As a sample of what was to come in Colombia, Escobar lit a match and put it near a pool of gasoline that Paskin had poured near El Patrón’s feet. The fire had a shy start. Pablo ordered us to the vehicles. Within just a few minutes we heard an explosion. Escobar stopped, got out of his car as we did, and looking at the house said, “Lets see how long their love for the government will last.” The house began to burn in a raging fire. The Chief stood still, watching in silence for a few minutes. We climbed back into the car and he ordered us to advance to the hideout of Tablazo in Rionegro.
The next day, he ordered Pinina to organize the arson of the El Vagón31 restaurant, a symbol of the Antioquian oligarchy. Under the orders of El Patrón, four more farms and five cars, all belonging to renowned businessmen, were torched.
Pablo Escobar was aware that many families in Antioquia had benefited from drug-trafficking money. The influence of drug money had impregnated every sector of society, especially commerce. The big architectural constructions, the fantastic nightclubs, the luxury cars, the fine Colombian horses, and the private airplanes and helicopters had all been bought and sold with drug money. Curiously enough, the traditional Antioquian families, with a great display of double morals, despised the mafia and looked upon it with disdain in public, but in private, behind closed doors, they sold their properties above commercial value and shamelessly received dirty money. Good people, however, never participate directly in the business of drug-trafficking.
Banker Félix Correa, a prominent Antioquian who wanted to do business with Pablo Escobar, put his bank at Pablo’s disposal, but Pablo declined the offer, considering it too risky. He was more confident in the caletas32 than banks.
Chapter IX
Justice in Sight
The Medellín Cartel was an organization with a strong financial, military, and political infrastructure, completely dedicated to drug-trafficking, legal and illegal businesses, and kidnapping. The sum of these activities produced a marvelous income.
The military branch was in charge of settling scores (the war against the Cali Cartel and the war against the State) to achieve the end of extradition. This branch employed gang chiefs, assassins, bandits, and hitmen who would do anything from intelligence work to managing the caletas, where weapons, stolen cars, and police and army uniforms were stored. The military branch also had explosive experts who trained people to buy, store, and work with dynamite.
The cartel had many helicopters. One of them was painted with the emblems and colors of the National Police. The same was done with trucks and small cars.
Drug trafficking was a huge operation for the cartel. Routers established routes to the United States; cooks produced cocaine in the laboratories; drug caleteros packed and camouflaged the drugs; pilots transported the drugs; money launderers turned foreign currency into Colombian pesos; distributors sold the drugs throughout the U.S.; and finally, accountants handled El Patrón’s finances.
The political wing of the Medellín Cartel had its operations center in Congress and was in charge of financing the senators and representatives. Their mission was to prevent these men from enacting any laws that were not in El Patrón’s interests.
This political wing also advised and supported the Extraditables. As a member of the Medellín Cartel, Don Alberto Santofimio Botero (or El Santo—Pablo himself informed me of his alias) was an undercover and clandestine advisor of this organization. In exchange for his participation, he received large amounts of money. Since I managed the Extraditables’ finances myself, I remember very well just how many transactions took place on behalf of Alberto Santofimio Botero. There were money orders of twenty thousand, one hundred thousand, up to five hundred thousand dollars, all headed to El Santo. Pinina was in charge of delivering the money.
One of the cartel’s objectives was to have one of their own become president of the Republic. If that wasn’t possible, it was always easy to buy off the president’s closest collaborators. Money in great quantities can do anything. The political wing was also in charge of bribing the police, the army, the air force, and the navy. In exchange for their bribes, they turned a blind eye to El Patrón’s business. This whole organization was controlled by one man—Pablo Escobar.
With his back covered by the important alliance he had established with the guerrillas, Pablo went to Judge Gustavo Zuluaga Serna, a civil servant who practiced at the capital of Antioquia and who, following the murder of Minister Lara Bonilla, had issued a warrant for the arrest of the chief of the Medellín Cartel for the death of the two DAS agents.
There wasn’t any proof against Escobar, only suspicion. The judge joined the political massacre that every section of society had mounted against the gangster. After the death of his colleagues, Zuluaga Serna simply continued his work as if nothing had happened—those justices meant nothing to him. But he knew he was located in the most dangerous place in the world, Medellín.
On October 30, 1986, one of Pablo’s hitmen crossed paths with Judge Gustavo Zuluaga Serna. The judge always followed the same routine, moving without any rush, like one who is waiting for death. He would leave the Palace of Justice on Guayaquil33 in an old orange Renault 12 station wagon. He limped on his right foot, so he used a crutch. The judge’s face always had a marble, expressionless face. He lived for justice in Colombia—that particular day, he had to die for it.
At 12:30 p.m., as usual, he came walking out of the Palace of Justice towards his old station wagon, opened the door, laid his crutch down on the seat (it had served him for the last time), boarded the vehicle, and started the engine. Pinina drove a Renault 18 2Lts. At his side was La Yuca with a Magnum 44. They followed him at a cautious distance as far as Bolivariana University, waiting for him to get out of the heavy traffic. Pinina maneuvered the car closer, their windows side by side; the judge never took his eyes off the road, and two shots were enough to end his life. The station wagon swerved out of control, crashing into the sidewalk. Pinina took Avenue 33 and escaped easily, continuing on his way to the hideout in El Paraíso. The hitmen justified their actions by reflecting on how many innocent men this judge could have put behind bars.
Newspaper headlines blared the story and, once more, the media showed its support for justice. El Espectador was the toughest in its accusations and was supported, as always, by Jorge Enrique Pulido and the Vanguardia Liberal. Curiously, the country’s first newspaper, El Tiempo, didn’t make a frontal attack.
The story of the judge’s murder stole the press from the new president of the Republic, Virgilio Barco Vargas, who came to power on August 7, 1986.
Chapter X
The President Spoils the Party
The worst problem for the cartels was extradition, and so it was attacked militarily and legally. A horde of lawyers, led by Don Guido Parra and Pablo himself, became the legal arm of the Extraditables; they were advised by Escobar’s old, experienced lawyer, Don Humberto Buitrago. The political wing of the Extraditables was managed from the shadows by hardened gangster Alberto Santofimio Botero. He was a well-spoken man who was intelligent, cold, unscrupulous, and thirsty for political power. He was in fact a former candidate to the presidency of the Republic, a former senator, a former representative, and a former convict. He had spent time in jail for corruption.
With the power of intimidation, money, and legal and political arms, the Extraditables attempted to cover all fronts. On December 13, 1986, extradition fell as a result of formal rulings. The mafia celebrated. The Extraditables breathed easily and the country envisioned a future free of assassinations among their leaders. El Espectador, under the command of Guillermo Cano, went after the justices who put an end to the extradition treaty. Cano’s colleague from Vanguardia Liberal did the same and, timid but supportive, Jorge Enrique Pulido seconded them from his show. They pressed hard for the reestablishment of extradition.
We felt happy and I thought it had all been worth the fear I went through when El Patrón, a few days back, had ordered