And why, as Kent contends, is it all being covered up? 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. But the truth, like water, always brings the scum to the surface. Pablo Escobar had a suite, Murphy later remembered. In real life, this event caused the US to hit back hard in what came to be known as "Operation Leyenda". "When I went to Colombia, it was great to interact with Michael and Matt [Whelan] in Cali," he says. I wanted to find out what made the guy tick, and I did a lot of research and thank God I spoke with Mika (Camarenas wife), he told Newsweek. WebHe joined the DEA in 1987 and started working in Miami, where he stayed for four years, before being transferred to Bogot, Colombia. Narcos also introduced a handful of other casualties left behind in the wake of the Cali godfathers. But what happens when evidence surfaces that turns that script on its ear? WebJune 21, 2013 / 12:51 PM / AP. Escobar had access to every comfort whilst inside. When confronted with the actual tape that confirmed the informants story, the agents in Bogot complained that what the informant and DEA group from Florida had done was illegal and they would be unable to obtain the informants release (from prison).. In addition to phone calls, where he says he mainly fielded questions to help solidify the timeline and accuracy of events,Stahl-David visited him at his home for several days. You have to understand, the search for Escobar was purely revenge. 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. During that 18 month period, there were 143 Colombian National Police Officers killed as a direct result of the manhunt for Escobar. So how closely does the Netflix version of Javier Pea match up to the real one? Chris ultimately becomes the DEA contact for informant Jorge Salcedo (Matias Varela), the head of security for the Cali cartel who risks his life to help the agents capture and fry their biggest fish, Miguel Rodriguez (Francisco Denis). 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. Kiki Camerena (Michael Pena), Narcos: Mexico 's main DEA agent ends up getting killed because he is too emotional. The real Steve Murphy and Javier Pena discuss what is true and what is fiction, and shed insight on Season 3. Kiki Camarena, the DEA agent that Dr. Delgado is accused of helping torture in Narcos Mexico Season 2. 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. The episode begins in Bogota, Colombia in 1989, it is narrated by Steve Murphy. He is too obsessed with taking down Felix. ]", Connie, whom Steve calls "one of the bravest women I've ever met," actually stayed at their home in Bogota while the agent spent most of the 18 months covered on season two hunting Escobar from Medellin. Javier Pea wasnt going to take the silver. I still have a job to do.'" Each murder was preceded by a request for their identity by an agent in Bogot.. Even if hes only worth 5 billion dollars, those numbers are astronomical. Moreover, cops like Pea felt unsatisfied by the fact that Escobar was now in prison after having surrendered on his own terms. "We tried to do something with a couple of people and they would come up with these wacko ideas about what they wanted to do," Murphy recalls. After the Florida agents turned these documents over to the OPR and OIG, one of them was put on administrative leave the first sign that a cover-up was underway. "She knew, just like his mother, what he was doing. According to El Pais, Camarenas skull, Netflixs hit series Narcos started out by following the story of infamous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Theyre well-versed, it was pretty neat working with them.". 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. Actors Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook (top) who portray agents Pea and Murphy, respectively. He came back in 1999, where he overlapped with Pena, and until 2002 they were working against the North Valley cartel. Getty ImagesActor Pedro Pascal (left), who portrays Javier Pea (right) in the Netflix hit Narcos. Working closely with various sectors of the Colombian military, it has fielded death squads responsible for murdering thousands of Colombians. I believe, based on their representations, that that new evidence alone would put the corrupt agents in prison. The real Chris Feistl discusses what is true and what is fiction, and sheds insight on Season 4. During the failed attempt, when Miguel was breathing through an oxygen tank behind one of the bathroom walls and got nicked with a driller, Fesitl says they were thisclose to capturing the boss. When Netflix began filming a series based on Escobars life, they reached out to Agents Pea and Murphy to serve as consultants. They changed their names but shortly after, their identities were discovered and Tata was arrested on suspicion of money laundering. He was also a veteran, having joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968, according to a DEA biography of him. Pablo Escobar died in a rooftop shootout in Medellin on Dec. 2, 1993. "Basically, our work here was done and it was time to go.". 2000-2011 Al Giordano. In the end, Javier Pea and his team tracked Escobar down in his hometown of Medelln in 1993 through use of technology that allowed them to trace his phone calls. [Warning: This story contains spoilers from the second season of Narcos.]. Narcos previously had the real Javier Pena and partner Steve Muprhy (portrayed by Boyd Holbook) consulting on the two-season story of Pablo Escobar and when the show shifted its focus to Cali, Pena and Murphy recommended the showrunners reach out to Feistl. It was ironic and very coincidental that he was killed that day that we went to pick up Pallomari and bring him to Bogota.". Thats how the North Valley tried to defeat, in their minds, extradition. After the death of money launderer Franklin Jurado (Miguel Angel Silvestre), viewers never see what happens to his widow, Christina (Kerry Bishe). Bem Vindos em Portugus! Specifically, the narcotics traffickers in Colombia were infusing acrylic with cocaine and shaping it into any number of commercial goods, Kent states. During Gilberto's capture, the godfather was actually hiding in a caleta in a bookcase in the wall, not under the bathtub as shown in Narcos. Opening Statement, April 18, 2000 Having been failed by so many before and facing tremendous risks to their careers and their safety and the safety of their families, they were understandably hesitant to reveal the information I requested, including the names of those directly involved in criminal activity in Bogot and the United States. ", How Feistlhooked up with Salcedo was a focal point in his conversations with the Narcos team, along with what they did when they got to Colombia, details of their first trip to Cali to interact with the Colombian national police and military, and how operations and surveillance unfolded. 1: the North Valley cartel. Over the next few years, Pea and the Colombian police played a cat-and-mouse game with Escobar, tapping his phones and trying to turn his criminal associates against him. The CIA has denied the allegations. "We were always firm believers that the way you catch these kingpins is through human assets and sources. A full investigation of his allegations may well prove that the DEAs Bogot office is clean as a whistle. "The violence thats depicted is all true: Pablo and his people are some of the most violent people to ever walk this earth," he said about experiencing similar feelings. "What matters is that he was killed," he says. Six ELN members and associates charged with narco-terrorism and international cocaine distribution conspiracy Drug Enforcement Administration Daniel C. Comeaux Special Agent in Charge Houston @DEAHoustonDiv September 21, 2020 Contact: Sally M. Sparks Phone Number: (713) 693-3329 For Immediate Release Ironically, the NDDS chief to whom Kent addressed the memorandum, Jodi L. Avergun, is now the chief of staff for DEA. Narcoscontinues to walk the fine line between presenting its villains as characters who are addictive to watch, but who are not glorified. Once it was determined that the agents in Bogot were lying, the informants were released. The bathroom had its own jacuzzi. Agent Javier Pea of Texas was assigned by the DEA to join in the hunt for Pablo Escobar. Sources told Narco News that these corruption allegations involve cases launched in 1999 or 2000, but which resulted in investigations that carried on for months or years. While the agents recounted all the details of the hunt to the writers of the show, they understood that the show would take creative liberties with it. Though Narcos is a fictionalized version of events,showrunner Eric Newman has always said the chronology is on point. WebBest Known For: DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena were lead investigators in the manhunt for Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Narcos ", As for his portrayal, Feistl called Stahl-David a perfectionist. "Because of those little subtle differences, that really made them mesh and gel and work together very well as a team. And in this case, the dam holding back the truth in the so-called war on drugs may be close to breaking. It was his end, and his new cartels end, and it was El Chapos beginning (the eventual drug lord is first seen in the beginning of Narcos: Mexico in all his humble beginnings as a driver for a Sinaloan drug lord). WebSpecial Agent James Terry Watson died after being stabbed in a taxi in Bogota, Colombia, on June 20. "That really opened our eyes to the corruption that we were dealing with there.". November 16, only on Netflix. 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. WebA location manager was shot and killed when scouting locations in the north of Mexico city for this last season 4. They basically had anything that you could ever dream of. Lenny Jacobson and Mika Camarena attend the Netflix Original Series Narcos: Mexico, special screening at LA Live in Los Angeles, CA on November 14, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Finally, when the Colombian government tried to move him to a regular prison in 1992, Escobar escaped. Feistl met him twice in the U.S., once for the NPR podcast and a second time during a meeting with the Narcos team ahead of the season. Colombia extradites 7 accused of killing DEA agent As a result, the Florida agents decided to have the informants come to the United States with a sample of the acrylic, so they could walk DEAs chemists through the extraction process. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. In the show, Pea is also involved in several extra-judicial killings and other breaches of professional ethics, which is pure drama for the show. Tickets: $28-$38. "With this one, you had to pull the four or five drawers out from the built-in dresser and that would access the back door so you could swing the door open, get into it, lock it from the outside and then someone on the outside would put the drawers back in. That doctor was a real person although he denies involvement. The fact that Narco News is breaking this story first may tell us all we need to know on that front. "We kept on getting disappointed and it wasn't worth the grief., So the pair blew off forthcoming offers, until they met with those who would become the creators of Narcos. The following is from a 2004 report prepared for Congress by the Congressional Research Service: Kent contends, in the memorandum, that during the wiretap, the corrupt Bogot DEA agent discusses his involvement in laundering money for the AUC. But despite being caught on tape admitting to helping the most murderous political force in the hemisphere today to launder the money from their extensive drug trafficking operations, the agent faced no punishment. "Salcedo got into something that wasnt quite what he thought and that was more than he bargained for when he was recruited to help in Cali in killing Escobar," says Feistl. "Thats a question and always a mystery thats been asked for a long time, is," he says. WebThats especially true when he and his partner go to take down Cockroach, only to have one of Escobars hitmen take him out first, killing another DEA agent in the process. The FARC (Spanish initials for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the largest leftist insurgent group in that countrys civil war, accused by U.S. officials of drug and arms trafficking) was supposedly interested in buying communications equipment from him. He described this season as being "50 to 60 percent accurate,"but for serialized drama's sake, the timing had to be condensed. If anyone deserved to be there when they killed Escobar, it was him.. As of now, Feistl says he has not yet had any talks about working with Narcos for season four, but that it would "make sense" for them to go to Mexico. The first two seasons of Narcos depict the timeline chronicled by DEA special agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena in their 2019 book Manhunters: How We The Bogot agent was called on his claim and could not provide any evidence. The agent then switched tactics, arguing that the DEA could not work with the informant because the FARC might end up with the communications equipment. And he protected his enterprise with terror and murder. She told the newspaper, Since retiring as a skin-care consultant, I can spend more time as president of the foundation. When we got together, it made the perfect storm," he says. 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. We have no reason to disbelieve them. According to El Pais, Camarenas skull, jaw, nose and cheekbones were crushed with a tire iron. Was he really abducted? We need to make sure we get him out.' "There were a number of ways that they came to me," Feistltells The Hollywood Reporter in a lengthy and informative chat about his real-life experience and how it was portrayed on the show. When he surrendered, it was like we lost him. And thats what Ive been doing up until yesterday. Betrayed by Don Berna (Mauricio Cujar), the narco is shipped off to the United States and Pena's plan to bring her on as an informant is foiled in the season finale. "It took us quite a bit of time to locate Pallomari and assist him in getting out of the country," he says. According to Kent, these offices which are supposed to serve as watchdog agencies that investigate corruption sabotaged investigations being carried out by the Florida DEA agents and by one of the OIGs own agents. debuts Rise of the Cartels exhibition Escobar himself quickly became one of the richest men in the world. ), Connie's departure, however, worked well for the drama. He said, 'Yes, thats a possibility,'" he says. ", Ultimately, an American DEA agent named Joe Toft went on the record, like Pena does on the show, to expose Cali as a "narco-democracy" in September of 1994. Kent says his claims are supported by a number of DEA agents in Florida who the agency muzzled and retaliated against after they tried to expose the corruption. ELN members and associates charged DEA agent killed in Colombia during apparent robbery "I gave them a tour of the city, showed them where actual houses and events took place, where the bloque of the Colombian national police actually was and where we did surveillances from. Trujillo, who is based on a personwhose name has been changed, is also the Colombian cop who ends up pulling the final trigger on Escobar in the season finale. He chose the drug business, he chose his greed and his ego over his family. How much of 'Narcos' Season 2 really happened? "It was so well-constructed and so well hidden, that had he gotten into it, we would still be looking for that caleta," he says of the "phenomenally well-made" closet built into the closet in the master bedroom. And so with Pablo Escobar dead, Javier Pea left Colombia and went on to continue his successful career with the DEA before retiring in 2014. It is the series premiere. In season 2, an enraged DEA jacks up its efforts to dismantle the cartel and get cartel figures to prosecution, even going so far as abducting a doctor accused of being affiliated with the cartel and assisting in Camarenas death. WebEnrique " Kiki " Camarena Salazar (July 26, 1947 February 9, 1985) was an American intelligence officer for the United States (DEA). There were no stipulations that he had to turn over any of his assets: He could have walked away a free man and never have had to work again. It was just revenge because of all the cops he had killed, along with all those innocent people. We worked primarily with the police, and they were the guys that we trusted with our lives. Each year we issue six scholarships to high school seniors throughout the nation. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day, Inside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviews. He was about to expose the operation when he was kidnapped on February 7 while he went to have lunch with his wife, Mika. DEA Using routes hed established early in his career as a smuggler, Escobar began moving drugs fromColombia and into other countries, including the United States. Then, learn about the bloody campaign that Escobar and Los Extraditables waged against Colombias extradition treaty with the United States. When the informant approached the DEA once again with information, writes Kent, the Bogot agent that traveled to Washington, D.C., now claimed that the informant was a pedophile. The second season opens with the above words from narrator Steve Murphy as played by Holbrook. In Narcos, he was involved in the DEA's taking down the Cali cartel, which is contrary to what actually happened in real life. I hated to see Maurices character get killed, but it was very exciting. A lot of good cops died. You have 24 hours to leave Colombia. Kiki Camarena is the DEA agent who pays the ultimate price for trying to hunt Gallardo down. ", "We went from Pinzon, who was basically an obstacle for us, toMartinez. I think it was really beneficial to them to see that lay of land and see what we were working then.". Cali moved a lot of dope and sent more to the U.S.", It remains to be seen whether Newman will take liberty with both agents' timelines to also keep Holbrook onboard, but Murphy did have this to tease on a final note: "The agent who was there when the Cali Cartel was taken down, I think youll see him in season three.". We had to focus on trying to locate and approach Giullermo Pallomari, because we needed him as a witness. But thats the genesis and how that story came to be. Kiki Camarena was born Enrique (Kiki) S. Camarena on July 26, 1947, in Mexicali, Mexico. His misrepresentations were backed by another agent in Bogot, Kent states. Powered by. "The MedellinCartel was the Wild Wild West and Cali was businesslike," explains Pena. "Juan Pablo writes that they were trumped-up charges and says they were dismissed." WebJavier Pea is a former DEA agent whose story formed part of the framework for the Netflix series Narcos. In yet another case outlined in Kents memorandum, the second Florida DEA group was working with an informant in Colombia who claimed to have made contact with a FARC guerilla while in prison. To maintain his hold on the cocaine trade, Escobar had to make it clear that he would kill anyone who crossed him, including judges and government officials. Feistl says the depiction of the death of Miguel's son, David Rodriguez (played byArturo Castro), was accurate in the show. He was gunned down by a North Valley member. If they are true, there will be no brushing them aside at pre-scripted press conferences; everyone who becomes aware of these allegations will be forced to consider where we go from here in that so-called war. "Let me break it down for you: 4,000 soldiers, a 250-man team of Colombia's elite forces, tens of thousands of rounds fired, seven dogs and four fing helicopters. But we all know, thats not what he chose to do. There were ten to fifteen car bombs on a daily basis, Pea later said. He was shot six or eight times, I believe.". In real life, Camarenas wife was indeed named Mika, and she is the mother of his three children. La Catedral, as the prison was called, was more like a resort. Kent details three further cases of extreme corruption in his memo, all involving Bogot DEA agents persecuting or conspiring to kill Colombian informants who threatened to bring down their activities. Kiki Camarena The agent says he and his partner knew Salcedo was legitimate when they witnessed first-hand how members of the Colombian national police would tipSalcedo off that the Rodriguez hideouts were about to be raided. There were even people I worked with in DEA that didnt know much about Cali because everything was always focused and publicized with Pablo and Medellin," says Feistl. "Once that was over, I think he looked for a way out and realized: once you get in, you cant get out. There was also a standing bounty of $300,000 offered by Escobar for any DEA agent working in Colombia, including Pea. By shortening the timeline, Newman was able to focus more on the characters, including his villain. While this investigation eventually ended up in the hands of the National Security Agency, from the beginning it appeared to be related to drug trafficking and the Florida DEA agents decided to investigate.
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