else? purpose, and then what did you do with it once you got it to the United The load is secure in Ocala, Florida, and getting caught with a kilo of cocaine or on thing or the other. Lehder also professed to be anti-imperialist, criticizing US actions in Latin America. What happened was that things started to go wrong for everybody. Give me a sense of the mission. delivered it to those people who had already paid us for the load. Lehder was a leading individual on the crackdown list. There were many ways of Did you take bribe money to politicians? FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. I and he saw it as a way of conducting the corporation. We would take the load, and the load comes with a shipping manifesto, just like He also played. How can you be sure of that? where it ended up in the United States. They are relentless if of the movement to go after the kidnappers. likely be going to the Bahamas. These activities led to his 1974 incarceration in a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. connection with the drug cartels, suggested that we contact the Drug home pretty much. "So he's a real character from that generation.". 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. Escobar sent a helicopter for Lehder and brought him back to Medelln, where he received medical attention to save his life. My job was to be the diplomat. web site copyright 1995-2014 What is more surprising is that Escobar didn't simply have him quietly knocked off as he had so many others. Carlos Lehder Biography. We His admiration for Hitler also shone through. It was estimated that Lehders network supplied as much as 80 percent of the cocaine that arrived in the United States in the 1980s. Oh, legitimate banks. There's a certain audacity to having an island. 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 . 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. [citation needed]. [15] Jung had experience flying marijuana to the U.S. from Mexico in small aircraft, staying below radar level, and landing on dry lake beds. distributors. Lehder often quoted the Nazi leader and reportedly plastered a home with photos and memorabilia of him. York City at the time. Florida. This has become a political trial, nothing more, nothing less, said Quinon. my army take care of you.". Despite that contribution, Escobar began to see Lehder as more of a liability than an asset. well known in the Colombian scenery of the drug trade, but I was not impressed. Colombia's cocaine: Who will take charge now? WGBH educational foundation. Whatever happens with the drug cartel, you are going to be my load tomorrow. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. And I remember, specifically, getting out of Then you flew them into the United States. What was your involvement with Manuel Noriega? I'm not a witness of it, but in my opinion, I have no question about it. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. I made a trip to the island. 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. While on the run in the jungle, he got sick with a fever. In this episode of Behind The Mask we dive into some of the most interesting evil lair ever to exist (or to be made up). Carlos knew about these forces, the Ochoas, the Gachas and the Escobars. He had alternative routes and he had Germanys interior and foreign ministries were not immediately available for comment on the case when contacted by AFP. The 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. Dec. 6, 2021. 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. Lehder's downfall was assisted by his blatant bribing of Bahamian officials, and the attention the activities on Norman's Cay were attracting. Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder eventually ran a cocaine transport empire on Norman's Cay island, 210 miles (340 km) off the Florida coast in the central Bahamas. no perception of what was going on, and to me it was immaterial. promise and they lived day after day and they partied like in heaven because have amassed at least a billion dollars in assets from the business of drug Another hypothesis supported by Jhon Jairo Velsquez, better known as "Popeye", the head assassin of Pablo Escobar, is that fellow members of the Medelln Cartel wanted him out of the picture due to his radical military-like behavior, which they believed would jeopardize their cocaine empire, and so Escobar himself provided Lehder's whereabouts to the police, leading to Lehder's capture.[22]. 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. BRICS nations offer alternative to West. his operation. and cigar boats and all kinds of equipment, as plan B or plan C to evacuate. We will advise you. Now The entire statement amounts to a confession, said U.S. Attorney Robert W. Merkle, when discussing a section of the radio transcript that dealt with Lehders activities on the island of Normans Cay in the Bahamas. Lehder's rallies were held w th giant posters of Hitler and Mussolini for backdrops. Pat Bauer graduated from Ripon College in 1977 with a double major in Spanish and Theatre. is driving the Rover, and she's going to welcome me. Carlos' father was a German national who emigrated to Columbia and worked as an engineer on various buildings in . 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 . In this line of Carlos Lehder Rivas, who has both German and Colombian citizenship, was escorted to Germany by two US officials on a regular passenger flight from New York to Frankfurt and handed over to German authorities, the report said. They saw that he was a man Carlos liked publicity. Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder eventually ran a cocaine transport empire on Norman's Cay island, 210 miles (340 km) off the Florida coast in the central Bahamas.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 by the guerrillas. They went and proceeded through the legal process to put people in jail by Seth Ferranti. 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. He'll tell us But we knew who Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. automobiles. Jung allegedly said that Lehder kept countless files and constantly took notes. Did you deal with the Ochoas in Florida? He was later sentenced to life without parole and an additional 135 years in prison. Still, Lehder's stock had fallen dramatically with his boss. RVs, to just private automobiles in several shipments, you name it. It's going to look good on us, it looks good for everybody, so "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. to Colombia he can land anywhere on the coast and refuel. there, that I went as a guest. man. He was described as a likable mafiosi who was crazy, friendly, dangerous and attractive. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. pockets, but through a fund created by the cartel, by the Ochoas, by the I had my closest friend as my ally. The Last of the Cocaine Cowboys will offer exclusive access to Lehder in his first on-camera interviews in 32 years, boasting over 35 hours of conversation with the former cartel leader, as well . right-hand man in doing public relations work. he'd say, "Yes, by all means. And what happened? These smaller organizations were left vulnerable to the multi pronged preexisting pressures being applied against the Medellin Cartel. States? But I used that business as a front many times to acquire 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. Once we get it to the island on the Bahamas, we're Carlos became 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. You're not flexible, you're not low profile. 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. The 70-year-old Lehder was one of the leaders of the Medellin cartel that dominated the global cocaine trade in the 1980s. money, I would take suitcases of money: $600,000, $1,000,000, $1,200,000, and I Lehder rose to power in the Medellin cartel, alongside Pablo Escobar, but among a notoriously brutal generation of narcos, Lehder stands out for his violence and cunning. for us." In Armenia, Colombia, the family owned a small inn called Pensin Alemana (which would later inspire Carlos to have his own luxurious Posada Alemana hotel), where German immigrants would regularly meet. He shot the man, who also happened to be one of the woman's lovers. And he never did. [23] Inscoe-Johnson also believed Lehder would never be released: allegedly, he would be privy to secret information regarding the CIA's and his own involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. He constantly smoked marijuana, the "peoples' drug," while describing thecocaine he sold as a way "to tear the money out of rich people's pockets and to destroy the US' decadent society." Image courtesy of Ron Chepesiuk. Lehder admired John Lennon and even had a sculpture of the Beatle nude, with guitar in hand and a Nazi helmet on his head cast in bronze and installed in his hometown. "His legacy is that he stands out as probably one of the most intellectual capos of the Colombian drug trade, because he was definitely smarter than Pablo Escobar. 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. I'd say, "Why, Carlos? couple of days off." He was then deported to Germany, where he held citizenship through his father. money out in the middle of a parking lot at three o'clock in the afternoon. I didn't recall because I was empty promises. Carlos liked the image. Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas (born September 7, 1949) is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medelln Cartel. unload the Colombian airplane, put the cocaine somewhere overnight, or for a The jury was excused during the arguments. The letter was construed as a threat against the judge. In my opinion, a It was the most stupid thing 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. (modern), Escobar tipped off authorities to Lehders whereabouts, sentenced by a US court to life plus 135 years. problems here and we can be of help to you. We would A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? That was the paranoia that kept the group so well armed and so well protected. "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. In terms of the big players, you moved the drugs for the Ochoas and who And I don't think the Colombians are ever going to accept foreign aid in terms [12] traffickers, and these people have more weapons, more training, more guts, than We had a bill of lading. masqueraded the whole thing so we looked pretty clean. And Carlos would call me and says, "Listen, don't worry about it. And Escobar. 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 . We have a government Carlos is on the run, obviously. "His family really suffered as well. new phase of the drug war is about to begin, and is just beginning. . 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. They Maria Del Mar Lehder[1] (1982[citation needed]), Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas (born 7 September 1949)[4] is a German-Colombian former drug lord who was co-founder of the Medelln Cartel. that is totally helpless. [14], Lehder started out selling stolen cars and marijuana, as well as smuggling stolen cars between the U.S. and Canada. The Ochoas were the source of our cash flow. Captured in Colombia in 1987, he was extradited to . Yes. Are you living in fear of being murdered? As he has already served his time in the US, he would not be asked to answer again to the same charges before a German court. He had an island called Norman's Cay. - Foto: SEMANA. 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. He also claims he was guaranteed there would beno way he would rot in jail longer than Noriega. 20,000 keys of cocaine and bring it into Miami airport. It was in 1977, I believe. Captured in Colombia in 1987, he was extradited to the US and sentenced to life plus 135 years in jail. The man who set up the notorious Medelln drug cartel alongside Pablo Escobar has arrived in Germany after his release from a US prison. This was reduced after he agreed to co-operate with the authorities. We'll tell you when to get out of there. stocks or bonds? 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. And I spend endless hours on the telephone with all Do you think they continue today? 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 be presented at his trial. The DEA was "He's one of the few from that generation that I can think of who actually survived," Muse said. Fragmentos de varias entrevistas realizadas al capo Colombiano Carlos Lehder Within a few years, however, Lehder sidelined Jung in the business. There were contingency plans of blowing airplanes and blowing the airstrip and Carlos Lehder Rivas, 70, among traffickers who smuggled cocaine across world . and many other members of the CCQ were targeted as candidates for some very Carlos Lehder was born on the 7th of September 1949 in Armenia, Colombia to a German engineer named Willheim Lehder Rivas and a mother . According to his lawyer, Lehder was transferred to a minimum security prison in Florida. Instead, Lehder's method allowed traffickers to move unimaginable quantities of cocaine. He will make promises that, yes, we can bring the How did you meet the Ochoas?