The DEA agents in Florida looked further into the source of that information and followed the trail to several other DEA informants. Law enforcement sources tell Narco News that a number of other high-level officials within Justice and the DEA soon received copies of the same memo. Did he really move to Guadalajara, Mexico and work for the DEA? The implosion of Guadalajara led to the rise of the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who is now in U.S. custody. I think it was really beneficial to them to see that lay of land and see what we were working then.". Informants tipped off the Florida agents that that this drug ring had developed an ingenious method for smuggling cocaine into the United States, a method that seems to have been lifted right out of the script of the drug-war movie Traffic. But both of Miguel's raids were wholly accurate. Here, Murphy and Pena take THR behind some of the biggest moments of the second season and delve further into a story that, despite its infamy, still had detailsthat were only now brought to light. As the season progresses, more than one of the "good guys" reveal themselves to be in cahoots with Los Pepes, the death squad led by right-wing vigilantes theCastano brothers. ", Pena calls it ironic that he wasn't in Medellin the day they caught Escobar, but says it doesn't matter because justice was served. Furthermore, because Escobar had corrupted so many officers in the Colombian police and military, Pea was never sure who he could trust. Pena was called away for a daylong assignment, but Murphy was on the scene the day they caught Escobar. "Each one of them brought something to the table, which was pretty distinctive," he says. "We arrested Miguel, but then it was, 'Ok, now we need to focus our attention on Jorge. He fell into crime at an early age in the Colombian city of Medelln where he forged diplomas and report cards for high school students as a teenager. Once the targets were identified as being part of the drug ring, they began to cooperate with the Florida-based agents. How Feistl and his partner (whose name was changed for the show since he is still an active DEA agent) met up withSalcedo on the show was accurate. Specifically, the narcotics traffickers in Colombia were infusing acrylic with cocaine and shaping it into any number of commercial goods, Kent states. Narco News is supported by: To this day, no one is sure who fired the fatal shot. For Murphy, he says it's important to draw a strong line between the humanization of the character on the series and any takeaways that the real Escobar had good intentions. Today, Fonseca is on house arrest, and Caro Quintera was released from prison in 2013 on a legal technicality and is being sought by the U.S. Camarenas death changed the face of Mexican drug cartels. Betrayed by his own? The prison itself contained its own discotheque, its own bar.. He soon couldnt understand why everyone seemed disappointed by Escobars surrender until he discovered the type of prison that Escobar had in mind for himself. Theyre well-versed, it was pretty neat working with them.". The kidnappings were a common things. "Juan Pablo writes that they were trumped-up charges and says they were dismissed." That doctor was a real person although he denies involvement. "Colonels Carrillo and Pinzon are both based on Colonel Hugo Martinez," Newman has explained. Carrillo's death, in episode four, is my favorite, I hope it really surprised people. His full name was Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, and, in real life, he was a brutal and clever man called El Padrino AKA The Godfather. Why is an attorney within Justice afraid to reveal the names of the DEA whistleblowers out of fear that it might jeopardize their law enforcement careers and the lives of their families? They alleged that they were assisted in their narcotics activities by the [Bogot] agents. Soon, he graduated to stealing cars and sanding down tombstones from the local cemetery to resell them. But by the 1970s, he had discovered that the real money was in cocaine. That was home, where he felt comfortable and knew people. Everybody was willing to hide him. "Ive heard Jorges version of what he believes happened. [Warning: This story contains spoilers from the second season of Narcos.]. Narcos has moved on from its original setting of Colombia from the late 70s through to the early 90s and instead will focus on the rise of the cocaine cartels in Mexico from the mid-80s. La Catedral, as the prison was called, was more like a resort. Instead, as in similar past cases, they have been buried in the contorted layers of the Justice Department bureaucracy. "She actually talked to Eric [Newman] about it and said: 'Ive just got one bone to pick with you, I would have never left my husband there!' We worked primarily with the police, and they were the guys that we trusted with our lives. As the show explains, the Rodriguez brothers are serving out life sentences in North and South Carolina prisons,Pacho Herrera was murdered in his Palmira prison and Chepe Santacruz Londono (Pepe Rapazote) was killed shortly after escaping his Bogota cell by paramilitary groups. Ive heard him say before that getting his story out is his way of telling people that if youre confronted with a potentially bad situation, just say 'no.' The drug war is supposed to follow a very clear script: According to the official screenwriters, the U.S. justice system is pitted against corrupt players in foreign countries who are trying to flood American streets with illicit drugs. "We tend to say he was a Robin Hood guy because he took some of his ill-gotten gain and helped the poor, but thats all fantasy," he says. WebOne mystery that still remains is the murder of the sicario Navegante (Juan Sebastian Calero) on Narcos. "The blow must go on. When Netflix began filming a series based on Escobars life, they reached out to Agents Pea and Murphy to serve as consultants. The group is widely recognized to be involved in narco-trafficking and arms dealing at the highest levels. WebFormer DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Peas are appearing in Capturing Pablo: Conversation on Narcos at 8 p.m. Friday at City Winery in the West Loop. I explained that anything with addresses, phone numbers, bank accounts, any links to different countries or in the United States were all useful.". His focus was Cali during his first tour from 1994 to 1997, leaving shortly after Pacho's surrender. As he lay dying, a cartel doctor was ordered to keep him alert by administering drugs.. Most of the major events in the show are accurate, although the writers changed some of the timelines. Javier Pea: The DEA Agent Who Hunted Down Pablo Escobar. What do Glenn Fine, the head of the DOJs OIG, and Rogelio E. Guevara, who currently oversees the DEAs OPR, know about Kents charges, which were brought forth in his memo more than a year ago? 33 Ancient History Facts You Definitely Didn't Learn In School, Nurse Reunites With Doctor She Cared For As A Premature Baby In That Same Hospital 28 Years Ago, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Actor Pedro Pascal (left), who portrays Javier Pea (right) in the Netflix hit. He played an important role in the killing of Hes been in custody since 1989, however. Bulletin," "School of Authentic Journalism," "Narco News TV" and NNTV ", Though Narcos is a dramatization, Newman toldTHR the series is 50-50 when it comes to fiction and nonfiction, and that they stick to the true chronology of events. ", What the third season zeroed in on, however, was the DEA's dealings with Salcedo and in fact, the Cali insider was only playing for both teams for a short amount of time. Javier Pea stands near a Colombian National Police helicopter. Pedro Pascal, who played DEA agent Javier Pea is not returning to Narcos. The tape recordings that revealed this damning information were turned over to both the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Inspector General, Kent states in the memorandum. Camarena served in the Marines for two years, was a firefighter and police officer and deputy sheriff in California, and then joined the DEA in 1974. ", As for the Narcos storyline that shows Pena having a relationship with Don Berna, the agent says he was fine with the drama: "We never crossed that line, but that's what makes the show exciting and interesting.". Fesitl was part of the extradition team and was present when Gilberto and Miguel were sent to the U.S. in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and that was his last interaction with the pair. The real Steve Murphy and Javier Pena discuss what is true and what is fiction, and shed insight on Season 3. Kiki was surrounded by five armed men who threw him into a car and sped away. The book tells the story of Salcedo, who is now in U.S. witness protection, and Feistlalso served as a source. Javier Pea and Steve Murphy sit outside of La Catedral following Pablo Escobars escape. It is only a matter of time before this thing explodes. ), Connie's departure, however, worked well for the drama. He described this season as being "50 to 60 percent accurate,"but for serialized drama's sake, the timing had to be condensed. 2000-2011 Al Giordano. On the show, the character is shot by Salcedo as the DEA agents are approaching Pallomari(Javier Camara) to transport him to the U.S. On the show, Feistl's inner torture of catching Miguel but also keeping Salcedo's"rat" identity a secret is something that is well-captured. "It was a good day for not only DEA but also for the Colombian government, but it was short-lived because we realized at that point we still had a lot of work to do," he says. The streamer has yet to comment on the status of Holbrook's Murphy, however, and both Murphy and Pena couldn't comment on their future involvement with the series when speaking to THR. In other words, someone outed the Florida groups informant, making him into a target for many dangerous people including the FARC guerrillas, and the tool used to expose him was proprietary DEA information that appeared to have come out of the Bogot DEA office. "In reality, Martinez and his son catch Escobar, but we liked the idea of killing Carrillo [Maurice Compte]. The corruption allegations raised in Kents memorandum are startling, but agents in the Bogot DEA office are not the first to have been accused of participating in a narco-trafficking conspiracy. For years in the 1980s, Escobar made untold billions off trafficking cocaine into the United States from his native Colombia. 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Eric has lived up to his word 100 percent. He claims that the nail in that coffin was driven in by OPR after it discovered that an OIG agent was investigating the Bogot corruption and related money laundering operation, In June 2004, OPR and DEA, the two agencies embarrassed by the prior allegations (involving the Bogot agents) and likely to come under tremendous scrutiny for their own actions in response, demanded that my case agent turn all of the (investigation) information over to OPR, Kent states in the memorandum. Industries Crime and Terrorism But thats the genesis and how that story came to be. Finally, when the Colombian government tried to move him to a regular prison in 1992, Escobar escaped. "Theres some artistic licenses, but the timeline is accurate.". he recalls. "It took us quite a bit of time to locate Pallomari and assist him in getting out of the country," he says. We worked primarily with the police, and they were the guys that we trusted with our lives. Kiki is also shown confronting Felix in the streets for no good reason. What happens if proof emerges that it is the U.S. justice system that is corrupt? "One of the main things, going back to Pablo, was that a lot of that cocaine traffic was going up that Caribbean corridor into Florida," explains Feistl. "Once that was over, I think he looked for a way out and realized: once you get in, you cant get out. Actors Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook (top) who portray agents Pea and Murphy, respectively. Web"Descenso" is the first episode of Season 1 of Narcos and the first episode overall. There were ten to fifteen car bombs on a daily basis, Pea later said. How much of 'Narcos' Season 3 really happened? The agents were believed to work in Colombia and Washington, D.C.. Powered by. They were advised that the best tact was for the informants to carry it out themselves.. The first season spanned more than a decade as it detailed the rise of Escobar, but the second focused on the 18 months between his escape from La Catedral prison and his eventual death. The previous seasons focused on the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel. He did so by making a videotape of a conversation he then had with a member of the FARC in jail in which they discussed their desire for him to provide them with communications equipment. "Both those guys said I would be a good resource to speak to, and also because of William Rempels book At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down Cali." Kiki received two Sustained Superior Performance Awards, a Special Achievement Award and, posthumously, the Administrators Award of Honor, the highest award granted by DEA, the DEA says. On the Netflix drug cartel series, the agent (played byMichael Stahl-David) pushes his boss Javier Pena (Pedro Pascal) to let him leave Bogota, Colombia so he and his partner (Matt Whelan) can hunt the four Cali godfathers on the ground. ", Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day, Inside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviews. Feistl is described as being the more serious of the two and a young agent who sought out assignment to Colombia as the drug trade shifts to Cali.
