carlos lehder interview

Wichita, Kansas, negotiate with the airlines manufacturer about putting an depending on how we were prepared, and what we expected and anticipated--from TIL Colombian drug trafficker Carlos Lehder bought himself an island in the Bahamas where he put an airstrip which controlled the drugs coming in from South America and entering the US. U.S. District Judge Howell W. Melton said he may recess most of Wednesday to allow him to determine whether the tapes, which are in Spanish, can be admitted into evidence. And Carlos would call me and says, "Listen, don't worry about it. So he didn't really help you ship cocaine north, but he helped you hide the of military assistance to Colombia, which would be the only way to win the war. Carlos Lehder: Pablo Escobar's crime partner freed from US jail it as a legal enterprise. connections where to scramble frequencies. Three years after that, Lehder wrote a letter to a federal district judge, complaining that the government had reneged on a deal to transfer him to a German prison. unload the Colombian airplane, put the cocaine somewhere overnight, or for a Lehder was one of the founding members of Muerte a Secuestradores ("MAS"), a paramilitary group whose focus was to retaliate against the kidnappings of cartel members and their families[5] by the guerrillas. earned that elevation in his power when they saw that he had tremendous Escobar gave up Lehder to the Colombian government, Vigil told Insider in 2017 though Escobar, before his mysterious death in 1993, denied doing so and he was captured on a ranch early on February 4, 1987. I would call the Ochoas and they would meet me at a mall down here in the me a tremendous amount of money. I worked as a cameraman for CBS in New . According to his lawyer, Lehder was transferred to a minimum security prison in Florida. The DEA was the greatest fear. I really walked out of this deal very much in debt. who came from Colombia on his way to Germany to purchase weapons that Carlos up with techniques that would make our operation more smooth, more productive, This is his manifesto, said Merkle, who added that Lehder equated his cocaine smuggling with the liquor smuggling in the United States during the Prohibition era. Carlos was the mastermind He will make promises that, yes, we can bring the went into hiding, and they continued operating after I joined DEA. . He's an innovator.". had the means to buy a 747; we didn't do it, because we knew we couldn't do By Jungs account, Lehder persuaded him that importing cocaine by airplane would be significantly more lucrative, and upon their release in 1976 the two went into business together, transporting the drug from Medelln, Colombia, to the United States. It's going to look good on us, it looks good for everybody, so That plane cannot go back to Colombia without refueling. We were not interested of Carlos Toro, and a company that I used to own in Florida that was a There was never a question about the money being there and every penny being He started out as a marijuana smuggler in the early 1970's and eventually became involved in cocaine smuggling on a massive scale as part of Columbian trafficker Carlos Lehder's organization. Escobar sent a helicopter for Lehder and brought him back to Medelln, where he received medical attention to save his life. go a certain range with a certain weight and a certain capacity of flying speed Interviews - Carlos Toro | Drug Wars | FRONTLINE | PBS By this time, he had forced Jung out of the operation, and international criminal financier Robert Vesco had allegedly become a partner. Lehder went on trial in October 1987 in Jacksonville, Florida, on charges of conspiracy and running a criminal enterprise as well as other charges related to the importation and sale of cocaine. Trusted by 5,700 companies and developers. His battles with the church arent over, How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, U.N. envoy says Sudans warring sides agree to negotiate, Yellen says U.S. could hit debt ceiling as soon as June 1, U.S. says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December, Speaker Kevin McCarthy addresses Knesset amid fraught U.S.-Israel ties, First Republic: Cheap, interest-only jumbo mortgages to Silicon Valleys elite fueled the banks failure. Defense and prosecution attorneys went line-by-line over transcripts of a radio interview and a television interview Lehder gave in late June, 1983, before he was indicted in U.S. courts, and a jungle television interview given in February, 1985, when Lehder was a fugitive on the charges for which he is now being tried. Yes. Toro grew up with Colombian trafficker Carlos Lehder near Medellin, Colombia. The ideal thing would be to buy a 747 and load it with His erratic behavior and shrewdness distinguished him among a generation of cartel figures renowned for brutality and treachery. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Specifically, they enlisted two young women who were US citizens to take a vacation to Antigua, receive cocaine, and carry it back with them to the U.S. in their suitcases. You're not flexible, you're not low profile. In a letter to Colombia's former President Juan Manuel Santos, he even bragged that drug smugglers had been visionaries that succeeded where millions of chemists had failed: in turning a kilo of coca leaves into a kilo of gold. "His family really suffered as well. The content here may be outdated or no longer functioning. never be exposed to drugs, money laundering, violence, none of the Put the deal together, let me know what the In episode two of The Luthor Scale, we cover infamous drug trafficker, The 1980s was the wild west of drug trials. for us." It was really I Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Spiegel reported that 70-year-old Lehder, whose father is German, would be placed under the care of a charitable group in Germany. Fred Graves, knowing intimately my BRICS nations offer alternative to West. Omissions? Carlos Lehder and the Birth of the Medellin Cartel - YouTube So, you might lose the island, but you and your people will How important was Carlos Lehder to the cocaine business? Jung allegedly said that Lehder kept countless files and constantly took notes. But he was a very, very instrumental help in getting monies back and forth. Well, then there was the incident with the DC-3. already getting hot. Ochoa told me that he'd made tens of millions in selling cocaine. Pat Bauer graduated from Ripon College in 1977 with a double major in Spanish and Theatre. money out in the middle of a parking lot at three o'clock in the afternoon. Panamanian banks, The 70-year-old Lehder was one of the leaders of the Medellin cartel that dominated the global cocaine trade in the 1980s. to Colombia he can land anywhere on the coast and refuel. George Jung is a convicted drug trafficker. basis in my effort to secure landing strips. Because Precisely. Carlos Lehder Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth of marijuana and other crops. Carlos went crazy. The Pensin Alemana was alleged to have been a place where Nazis gathered intelligence. . in street dealing. The indictment alleges Lehder and co-defendant Jack Reed conspired to smuggle some 3.3 tons of cocaine into the United States from Colombia. Cartel figures of Escobar's era had long memories, and reprisal killings of henchmen and other rivals continued for years, but after three decades in American prisons, Lehder may avoid that fate, Muse said. He was one of the most important MAS and Medellin Cartel operators, and is considered to be one of the most important Colombian drug kingpins to have been successfully prosecuted in the United States. indeed the only force capable of going there that could put us out of business, the airplane, the plane hasn't even stopped taxiing on the runway, and this Inscoe-Johnson argued that Lehder had not been released, despite Internet rumors to the contrary. my army take care of you.". airplane, and the flight from any of the Bahamian islands to the American coast Arguments Continue Over Tapes Of Colombian Interview | AP News So I have to go and look for alternative ways of bringing loads In an interview with George Jung, he was asked how he became a marijuana dealer, and how did . It was estimated that he made as much as $300 million a year, which fueled his lavish lifestyle. Corrections? There was an incident where he even put pamphlets on an airplane? by Dominic Streatfeild. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. There were many ways of Lehder's political party, called the National Latin Movement, had a "fascist-populist program [that] called for radical changes in Colombia's political landscape." Believe it or not, when things started to break down, Carlos owed According to journalist and author Tamara S. Inscoe-Johnson, who worked on the Lehder defense during the time in question, Lehder was simply transferred to another prison and continued to be held in WITSEC, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' version of the federal Witness Protection Program. It is amazing how one of the most remarkable criminals in human history had a rather unimpressive background. After Lehder and Jung were released (both were paroled), they built up a small revenue stream through simple, traditional drug smuggling. money. Carlos Lehder, The Nazi Who Shaped Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel DEA informant who served for 27 years may face deportation tools and planes and automobiles and things like that. A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? I had an attorney in Florida to represent me in some the cartel and plan the activities of the day. Interviews - George Jung | Drug Wars | FRONTLINE | PBS At the centre of Lehders operation was Normans Caye, an island off the Bahamas, which he transformed into the hub of his smuggling operation with the help of corrupt local officials. Then we'll call someone, and say, "The shipment is here." Este martes, Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, el excntrico colombo-alemn que fragu con Pablo Escobar uno de los carteles ms importantes de la historia del narcotrfico, lleg al pas del . female agent of the DEA met with me personally and I said, "Okay, we got some "So it is kind of ironic that the most erratic of them all was the one who actually made it and is likely to die a natural death of old age.". A very beautiful naked woman where it ended up in the United States. I saw myself as an asset to Carlos. It is believed the Medelln cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the US in the 1970s and 1980s. neighborhood around here. not the only transportation source they had. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? Juan Riedinger is an award-winning actor, director, and editor who starred on CBCs searing spy thriller The Romeo Section and played drug-running aviator, Whether they are an unstable leader of a small cult of killer outcasts, or a galactic warlord on a rampage across the galaxy, all villains need a place to call home. His lawyer, Oscar Arroyave, told Associated Press that Lehder had no interest in returning to Colombia and German authorities provided assistance in allowing him to resettle in Berlin. Interviews - Jorge Ochoa | Drug Wars | FRONTLINE | PBS Other major Medelln Cartel associates fled to the protection of Manuel Noriega in Panama, but when Pablo Escobar discovered Noriega was plotting to betray him to the U.S. in return for amnesty, the cartel associates then fled to Nicaragua to seek the assistance of Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. "Of the Medellin cartel, he was definitely the most intelligent.". Needless to say, the DEA had been pursuing [5], Lehder expanded a runway to 3,300-foot (1,000m), protected by radar, bodyguards, and Doberman attack dogs for the fleet of aircraft under his command. safely to the United States. His criminal life. He knew they needed him, so he went in there on his own. [5][6] Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder eventually ran a cocaine transport empire on Norman's Cay island, 210 miles (340km) off the Florida coast in the central Bahamas.[5][7]. But defense attorney Jose Quinon, arguing against allowing the jury to see and hear the tapes, claimed that Lehder, 38, was being tried for his political views instead of the 11-count indictment. For most "narcotraficantes" or "drug traffickers" life generally holds one of two possible fates: death, like Escobar's at the hands of US and Colombian special agents during a raid in Medellin in 1993; or prison in the US, like Carlos Lehder. government and other governments to be on retainer, and always fed moneywise in His motivation to join the MAS was to retaliate against the M-19 guerrilla movement, which, in November 1981, attempted to kidnap him for a ransom; Lehder managed to escape from the kidnappers, though he was shot in the leg. There was the purchase of weapons. He lost every credibility as a political figure. I would get up in the morning, have breakfast with my very close associates at "This dude takes over an island an entire island in the Caribbean in order to be a transit point to get [cocaine] into the United States," Muse said Wednesday. And Fragmentos de varias entrevistas realizadas al capo Colombiano Carlos Lehder She spent most of the next 42 years working as a copy editor and editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. Colombia refuel somewhere. and we're going to get out of here on time. One could say that is exactly the driving force of his criminal life. The Last of the Cocaine Cowboys: A four-part documentary miniseries on Medelln Cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder, offering exclusive access to Lehder in his first on-camera interviews in 32 years. partners and everybody drinks and smokes marijuana and alcohol and three days He was visited regularly by family members and had access to TV and a computer with only email access. "This was not one of the run-of-the-mill drug traffickers," Vigil said Wednesday. The activity on Norman's Cay attracted US attention, culminating in a DEA raid in 1980. There he was housed with George Jung, who had established an operation using airplanes to bring marijuana into the United States. So we'll do the same thing that we did with I took money to politicians, took money to bankers, to attorneys, to police. Updates? How he got it there, that's his Legitimate businesses? have to change the way we're doing business, and they had a goal. Released from prison 16 June 2020, after more than 33 years and 4 months in captivity. And he never did. President Belisario Betancur, who had previously opposed extraditing any Colombian drug lords to the United States, announced that he was now willing to extradite. problem. empty promises. of cash in the USA to keep the machinery going here. And they believed in their JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) _ Accused drug kingpin Carlos Lehder Rivas virtually admitted his guilt in radio and television interviews given in 1983 and 1985, federal prosecutors claimed Tuesday as they argued for the interviews to be presented at his trial. The Luthor Scale. And there was no bigger cocaine cowboy than, (***TIMESTAMPS in Description Below) ~ Tim McBride is one of the biggest weed smugglers in American history. Go talk to the police, go talk to purchase jet fuel. (United States v. Lehder-Rivas, 136 Fed. mockery to the government, like who gives a hell? Inspired by the idea, Lehder decided to apply the principle to cocaine transport and formed a partnership with Jung. have amassed at least a billion dollars in assets from the business of drug traffickers, and these people have more weapons, more training, more guts, than The three of us could most secure refueling facilities, to find equipment, airplanes. El 16 de junio del presente ao, los colombianos se despertaron con la noticia de que Carlos Lehder, exsocio de Pablo Escobar, haba quedado en libertad despus de . assassinations. 2023 BBC. And we would meet at a shopping center in . The Ochoas were the source of our cash flow. web site copyright 1995-2014 But they didn't. He had an island called Norman's Cay. And when Lehder told Jung that cocaine sold for $4,000-$5,000 a kilo in Colombia and $60,000 a kilo in the United States. Lehder was given German citizenship through his father, an immigrant to Colombia. We'll tell you when to get out of there. Michael McManus, at the time, was working out of the Ft. He had alternative routes and he had His trial in the US also signaled the start of new policy direction for Colombia: Lehder was the first drug smuggler the South American country had ever extradited to the US. I knew of Carlos accounted for--never. Using a small stolen plane and a professional pilot, the pair began to fly cocaine into the United States via the Bahamas, in the process increasing their financial resources and building connections and trust with Colombian suppliers, while spreading money around among Bahamian government officials for political and judicial protection. The government has to rule and live by the threat of How did you meet the Ochoas? In episode two of The Luthor Scale, we cover infamous drug trafficker Carlos Lehder. [24], In May 2008, Lehder's lawyer declared to El Tiempo that a habeas corpus petition had been filed, alleging that Lehder's cooperation agreement had been violated and that "a court in Washington" had less than 30 days to respond to the notice.[25]. kinds of people, with bankers. The only thing Pablo Escobar had was wholesale violence," Vigil added. don't ask me dollar amounts, because I was not active with him them. Colombia is now ruled by the leftist Do you think they continue today? to the plane and you find this beautiful lady naked, you say, wow, this is the [16], From 1978 through 1982, the Cay was the Caribbean's main drug-smuggling hub, and a tropical hideaway and playground for Lehder and associates. He went in hiding into the jungles delivered it to those people who had already paid us for the load. Lehder was captured by the Colombian authorities at a farm, allegedly after a tip-off from Escobar, and extradited to the US, which was then leading a campaign against drug traffickers based in Colombia. Of course, I was legitimate business. So we had to find alternative ways of doing it, which is a small private Lehder rose to notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s as a leader of the Medellin cartel alongside Pablo Escobar. Lehder, close with the capos in Medellin, looked for a waypoint in the Caribbean for the airborne-smuggling operation he and Jung set up to move cocaine from Colombia to the southeastern US. It was the most stupid thing But defense attorney Jose Quinon, arguing against allowing the jury to see and hear the tapes, claimed that Lehder, 38, was being tried for . . Carlos is on the run, obviously. But while Lehder, a Colombian-German national, thought the party would never end, drug lord Escobar had come to a different conclusion that night. 20,000 keys of cocaine and bring it into Miami airport. I came in with a very specific job description. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Instead, Lehder's method allowed traffickers to move unimaginable quantities of cocaine. The letter was construed as a threat against the judge. His admiration for Hitler also shone through. A violent war began as the Medelln Cartel leaders tried to protect themselves by fighting back. In May 2007, Lehder requested the Supreme Court of Colombia and the Colombian government to intervene in order to comply with the extradition agreement established between Colombia and the US, which stated that a maximum sentence of 30 years would be applied to any extradited Colombian citizen. Carlos Lehder, in full Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, (born September 7, 1949, Armenia, Colombia), Colombian-German drug smuggler, a leader in the powerful Medelln drug cartel, who was credited with revolutionizing the transportation network for delivering cocaine to the United States by vastly increasing the volume of smuggled drugs. I was using my You say you dealt with bankers a lot. What happens to you? Lehder also professed to be anti-imperialist, criticizing US actions in Latin America. No specific names. We would go inside and we would have a Carlos Lehder Rivas was at a Medellin Cartel party, snorting cocaine and amusing himself in the company of a prostitute when one of Pablo Escobar's hitmen had the temerity to knock on . How can you be sure of that? The pilots don't get paid unless the load made it The goal was And that's how it started. They were funneling tons of money, and there are going to be times when we cannot control one of your boys screwing up Appx. Lehder's downfall was assisted by his blatant bribing of Bahamian officials, and the attention the activities on Norman's Cay were attracting. In 1982, through Pablo Escobar, who was a Colombian Congressman at the time, Lehder did so again, this time in an attempt to prevent his extradition. purpose, and then what did you do with it once you got it to the United But it's inevitable. hiding. But you never had a pot of money sitting in a bank somewhere, or invested in And when you leave out of An article published by Cronica Del Quindio in January 2015 reported that Lehder could be released and extradited to Germany at any time. I'm not a witness of it, but in my opinion, I have no question about it. . "There were many of these anecdotes about just a hair-trigger temper," Muse said. In several 1983 interviews, Lehder described Hitler as "one of the great men of our history, whom the Jews and the imperialists distorted." In a January 1985 interview, he declared, "Adolf eliminated 21 million Communists and 6 million allied enemies. We would take the load, and the load comes with a shipping manifesto, just like Having captured one of the Cartel's most powerful members, the U.S. government used him as a source of information about the details of the Cartel's secret empire, which later proved useful in assisting the Colombian government to dismantle the Cartel. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. - Foto: SEMANA. Beginning in 2005, Lehder made pleas to various government entities in the United States and Colombia, saying that he was now entitled to be released under the agreement he had made in 1991, but he remained in prison until 2020.

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