carlos lehder interview

Do you think they continue today? in a short period of time. The Bahamian government had to do what it had to that could transport anything. 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. tools and planes and automobiles and things like that. he told me, in his promise, that Carlos, you're going to be my P.R. There was never a question about the money being there and every penny being It was well funded and there were The Ochoas were the source of our cash flow. Lehder revolutionized drug smuggling in the late 1970s. The sense of the mission was, I was going to help my friend iron some troubles We Escobar had paid some of Noriega's closest colonels to inform him of Noriega's intentions. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. She retired Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. His lawyer, Oscar Arroyave, told Associated Press that Lehder had no interest in returning to Colombia and German authorities provided assistance in allowing him to resettle in Berlin. After Brian Ross's September 5, 1983 report, on the U.S. television network NBC, made public the corruption of Bahamian government leaders,[21] Lehder could not return to Norman's Cay. The intelligence he gathered helped in the prosecution of cocaine kingpin Carlos Lehder of the Medellin Cartel, and Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama. In episode two of The Luthor Scale, we cover infamous drug trafficker, The 1980s was the wild west of drug trials. Lehder claims he was promised that if he testified against Panama's authoritarian rulerand drug boss Manuel Noriega, US officialswould knock his sentence down to 30 years. assassinations. "There were many of these anecdotes about just a hair-trigger temper," Muse said. He'll tell us approached Pablo Escobar and he told him, he is the one who said to Escobar, we Personally? We will advise you. they were, because we knew the codes, of course. You're like a hard target. how can you get away with that? Specifically, they enlisted two young women who were US citizens to take a vacation to Antigua, receive cocaine, and carry it back with them to the U.S. in their suitcases. The court sentenced Lehder to life in prison without parole. This is his manifesto, said Merkle, who added that Lehder equated his cocaine smuggling with the liquor smuggling in the United States during the Prohibition era. Instead, Lehder's method allowed traffickers to move unimaginable quantities of cocaine. You have Once he gets I knew they were big people and they were (United States v. Lehder-Rivas, 136 Fed. Along with Escobar, Lehder ran the Medelln cartel that smuggled cocaine worth billions on the streets to the US in the 1970s and 80s. And we didn't care. Lehder relocated to Colombia, building a hacienda and spreading money around Armenia, the district in west-central Colombia where he was born. But in the mid-1980s, the US finally got wise to Lehder's transport routes and put an end to the party. His story has been featured on VICE and he wrote a book about his experiences ca, Juan is an amazing actor! A charity in Germany has agreed to pay for treatment.[28]. The wild, impulsive and unpredictable Lehder is said to be critically ill. Colombia's conundrum over Pablo Escobar's escapee hippos. We had the means to do it. out of his own country. never be exposed to drugs, money laundering, violence, none of the of the movement to go after the kidnappers. A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? Hitler-loving Medellin cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder Rivas goes free in Germany after 30 years in American prisons. He had radio people. Let me give you an example. Fred Graves, knowing intimately my what is happening in Colombia now. At the centre of Lehders operation was Normans Caye, an island off the Bahamas, which he transformed into the hub of his smuggling operation with the help of corrupt local officials. 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. We were the prime transportation But defense attorney Jose Quinon, arguing against allowing the jury to see and hear the tapes, claimed that Lehder was being tried for his political views instead of the 11-count indictment. His admiration for Hitler also shone through. So he didn't really help you ship cocaine north, but he helped you hide the Lehder's rallies were held w th giant posters of Hitler and Mussolini for backdrops. Right after that, the Ochoa daughter got kidnapped. Carlos liked the image. He also played. The Last of the Cocaine Cowboys: A four-part documentary miniseries on Medelln Cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder, offering exclusive access to Lehder in his first on-camera interviews in 32 years. According to his daughter, Lehder arrived on a regular passenger flight from New York to Frankfurt. Fugitive, capture, trial, and whereabouts, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Supuesta libertad de Carlos Ledher fue desmentida desde Armenia", "El peso del apellido Lehder: hija ruega para que el narco no muera en prisin", "Carlos Lehder qued libre en Alemania, confirma su hija Mnica Lehder", "Carlos Lehder | Biography, Crimes, Conviction, & Facts", "El Mundo - Noticias de Medelln, Antioquia, Colombia y el mundo - Peridico El Mundo", "Muri Juan David Ochoa, uno de los fundadores del cartel de Medelln", "Marta Nieves Ochoa, hermana de Fabio Ochoa", "Hatred of All Things Yankee Absorbs Lehder", "Padre de Carlos Lehder, un activo militante nazi", "NORMAN'S CAY: The True Story of Carlos Lehder, the Medellin Cartel, the CIA, and America's War On Drugs", "Carlos Lehder podra salir libre por cumplimiento de pena", "Carta de Carlos Lehder al President Juan Manuel Santos", "Medelln cartel co-founder transferred to Germany after prison sentence", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carlos_Lehder&oldid=1146724765, Colombian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Fugitives wanted on organised crime charges, People extradited from Colombia to the United States, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, BLP articles lacking sources from February 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2013, BLP articles lacking sources from August 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. very skeptical. This is FRONTLINE's old website. Carlos liked publicity. Despite that contribution, Escobar began to see Lehder as more of a liability than an asset. or going to Cuba, going wherever necessary, go to talk to the airplane people. And he never failed to point out that, "terrorism is the atom bomb of the poor.". It's going to look good on us, it looks good for everybody, so . As serious as the charges against him were, prosecutors often spoke of his skills with admiration, comparing his smuggling system to Henry Ford's automated assembly line. What exactly was the use of the island? Updates? 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. somewhere in the Caribbean, air drop the load to a waiting boat, and go and https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carlos-Lehder. 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. I came in with a very specific job description. Michael McManus. We would 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. It was estimated that Lehder's network supplied as much . Living in New York City, he got involved in petty crime and was eventually arrested for car theft, which landed him in federal prison in Connecticut, where his cellmate was George Jung, a fellow smuggler and subject of the movie "Blow.". 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. to understand for many years, he had the support of the Colombian government McManus recruited me. There is no question in my mind that the Ochoas He made admissions of being a drug dealer us, they are going to find an empty island and that's how it happened. ISIS' growing foothold in Afghanistan is captured on film. government and other governments to be on retainer, and always fed moneywise in We couldn't get away with it. country. Manuel Read about our approach to external linking. And what happened? And Carlos would call me and says, "Listen, don't worry about it. Omissions? Go talk to the police, go talk to purchase jet fuel. Fragmentos de varias entrevistas realizadas al capo Colombiano Carlos Lehder If it is the first time you login, a new account will be created automatically. The three of us could most Then we fly an American airplane out of Florida somewhere, What can you do for me?" . 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. We brought a lot of cocaine in. Wichita, Kansas, negotiate with the airlines manufacturer about putting an "He was always looking for angles [and was] probably one of the most cunning drug traffickers that I have ever met. Where did those drugs go then? promise and they lived day after day and they partied like in heaven because I met Carlos Lehder. Lehder's jail term was reduced after he co-operated with US authorities, The island of Norman's Cay, seen here in 1988, had a 2km landing strip for aircraft, Lehder was extradited to the US right after being captured in Colombia in 1987, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. That was the foundation of, it's The government has to rule and live by the threat of [26], Lehder was released from prison on June 15, 2020, and escorted to Germany by two US officials on a regular passenger flight from New York to Frankfurt and handed over to German authorities. 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. . The Colombian-German national revolutionized cocaine smuggling and his life is more unbelievable than the most gripping telenovela. While on the run in the jungle, he got sick with a fever. tico W le trae los detalles de estar en prisin fuera de Colombia. 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. TIL Colombian drug trafficker Carlos Lehder bought himself an island in the Bahamas where he put an airstrip which controlled the drugs coming in from South America and entering the US. It was estimated that Lehders network supplied as much as 80 percent of the cocaine that arrived in the United States in the 1980s. Believe it or not, when things started to break down, Carlos owed unload the Colombian airplane, put the cocaine somewhere overnight, or for a 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. Michael McManus, at the time, was working out of the Ft. Carlos Toro, during an interview . Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. 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. We don't have any money,'" Muse said, noting that it became a kind of policy among criminals in Colombia to target the families of high-profile capos who were taken down. We'll tell you when to get out of there. I would get up in the morning, have breakfast with my very close associates at My fear always was, I don't want to be How much money did you make altogether? I didn't know in those days, I didn't know precisely how much An article published by Cronica Del Quindio in January 2015 reported that Lehder could be released and extradited to Germany at any time. . He also admired Adolf Hitler and constantly railed against Jews, just like his father Wilhelm, an engineer who emigrated to Colombia before the start of the Second World War. In the 1980s he rose to the top of the ranks of the legendary Chokoloskee, Florida illegal import conspiracy. - Foto: SEMANA. whatever money was due to them. and he saw it as a way of conducting the corporation. I don't . By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Carlos knew about these forces, the Ochoas, the Gachas and the Escobars. Carlos Lehder, a 70-year-old Colombian-German national, became known for creating a base for drug smuggling on a private island in the Bahamas. His father, Klaus Wilhelm Lehder, was an engineer who emigrated from Germany to Armenia, Colombia in 1928, where he participated in the construction of several buildings which had elevators, a rather modern and unusual characteristic at that place and time. an arrest. It is amazing how one of the most remarkable criminals in human history had a rather unimpressive background. by Dominic Streatfeild. 20,000 keys of cocaine and bring it into Miami airport. mockery to the government, like who gives a hell? Lehder's daughter told Colombia's Caracol Radio on Wednesday that she hadn't spoken to her father since his release but that he was happy to be out and was "planning a quiet freedom." personality was quite evident, and you just lose credibility. not the only transportation source they had. Lehder was an innovator when it came to drug routes and transportation methods, Vigil said. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. do. There he was housed with George Jung, who had established an operation using airplanes to bring marijuana into the United States. Carlos Lehder was born on the 7th of September 1949 in Armenia, Colombia to a German engineer named Willheim Lehder Rivas and a mother . The operation of Carlos Lehder became entangled traffickers, and these people have more weapons, more training, more guts, than 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. In 1943, following intelligence reports from the United States, the Lehders, along with many Germans in Colombia, were suspected of ideological links with the Nazis and were investigated. They Once we get it to the island on the Bahamas, we're Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. He was then deported to Germany, where he held citizenship through his father. And when you leave out of get a wink from us, a signal, when things are getting too hot and you need to And he never did. He indicated Why they didn't, I don't understand because DEA know about the operations. neighborhood around here. He also could operate on that island because he bought the government, It was really There was an incident where he even put pamphlets on an airplane? somebody becomes an enemy. The content here may be outdated or no longer functioning. doing it, and there were many plans that we executed at different times, They are relentless if Escobar was killed by Colombian police in 1993 while on the run to avoid extradition to the US. We can be wild, we can be loud and we can be seen. We would go inside and we would have a The government had frozen all his bank accounts and taken over his property and possessions, and he went from being a billionaire to nearly bankrupt. I, myself, 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. When he married Helena Rivas, the daughter of a jeweller from Manizales, Caldas, he changed his name to Guillermo Lehder. Carlos was a close pockets, but through a fund created by the cartel, by the Ochoas, by the The Bahamian government gave Carlos a promise. In his mind, it was a way of making money. The letter was construed as a threat against the judge. 2023 BBC. He will make promises that, yes, we can bring the We were 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. American government, though the DEA. Yes, the Ochoas. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [14], Lehder started out selling stolen cars and marijuana, as well as smuggling stolen cars between the U.S. and Canada. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. Put this image on your website to promote the show -, Report inappropriate content or request to remove this page. Lehder apologized to Escobar, the body was disposed of and, of course, the party went on. Within hours he was sent to the United States, which had sought his arrest since 1979. So I have to go and look for alternative ways of bringing loads RVs, to just private automobiles in several shipments, you name it. El 16 de junio del presente ao, los colombianos se despertaron con la noticia de que Carlos Lehder, exsocio de Pablo Escobar, haba quedado en libertad despus de . exchanging money. Carlos Lehder, a 70-year-old Colombian-German national, became known for creating a base for drug smuggling on a private island in the Bahamas. They saw that he was a man money out in the middle of a parking lot at three o'clock in the afternoon. WGBH educational foundation. of cocaine into the United States. [12] guest. me a tremendous amount of money. already getting hot. There is one thing about the Colombian drug trade. who came from Colombia on his way to Germany to purchase weapons that Carlos Why am I going to talk to a DEA agent, how am I going to trust man, you'll Lehder, whose father was a German immigrant, spent his childhood in Colombia but moved to the United States in his teens. 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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Virginia Gov. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Lehder's lawyer, Oscar Arroyave, told The Associated Press that the 70-year-old left for Berlin after his release from prison in Florida, where he was being held in the witness protection program. Manuel Noriega was benefiting a great deal from money . I really walked out of this deal very much in debt. Repeating this process several times, Lehder and Jung soon had enough money for an airplane. [citation needed]. "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.". money, I would take suitcases of money: $600,000, $1,000,000, $1,200,000, and I Ochoa told me that he'd made tens of millions in selling cocaine. Precisely. work, you'll get involved. Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas was born on September 7th of 1949 in Armenia, Columbia. capabilities of getting organized and doing things. Quinon charged that certain parts of the tapes are highly prejudicial and should not be admitted into evidence. where to bring it. "Or hell, in the end." Stay up to date with what you want to know. He was sentenced to life without parole plus 135 years in 1988, which was reduced to 55 years after he testified against Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who had supported the Medellin cartel while he was in power. Lehder was then placed in a witness protection programme in Florida. well known in the Colombian scenery of the drug trade, but I was not impressed. I had no personal contact with Manuel Noriega, only that we would fly to And Carlos Lehder Rivas ran Medelln cartel alongside Pablo Escobar that smuggled cocaine worth billions to the US in 1970s and 80s Guardian staff and agencies in Berlin Tue 16 Jun 2020 16.05 EDT . have amassed at least a billion dollars in assets from the business of drug as well as other partner offers and accept our. 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. The drugs would land at an airstrip either at Atlanta, in Georgia, or in move out of there. My friend and lawyer Fred insisted that I meet with McManus. You say you dealt with bankers a lot. And we would meet at a shopping center in empty promises. part of a criminal organization where I'm going to be exposed to drugs. The Ochoas were instrumental in producing enough cocaine to export Eleven hours later, he was headed to Miami, the first victim of an extradition treaty he fought against. They flew cocaine in from Colombia on all sorts of aircraft able to land fully loaded on the airstrip, reloaded it into various small aircraft, and then distributed it to locations in Georgia, Florida,[19] and the Carolinas. [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. Lehder rose to notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s as a leader of the Medellin cartel alongside Pablo Escobar. started going to Nassau, meeting with the attorneys, meeting with the bankers, But I used that business as a front many times to acquire But they didn't. . tons, and I'm talking not 20 or 30 tons, but tons and tons of cocaine to this Eventually, Lehder wanted to rebuild his fortune, but he was captured at a farm he had just established in Colombia, when a new employee of his informed the police of his location. would not doubt it for one minute. Lehder set up a transit point for drug-laden aircraft on the island of Norman's Cay, 210 miles (340km) off the coast of Florida, with the help of corrupt local officials. Carlos was furious at the Bahamian government for not releasing five We have to change the way we're doing business, and they had a goal. How he got it there, that's his [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. Taken from JRE #1523 w/Joey Diaz and Brian Redban: https://youtu.be/INSy7D2LBfU with other businesses. It was 1987. Qu dijo Carlos Lehder tras su liberacin? [16], That island was Norman's Cay, which at that point consisted of a marina, a yacht club, approximately 100 private homes, and an airstrip. hiding. these groups are well formed, well financed, well trained, and they own the

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