allegations
ended up surfacing

1267
01:12:46,100 --> 01:12:49,321
that not only were weapons being
brought down to Central America

1268
01:12:49,365 --> 01:12:52,455
to secret bases that the CIA
had involvement

1269
01:12:52,498 --> 01:12:53,934
with protecting and controlling,

1270
01:12:53,978 --> 01:12:55,240
but also these flights

1271
01:12:55,283 --> 01:12:57,155
were returning to military bases

1272
01:12:57,198 --> 01:12:59,157
and drugs were being brought
into the country.

1273
01:12:59,200 --> 01:13:04,554
It probably would've been better
if I would've been...

1274
01:13:04,597 --> 01:13:06,164
if I wouldn't of made it
out of that plane.

1275
01:13:06,207 --> 01:13:09,297
-Why?
-Dead people don't talk.

1276
01:13:11,343 --> 01:13:13,780
In the wreckage,
the Sandinistas find evidence

1277
01:13:13,824 --> 01:13:16,174
linking the plane
to the illegal operation

1278
01:13:16,217 --> 01:13:20,047
to arm the CIA backed
right-wing Contra army.

1279
01:13:20,091 --> 01:13:24,791
Congress very plainly stated
to the Reagan administration,

1280
01:13:24,835 --> 01:13:27,925
"You can't send weapons
to the Contras."

1281
01:13:30,841 --> 01:13:33,539
But this plane's loaded
with weapons,

1282
01:13:33,583 --> 01:13:37,587
and it began to expose
the Contra operation.

1283
01:13:37,630 --> 01:13:41,460
The plane actually had a more
interesting history than that.

1284
01:13:41,504 --> 01:13:45,290
The very same plane that had
been shot down over Nicaragua

1285
01:13:45,333 --> 01:13:47,248
carrying weapons for the CIA

1286
01:13:47,292 --> 01:13:49,860
was the plane that
had belonged to Barry Seal.

1287
01:13:52,428 --> 01:13:55,387
This was an unprecedented event
in American history,

1288
01:13:55,431 --> 01:14:00,697
where you basically
have a secret CIA operation

1289
01:14:00,740 --> 01:14:03,787
laid bare for everyone
to look at and to dissect

1290
01:14:03,830 --> 01:14:05,832
and to criticize.

1291
01:14:07,834 --> 01:14:09,314
Reporter" Today,
Colonel Oliver North's

1292
01:14:09,357 --> 01:14:12,404
the key witness
in the Iran arms scandal,

1293
01:14:12,448 --> 01:14:14,928
is due to give evidence in
public for the first time.

1294
01:14:17,061 --> 01:14:18,976
Congressional hearings
are called,

1295
01:14:19,019 --> 01:14:21,413
and the illegal operation
to arm the Contras

1296
01:14:21,457 --> 01:14:24,677
is revealed to be part
of a larger conspiracy.

1297
01:14:24,721 --> 01:14:26,070
The Iran-Contra scandal

1298
01:14:26,113 --> 01:14:27,550
is one of the most
complicated scandals

1299
01:14:27,593 --> 01:14:29,203
in the history
of American politics.

1300
01:14:29,247 --> 01:14:31,075
It's not just one scandal.

1301
01:14:31,118 --> 01:14:33,120
It's several scandals
wrapped into one.

1302
01:14:33,164 --> 01:14:35,993
On the one hand,
a secret war in Nicaragua,

1303
01:14:36,036 --> 01:14:38,691
but on the other hand,
America's arch enemy, Iran,

1304
01:14:38,735 --> 01:14:41,172
actually receiving missiles
from the U.S. government,

1305
01:14:41,215 --> 01:14:43,870
the profits of which
were used to purchase supplies

1306
01:14:43,914 --> 01:14:46,569
for the war in Nicaragua.

1307
01:14:46,612 --> 01:14:48,875
The elaborate
operation is run

1308
01:14:48,919 --> 01:14:52,792
by Lieutenant Colonel
Oliver North --

1309
01:14:52,836 --> 01:14:56,187
A highly-decorated platoon
commander in Vietnam,

1310
01:14:56,230 --> 01:14:58,450
now a National Security Council
staffer

1311
01:14:58,494 --> 01:15:01,148
for the Reagan White House.

1312
01:15:01,192 --> 01:15:04,978
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North
was a nobody effectively

1313
01:15:05,022 --> 01:15:06,763
at the beginning
of the Contra war.

1314
01:15:06,806 --> 01:15:08,416
It's with great pleasure
that I present to you

1315
01:15:08,460 --> 01:15:10,288
Oliver North.

1316
01:15:10,331 --> 01:15:13,552
But he got very lucky
because he was known

1317
01:15:13,596 --> 01:15:16,686
by a select group of superiors
in the National Security Council

1318
01:15:16,729 --> 01:15:18,209
as a guy that would
pretty much do anything

1319
01:15:18,252 --> 01:15:20,690
and not ask any
questions whatsoever.

1320
01:15:20,733 --> 01:15:24,041
And so there's, literally,
a very narrow chain of command

1321
01:15:24,084 --> 01:15:27,827
from the highest levels of power
out of the vice-president office

1322
01:15:27,871 --> 01:15:30,656
down to one guy,
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North,

1323
01:15:30,700 --> 01:15:32,223
that was given free license

1324
01:15:32,266 --> 01:15:35,226
to run a secret war
in Nicaragua.

1325
01:15:35,269 --> 01:15:38,185
The National Security Council
during the Reagan administration

1326
01:15:38,229 --> 01:15:40,666
was very powerful.

1327
01:15:40,710 --> 01:15:43,277
-Okay, well, let me ask you --
-I don't have a comment.

1328
01:15:43,321 --> 01:15:46,890
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North
was really the one directing

1329
01:15:46,933 --> 01:15:49,066
a lot of these CIA operations.

1330
01:15:53,853 --> 01:15:55,638
The nation is transfixed

1331
01:15:55,681 --> 01:15:57,770
when North is forced to testify.

1332
01:15:57,814 --> 01:16:01,426
You had the spectacle
of this ramrod,

1333
01:16:01,469 --> 01:16:04,429
straight patriotic American --

1334
01:16:04,472 --> 01:16:09,086
true believer, boy-scout
Oliver North raising his hand.

1335
01:16:09,129 --> 01:16:14,570
When I saw Oliver North
raise his hand to be sworn in,

1336
01:16:14,613 --> 01:16:17,616
you know, he hadn't worn
the uniform in 10 years,

1337
01:16:17,660 --> 01:16:19,531
and that day, he put it on

1338
01:16:19,575 --> 01:16:22,099
to make it look like
he was a patriot.

1339
01:16:24,884 --> 01:16:28,453
While North denies working with
or protecting drug traffickers,

1340
01:16:28,496 --> 01:16:30,760
he admits to shredding
classified documents.

1341
01:16:30,803 --> 01:16:34,938
I do not deny that I engaged
in shredding on November 21st.

1342
01:16:34,981 --> 01:16:37,854
I will also tell this committee
that I engaged in shredding

1343
01:16:37,897 --> 01:16:39,986
almost every day
that I had a shredder.

1344
01:16:40,030 --> 01:16:43,729
But some of his diary entries
survive,

1345
01:16:43,773 --> 01:16:46,558
including several in which North
appears to be aware

1346
01:16:46,602 --> 01:16:50,780
the Contras were involved
in cocaine trafficking.

1347
01:16:50,823 --> 01:16:52,999
North ended up taking the fall

1348
01:16:53,043 --> 01:16:55,654
for a lot of the things
that happened,

1349
01:16:55,698 --> 01:16:58,962
but there were people higher-up
that were never prosecuted.

1350
01:16:59,005 --> 01:17:00,920
Vice President Bush

1351
01:17:00,964 --> 01:17:04,663
denies he knew about
any Contra drug trafficking.

1352
01:17:04,707 --> 01:17:06,926
When Bush is elected president,

1353
01:17:06,970 --> 01:17:09,407
he pardons
six high-ranking officials --

1354
01:17:09,450 --> 01:17:11,670
including
the Secretary of Defense

1355
01:17:11,714 --> 01:17:14,412
and the CIA's head
of covert operations --

1356
01:17:14,455 --> 01:17:17,763
over their involvement
in illegal arms sales.

1357
01:17:17,807 --> 01:17:20,679
When North is convicted
of lying to Congress,

1358
01:17:20,723 --> 01:17:23,160
he never spends a day in prison.

1359
01:17:27,730 --> 01:17:32,125
But beneath the Iran-Contra
affair lies a deeper scandal.

1360
01:17:32,169 --> 01:17:35,172
What you ultimately had
was a very dark chapter

1361
01:17:35,215 --> 01:17:37,174
in the United States involvement

1362
01:17:37,217 --> 01:17:40,917
with drug trafficking.

1363
01:17:40,960 --> 01:17:42,701
The Iran-Contra
investigation

1364
01:17:42,745 --> 01:17:45,704
has really, really
never been told.

1365
01:17:45,748 --> 01:17:48,315
You have the bipartisan
investigations,

1366
01:17:48,359 --> 01:17:51,449
people will read,
and then they'll forget.

1367
01:17:51,492 --> 01:17:54,234
They know that nothing's
going to happen,

1368
01:17:54,278 --> 01:17:56,193
and you saw it
with Oliver North.

1369
01:17:56,236 --> 01:18:00,850
He got indicted, he was
convicted, and they let him go.

1370
01:18:00,893 --> 01:18:05,028
It was in no way hidden
that this mercenary force

1371
01:18:05,071 --> 01:18:07,595
that was being funded
with U.S. tax money

1372
01:18:07,639 --> 01:18:12,731
was also, apparently,
importing drugs to the U.S.

1373
01:18:12,775 --> 01:18:16,430
That fact was established even
as it was quickly brushed aside.

1374
01:18:21,044 --> 01:18:22,785
Luck has finally run
out for the man

1375
01:18:22,828 --> 01:18:27,050
who helped Pablo Escobar
revolutionize the cocaine trade.

1376
01:18:27,093 --> 01:18:31,010
Carlos Lehder is captured
by the Columbian National Police

1377
01:18:31,054 --> 01:18:37,147
and extradited
to the United States.

1378
01:18:37,190 --> 01:18:39,584
He's convicted of drug smuggling

1379
01:18:39,627 --> 01:18:42,805
and sentenced to life in prison
without parole.

1380
01:18:42,848 --> 01:18:48,462
plus an additional 135 years.

1381
01:18:48,506 --> 01:18:50,290
After testifying against

1382
01:18:50,334 --> 01:18:53,119
Panamanian dictator
Manuel Noriega,

1383
01:18:53,163 --> 01:18:57,776
his sentence is reduced
to 55 years.

1384
01:18:57,820 --> 01:19:02,041
Lehder also tells the government
that the Medellin Cartel

1385
01:19:02,085 --> 01:19:05,610
had given $10 million
to the CIA-backed Contra Army

1386
01:19:05,653 --> 01:19:07,917
in Nicaragua.

1387
01:19:07,960 --> 01:19:11,181
It's the first public indication
that the cartel was connected

1388
01:19:11,224 --> 01:19:14,445
to the CIA's secret war.

1389
01:19:18,971 --> 01:19:23,802
The hearing will
come to order, please?

1390
01:19:23,846 --> 01:19:27,284
What is the definition
of national security

1391
01:19:27,327 --> 01:19:30,809
which permits us to sacrifice
the war on illegal drugs

1392
01:19:30,853 --> 01:19:34,030
to support the illegal war
of Contras?

1393
01:19:34,073 --> 01:19:35,858
After the Iran-Contra hearings,

1394
01:19:35,901 --> 01:19:38,425
Senator John Kerry
conducts a separate

1395
01:19:38,469 --> 01:19:41,733
and often secret investigation
of the government's involvement

1396
01:19:41,777 --> 01:19:45,693
with drug smugglers
during the 1980s.

1397
01:19:45,737 --> 01:19:47,826
Right on the heels
of the Iran-Contra scandal,

1398
01:19:47,870 --> 01:19:50,002
you had John Kerry --
the lone politician

1399
01:19:50,046 --> 01:19:52,178
willing to try to take this on.

1400
01:19:52,222 --> 01:19:54,354
In testimony before
this committee last year,

1401
01:19:54,398 --> 01:19:55,747
we heard how it's possible

1402
01:19:55,791 --> 01:19:58,228
to literally rent
an island overnight

1403
01:19:58,271 --> 01:20:00,360
so that drug planes
can land, unload,

1404
01:20:00,404 --> 01:20:04,103
and transfer their drugs to
boats that come into Florida.

1405
01:20:04,147 --> 01:20:07,585
We will hear testimony
about the destabilization

1406
01:20:07,628 --> 01:20:11,545
of whole countries, regions,
the support for terrorism,

1407
01:20:11,589 --> 01:20:15,767
and the subversion of our own
laws and institutions.

1408
01:20:15,811 --> 01:20:19,858
Contra pilots
testify under oath.

1409
01:20:19,902 --> 01:20:22,078
After the guns were unloaded,

1410
01:20:22,121 --> 01:20:24,602
was something loaded
into the airplane?

1411
01:20:24,645 --> 01:20:27,170
Uh, yes. I loaded
about 17 duffel bags

1412
01:20:27,213 --> 01:20:29,825
and, uh,
five or six boxes.

1413
01:20:29,868 --> 01:20:32,044
And what was in
the duffel bags?

1414
01:20:32,088 --> 01:20:33,785
Coke -- cocaine.

1415
01:20:33,829 --> 01:20:34,742
And in the boxes?

1416
01:20:34,786 --> 01:20:36,875
Cocaine.

1417
01:20:36,919 --> 01:20:39,965
Anybody explain to you what you
were loading or did you know?

1418
01:20:40,009 --> 01:20:42,315
I knew.

1419
01:20:42,359 --> 01:20:44,361
So we stand in recess
for 10 minutes.

1420
01:20:44,404 --> 01:20:46,842
Despite the admission
Contra pilots

1421
01:20:46,885 --> 01:20:50,106
were running drugs to finance
an illegal CIA war,

1422
01:20:50,149 --> 01:20:53,805
few in the media pick up
on the story.

1423
01:20:53,849 --> 01:20:55,415
In 1992,

1424
01:20:55,459 --> 01:20:57,504
Contra supporter Danilo Blandón

1425
01:20:57,548 --> 01:20:59,724
is charged with
cocaine distribution,

1426
01:20:59,767 --> 01:21:01,421
but to reduce his sentence,

1427
01:21:01,465 --> 01:21:04,424
he agrees to help the government
in a sting operation

1428
01:21:04,468 --> 01:21:06,992
to bring down his old
customer Rick Ross.

1429
01:21:09,777 --> 01:21:12,128
I just need to keep staring
right into the thing, right?

1430
01:21:12,171 --> 01:21:14,173
It's not until 1996

1431
01:21:14,217 --> 01:21:16,610
that a little known reporter
named Gary Webb

1432
01:21:16,654 --> 01:21:19,700
will expose Blandón's
Contra connections.

1433
01:21:19,744 --> 01:21:21,354
We've got all the DEA
undercover tapes,

1434
01:21:21,398 --> 01:21:22,921
we got the FBI reports.

1435
01:21:22,965 --> 01:21:24,314
What we found that it was
connected

1436
01:21:24,357 --> 01:21:26,664
to this Nicaraguan
cocaine pipeline.

1437
01:21:31,538 --> 01:21:33,018
With controversy swirling,

1438
01:21:33,062 --> 01:21:36,761
the CIA director himself,
John Deutch,

1439
01:21:36,804 --> 01:21:38,806
agrees to a town hall meeting

1440
01:21:38,850 --> 01:21:43,550
with the citizens
of South Central L.A.

1441
01:21:43,594 --> 01:21:45,422
You, the President,
and everybody else

1442
01:21:45,465 --> 01:21:48,077
should be highly upset and say,

1443
01:21:48,120 --> 01:21:51,297
"How did this cancer get here?

1444
01:21:51,341 --> 01:21:53,430
How did it happen?"

1445
01:21:53,473 --> 01:21:57,173
The African-American
community really picked it up

1446
01:21:57,216 --> 01:21:59,218
and felt that this was
confirmation

1447
01:21:59,262 --> 01:22:01,568
of what they had been suffering,

1448
01:22:01,612 --> 01:22:05,137
through the war on drugs
and the epidemic of addiction.

1449
01:22:05,181 --> 01:22:07,400
The drugs have been
coming in this country

1450
01:22:07,444 --> 01:22:09,794
and they have been sanctioned
by our government.

1451
01:22:09,837 --> 01:22:13,624
Thank you.

1452
01:22:13,667 --> 01:22:14,973
Rick Ross' co-defendant

1453
01:22:15,017 --> 01:22:17,628
confronts the CIA director.

1454
01:22:17,671 --> 01:22:19,021
Rick lookin' at life.

1455
01:22:19,064 --> 01:22:21,327
My first offense,
I'm looking at 20.

1456
01:22:21,371 --> 01:22:25,114
And Blandón is out of jail
and you paid him $166,000.

1457
01:22:30,336 --> 01:22:32,860
The co-defendant of Ricky Ross.

1458
01:22:32,904 --> 01:22:35,515
Ricky Ross is doing
George Bush's time.

1459
01:22:39,606 --> 01:22:41,826
The purpose of the investigation

1460
01:22:41,869 --> 01:22:45,482
that I described to you
was exactly to find out

1461
01:22:45,525 --> 01:22:50,748
whether CIA officers allowed
that kind of trafficking

1462
01:22:50,791 --> 01:22:54,230
take place knowingly
or conspired to do so.

1463
01:22:54,273 --> 01:22:56,449
That is the purpose
of the investigation.

1464
01:22:56,493 --> 01:22:59,104
If we find anybody who did it,
we will bring them to justice.

1465
01:23:02,586 --> 01:23:03,674
After the town hall,

1466
01:23:03,717 --> 01:23:05,632
the CIA's Inspector General

1467
01:23:05,676 --> 01:23:09,114
launches an internal
investigation.

1468
01:23:09,158 --> 01:23:12,900
He finds numerous allegations
that CIA-backed Contras

1469
01:23:12,944 --> 01:23:16,121
were involved in cocaine
trafficking,

1470
01:23:16,165 --> 01:23:19,124
but he concludes the operations
were never sanctioned.

1471
01:23:21,692 --> 01:23:24,738
The U.S. media just completely
ignored this story.

1472
01:23:24,782 --> 01:23:29,395
It portrayed Kerry
as a conspiracy theorist.

1473
01:23:29,439 --> 01:23:32,964
Gary Webb loses his job
and then his career

1474
01:23:33,008 --> 01:23:35,836
over the backlash to his story

1475
01:23:35,880 --> 01:23:38,100
and later commits suicide.

1476
01:23:40,058 --> 01:23:44,062
Rick Ross serves
16 1/2 years in prison.

1477
01:23:44,106 --> 01:23:45,933
I'm sitting in prison,
and here they are saying

1478
01:23:45,977 --> 01:23:48,153
that I was connected to the CIA.

1479
01:23:48,197 --> 01:23:50,895
How can I be tied to the CIA,
you know,

1480
01:23:50,938 --> 01:23:53,202
little old me, Ricky Ross.

1481
01:23:53,245 --> 01:23:55,682
It was just a crazy situation
to find myself in.

1482
01:24:01,297 --> 01:24:03,908
Cocaine lives parallel
lives throughout the 1980s.

1483
01:24:03,951 --> 01:24:07,607
It starts this fun player drug
in the early 1980s,

1484
01:24:07,651 --> 01:24:09,348
and by the end of the 1980s,

1485
01:24:09,392 --> 01:24:12,177
it's a fun player drug
for a lot of fun players

1486
01:24:12,221 --> 01:24:15,963
who mostly happen
to be white and rich.

1487
01:24:16,007 --> 01:24:20,185
The Reagan War on Drugs
had really been dominated

1488
01:24:20,229 --> 01:24:23,145
by the idea
of these foreign bogeymen

1489
01:24:23,188 --> 01:24:25,625
who were harming America,

1490
01:24:25,669 --> 01:24:27,627
even though there's
this long history

1491
01:24:27,671 --> 01:24:29,977
since the very beginning
of the CIA,

1492
01:24:30,021 --> 01:24:32,067
of operating in countries

1493
01:24:32,110 --> 01:24:35,940
where they ally themselves
with people

1494
01:24:35,983 --> 01:24:37,942
that are involved in drugs.

1495
01:24:37,985 --> 01:24:40,553
If you took every single
cartel leader --

1496
01:24:40,597 --> 01:24:42,729
Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder,

1497
01:24:42,773 --> 01:24:46,124
line them up on the walls
and you killed them,

1498
01:24:46,168 --> 01:24:47,691
there would be a line tomorrow

1499
01:24:47,734 --> 01:24:50,607
of a hundred deep
to replace each one.

1500
01:24:50,650 --> 01:24:54,306
There has never been and there
will never be a War on Drugs

1501
01:24:54,350 --> 01:24:58,702
because America is more addicted

1502
01:24:58,745 --> 01:25:00,834
to drug money than they are
to drugs.

1503
01:25:07,624 --> 01:25:09,104
As America's War On Drugs

1504
01:25:09,147 --> 01:25:10,888
enters its third decade...

1505
01:25:10,931 --> 01:25:12,846
He was owned
lock, stock, and barrel

1506
01:25:12,890 --> 01:25:14,413
by drug dealers.

1507
01:25:14,457 --> 01:25:16,633
Do you know who is
supporting the enemy?

1508
01:25:16,676 --> 01:25:18,678
The casual drug user.

1509
01:25:18,722 --> 01:25:21,594
The militarization
begins in Los Angeles.

1510
01:25:21,638 --> 01:25:23,553
Is it good?

1511
01:25:23,596 --> 01:25:25,816
We had been partying
like a week straight.

1512
01:25:25,859 --> 01:25:29,472
I've got FBI, I've got DEA,
I said "Where's AC/DC at?"

1513
01:25:29,515 --> 01:25:31,300
I experimented
with marijuana a time or two

1514
01:25:31,343 --> 01:25:33,171
and I didn't like it.

1515
01:25:33,215 --> 01:25:35,304
St. - The perfect answer
became "I didn't inhale."

1516
01:25:35,347 --> 01:25:39,090
Drugs is big money
and NAFTA was big money.

1517
01:25:39,134 --> 01:25:40,831
El futuro es la frontera.

1518
01:25:40,874 --> 01:25:42,963
Let us stick with
the strategy that's working

1519
01:25:43,007 --> 01:25:45,009
and keep the crime rate
coming down.