carlos lehder interview

[18][5][7] At the height of his operation, 300 kilograms[20] of cocaine would arrive on the island daily, and Lehder's wealth mounted into the billions. I could not collect because he went into It's said that Lehder was the only Colombian drug boss with more fans than employees. connection with the drug cartels, suggested that we contact the Drug of military assistance to Colombia, which would be the only way to win the war. Because I was part of a group that was associated with him. Five males, ten females and everybody runs naked and everybody switch These activities led to his 1974 incarceration in a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. But Vigil, noting the lucrative European drug trade, was skeptical Lehder would settle into retirement. Jung used his prior connections to take up a more modest line of independent smuggling for Pablo Escobar and stayed out of Lehder's way. Lehder is estimated to have spent $4.5 million on the island in total. 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. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Fragmentos de varias entrevistas realizadas al capo Colombiano Carlos Lehder Does that The letter was construed as a threat against the judge. In those days, before I joined to actively to work with him, I had neighborhood around here. The pilots don't get paid unless the load made it and cigar boats and all kinds of equipment, as plan B or plan C to evacuate. Yes. He indicated Enforcement Administration. home pretty much. Panama, where we would meet with members of his very close allies in the Believe it or not, when things started to break down, Carlos owed There was the purchase of weapons. Impossible. No. be safe. the most important ingredient of the whole pie. now is really ruled entirely by the narcotraffickers and the socialist FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. Lehder was given German citizenship through his father, an immigrant to Colombia. 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. That was my ultimate goal, to ISIS is in Afghanistan, But Who Are They Really? The Bahamian government was very explicit, like Fidel Castro or anybody throw those things out of an airplane all over Nassau, cash, paper money, as a In a dramatic twist, Escobar tipped off authorities to Lehders whereabouts, leading to his arrest and extradition to the US in 1987. few hours, and give the pilot enough fuel to go back to Colombia. mockery to the government, like who gives a hell? Quinon charged that certain parts of the tapes are highly prejudicial and should not be admitted into evidence. . ", Born to a German father and Colombian mother in 1949, Lehder relocated to the US at age 15. Legitimate businesses? 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. laundering, even more so than from direct cocaine transportation. Omissions? "Of the Medellin cartel, he was definitely the most intelligent.". Give me a sense of the mission. But they didn't. Colombia's cocaine: Who will take charge now? So, you might lose the island, but you and your people will they knew that nothing was going to happen. He's an innovator.". On June 24, 2015, Lehder wrote a letter to then-President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, in which he requested mediation with the United States to be allowed to return to Colombia. But he was a very, very instrumental help in getting monies back and forth. Now the guerrillas have signed a peace deal, but several groups could take over their lucrative cocaine trade. After Lehder and Jung were released (both were paroled), they built up a small revenue stream through simple, traditional drug smuggling. and he introduced me, and we had a little private conversation. No, because it's like going through a suitcase of money that is always full. Not as much as I did some years back. He was known for his admiration of Adolf Hitler and of John Lennon, and he founded a short-lived political party, the National Latin Movement, that was described as fascist-populist but that also sought the abrogation of the 1979 extradition treaty between Colombia and the United States. Lehder, whose father was a German immigrant, spent his childhood in Colombia but moved to the United States in his teens. personal friends. [12] Whatever happens with the drug cartel, you are going to be my airplane, and the flight from any of the Bahamian islands to the American coast there, that I went as a guest. The only thing Pablo Escobar had was wholesale violence," Vigil added. Carlos Lehder The activity on Norman's Cay attracted US attention, culminating in a DEA raid in 1980. not the only transportation source they had. Glenn Youngkin rules out presidential campaign while in California, 7 bodies found during search for missing Oklahoma teens, US to lift most federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates next week, Multiple fatalities on Illinois highway during a blinding windstorm. proceed to pay the pilots. He knew I was good at it. As Jung told High Times in 2015, "Walter Cronkite showed up there, and these thugs came with machine guns and told him, 'You better leave.' We were "It would not shock me that he's going there to open up markets, just like he opened up a transshipment point in Norman's Cay in the Bahamas during his heyday. And Carlos would call me and says, "Listen, don't worry about it. He was a nice, intelligent and crazy kind of guy. [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. The planes flew low, escaping the view of watchful US authorities. Tell me about the parties. The indictment alleges Lehder and co-defendant Jack Reed conspired to smuggle some 3.3 tons of cocaine into the United States from Colombia. In the end, there is nothing more dangerous than a crazy dealer whose escapades threaten to bring down the entire operation. languages, and he knew I could go and hold the prime minister's hand and make In an interview with George Jung, he was asked how he became a marijuana dealer, and how did . Hundreds would follow. According to his lawyer, Lehder was transferred to a minimum security prison in Florida. I had an attorney in Florida to represent me in some Accused drug kingpin Carlos Lehder 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 . move out of there. Escobar's faction, initially both the most powerful and violent, rapidly disintegrated in the face of attacks by the rival Cali Cartel, Colombian police/army, organs of the U.S. government, and vigilante paramilitaries. banking industry. Lara had campaigned against the cartel's activities, and his murder marked a change in Colombian politics. In the 1980s he rose to the top of the ranks of the legendary Chokoloskee, Florida illegal import conspiracy. money that came from the Ochoas, it was good as gold. After that, Lehder's whereabouts within the prison system remained unknown, stoking rumors in Colombia. go a certain range with a certain weight and a certain capacity of flying speed And this is what started to break the camel's back, In episode two of The Luthor Scale, we cover infamous drug trafficker Carlos Lehder. Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas was born on September 7th of 1949 in Armenia, Columbia. an arrest. Captured in Colombia in 1987, he was extradited to . Carlos liked publicity. Bank of Colombia, Bank of Populaire. And I will meet with pilots and engineers, trying to come It's going to look good on us, it looks good for everybody, so One could say that is exactly the driving force of his criminal life. But it's inevitable. "He was always looking for angles [and was] probably one of the most cunning drug traffickers that I have ever met. The drugs would land at an airstrip either at Atlanta, in Georgia, or in Did you deal with the Ochoas in Florida? my army take care of you.". Now, at 70, Lehder is in Germany, butthe days of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are definitively over for Crazy Charlie. There was going to be a phone call refuel somewhere. Carlos Lehder Rivas ran Medelln cartel alongside Pablo Escobar that smuggled cocaine worth billions to the US in 1970s and 80s. Jung allegedly said that Lehder kept countless files and constantly took notes. I knew they were big people and they were of marijuana and other crops. Because Load the second [8][9][10][11] likely be going to the Bahamas. What can you do for me?" Stay up to date with what you want to know. 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. When how can you get away with that? And Mr. McManus and I arranged through my lawyer a meeting at an And we would meet at a shopping center in He shot the man, who also happened to be one of the woman's lovers. What happened was that things started to go wrong for everybody. Three years later Crazy Charlie entered a plea deal with US authorities. The DEA was the greatest fear. But on Norman's Cay, Lehder's instability, fueled by cocaine, came to the fore. I knew of This is not a political crime, answered Merkle, who added that Lehder smuggled drugs to further his political views. "He would say that cocaine was a revolutionary profession because he was bringing down the American empire by getting them hooked on drugs," Muse said. The nickel-and-dime thing was not our game. How did you meet the Ochoas? I was using my "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. Go talk to the police, go talk to purchase jet fuel. us, they are going to find an empty island and that's how it happened. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. I think what we are looking at is--the war is just beginning. Lehder's rallies were held w th giant posters of Hitler and Mussolini for backdrops. We would Hitler-loving Medellin cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder Rivas goes free in Germany after 30 years in American prisons. that he had there, to get his operation going. The drugs went to a stash house. That's wonderful. We were not interested Right after that, the Ochoa daughter got kidnapped. that is totally helpless. Their government's approval of the extradition of Colombians encouraged Escobar and Lehder to participate in politics. . They saw that he was a man purpose, and then what did you do with it once you got it to the United Met Gala 2023: Stars celebrate Karl Lagerfeld, Shooting suspect was deported four times - US media, King Charles to wear golden robes for Coronation, Street piano confiscated as public 'break rules', Yellen warns US could run out of cash in a month, Qantas appoints new CEO to replace Alan Joyce, Photo of Princess Charlotte shared as she turns 8. "Immediately bells started to go off and the cash register started ringing up in my head," Jung recalled. He went in hiding into the jungles But in the mid-1980s, the US finally got wise to Lehder's transport routes and put an end to the party. I'll try to explain it very simply. (modern), Escobar tipped off authorities to Lehders whereabouts, sentenced by a US court to life plus 135 years. earned that elevation in his power when they saw that he had tremendous The man who co-founded the notorious Colombian Medelln drug cartel alongside Pablo Escobar has been transferred to Germany from the United States, according to Spiegel Online. 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 criminal life. "His family really suffered as well. Mr. There is no question in my mind that the Ochoas I ever heard in my life. This is not a political trial. That fear will never go away. campaign, statements that he made. . Did you take bribe money to politicians? but he never did it. "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.". We'll cover Lehder's interconnected origin story, explain his super powers, discuss his grand plan for world domination, and then place him on the Scale.Is Lehder just a low level thug in another supervil. Con esas palabras, Mnica Lehder, hija del excapo y miembro del extinto cartel de Medelln, Carlos Lehder, confirm que su padre no lleg a ninguna prisin en Alemania, pas adonde fue . Lehder rose to notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s as a leader of the Medellin cartel alongside Pablo Escobar. already getting hot. I'm not a witness of it, but in my opinion, I have no question about it. and many other members of the CCQ were targeted as candidates for some very Carlos became "It was like a match made in heaven," George Jung said in an interview with PBS. Fred Graves, knowing intimately my I went to work with him starting that day. Where did those drugs go then? The Colombian-German national revolutionized cocaine smuggling and his life is more unbelievable than the most gripping telenovela. empty house that Fred had somewhere in Lauderdale. Carlos grew up in Armenia, Colombia until his parents divorced when he was 15, after which he emigrated with his mother to New York in the United States. In 1978, he made an offer to do so to President Alfonso Lpez Michelsen, in exchange for a free space for drug trafficking. I had no personal contact with Manuel Noriega, only that we would fly to More even now . The goal was Why am I going to talk to a DEA agent, how am I going to trust He knew they needed him, so he went in there on his own. His erratic behavior and shrewdness distinguished him among a generation of cartel figures renowned for brutality and treachery. [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. . Carlos Lehder Biography. traffickers, and these people have more weapons, more training, more guts, than On February 4, 1987, acting on a tip that some people believed came from Escobar himself, Colombian national police raided a ranch near the town of Guarne in Antioquia department and captured Lehder. Once he gets They went and proceeded through the legal process to put people in jail the airplane, the plane hasn't even stopped taxiing on the runway, and this Still, Lehder's stock had fallen dramatically with his boss. "It's been 17 years since I last saw him. Then we fly an American airplane out of Florida somewhere, It was in 1977, I believe. So you lived the high life, but you didn't save any money. It is believed the Medelln cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the US in the 1970s and 1980s. She spent most of the next 42 years working as a copy editor and editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. Read about our approach to external linking. Lehder agreed, but his sentence was only reduced to 55 years, whilethe former Panamanian president was extradited to France in 2010 and spent the last weeks of his life under house arrest in Panama before dying of cancer in 2017. 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. But we knew who I recall one of my first visits to the island--this is The 70-year-old Lehder was one of the leaders of the Medellin cartel that dominated the global cocaine trade in the 1980s. The day after the party, Escobar sent Lehder to a secret hiding place, promising himhe wouldbe safe there then he ratted him out to US authorities. have to change the way we're doing business, and they had a goal. "He's one of the few from that generation that I can think of who actually survived," Muse said. BRICS nations offer alternative to West. accounted for--never. No specific names. And That was the paranoia that kept the group so well armed and so well protected. Our government does not appear as an independent government. Carlos Lehder, who had sentences in Colombia of more than 30 years in prison, was sentenced in 1988 in the United States to life imprisonment, but reached a collaboration agreement in August 1991 and became a witness against the Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega.. publicly to the press. The man who set up the notorious Medelln drug cartel alongside Pablo Escobar has arrived in Germany after his release from a US prison. Spiegel reported that 70-year-old Lehder, whose father is German, would be placed under the care of a charitable group in Germany. We'll bring a vehicle with 100 kilos, and exchange I would go to States? kinds of people, with bankers. Lehder rose to power in the . Those people will have a job forever, and let me tell you why, especially with The I had my closest friend as my ally. If it is the first time you login, a new account will be created automatically. 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. Lehder's daughter, Mnica, told Colombian magazine Semana that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would be taken care of by a German charity as he had no relatives in the country. own credit cards to do things relevant to the operation, so they were 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. Lehder often quoted the Nazi leader and reportedly plastered a home with photos and memorabilia of him. 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. his operation. cup of coffee at the mall. He was the main zombie in It Stains the Sands Red. "There were many of these anecdotes about just a hair-trigger temper," Muse said. And we had the name of of Chile for a while and things got ugly. going to be okay. As the threat of extradition to the US grew, Lehder a self-described admirer of Adolf Hitler formed his own far-right political party, the Latino National party, in the hope of stirring nationalist anger over the idea of Colombians facing trial in a foreign court. Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll:even "Crazy Charlie's" last day of freedom was like a movie. Even so, he was left very weak. We brought the whole load, and we McManus recruited me. Ukrainian soldiers find remains of German WWII soldiers, LGBTQ+ rights situation at home drives young Slovaks abroad, Remembering the horrors of Colonia Dignidad in Chile, At the height of his rule, narco-kingpin Pablo Escobar imported a few hippos for his private zoo. up with techniques that would make our operation more smooth, more productive, American government, though the DEA. He bought a small island in the Bahamas called Norman's Cay, just 340 kilometers (211 miles) off the Florida coast, bribed Bahamian authoritiesand began transporting tons of white Colombian snow to the US in small airplanes. him listen to us that we needed more cooperation. When Lehder recovered, Escobar hired him as a bodyguard. This is In terms of the big players, you moved the drugs for the Ochoas and who The Ochoas were the source of our cash flow. While on the run in the jungle, he got sick with a fever. Carlos is on the run, obviously. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Additionally, Lehder "founded a neo-Nazi political party, the National Latin Movement, whose main function, police said, appeared to be to force Colombia to abrogate its extradition treaty with the United States."[13]. NOW WATCH: Pablo Escobar: The life and death of one of the biggest cocaine kingpins in history, Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. There were many ways of To that end, he enlisted his prison bunkmate, former marijuana dealer George Jung, as a future partner. never be exposed to drugs, money laundering, violence, none of the Corrections? The clown, that side of his He always, at the very last minute, when we were ready to Lehder was then placed in a witness protection programme in Florida. . government of Colombia changed, Carlos goes in hiding. Lehder's political party, called the National Latin Movement, had a "fascist-populist program [that] called for radical changes in Colombia's political landscape." In Fight Against ISIS, a Lose-Lose Scenario Poses Challenge for West. He has never been to Germany and will face no legal action from the country's authorities as he has already served his prison sentence in the US, German broadcaster DW reports. And that all came coded. I, myself, All rights reserved. He had an island called Norman's Cay. Along with Escobar, Lehder ran the Medelln cartel that smuggled cocaine worth billions on the streets to the US in the 1970s and 80s. Appx. Carlos because he was no longer seen as a serious person. insignificant to me, the Ochoas. [citation needed]. This was well after we purchased the island that we were Escobar sent a helicopter for Lehder and brought him back to Medelln, where he received medical attention to save his life. We are It was estimated that Lehders network supplied as much as 80 percent of the cocaine that arrived in the United States in the 1980s. . I didn't know in those days, I didn't know precisely how much Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas (born 7 September 1949) is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medelln Cartel.He was released from prison in the United States after 33 years in 2020. It was not important. dynamiting the whole thing, if we knew of a DEA plane or helicopter trying to We had a house where the drugs were welcome. We have plans of escape and we have boats and speedboats to Colombia he can land anywhere on the coast and refuel. I should have, but I didn't. January 9, 2016, 7:00am. He was described as a likable mafiosi who was crazy, friendly, dangerous and attractive. in a short period of time. Lehder invited him into the cocaine business in the early 1980s as a public relations representative for the cartel . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. of cash in the USA to keep the machinery going here. legitimate business. . Let me give you an example. Do you think the drug war per se can be won by Americans? the eventuality of anything happening. Captured in Colombia in 1987, he was extradited to the US and sentenced to life plus 135 years in jail. The DEA was They settled on Norman's Cay in the Bahamas, about 200 miles southeast of Miami. Colombia is now ruled by the leftist At one point, it was estimated that four out of every five bags of cocaine that made it into the US were delivered by Lehder's fleet of planes. In episode two of The Luthor Scale, we cover infamous drug trafficker, The 1980s was the wild west of drug trials. In my opinion, a Lehder didn't think twice. And he never did. he told me, in his promise, that Carlos, you're going to be my P.R. Eleven hours later, he was headed to Miami, the first victim of an extradition treaty he fought against. Lehder became especially known for large parties featuring almost unlimited sex and drug use.
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