‘We identified the biggest and worst of the bad guys.’ Drug Lords: The Takedown s1e8: Cocaine Guerrillas, DEA agent, National Geographic 2023
The hostages are held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. ibid.
Called the Strike Force, it’s a multi-agency anti-narcotics powerhouse. ibid.
Seeking a unique opportunity to speak to Farc insiders, Dan and Eric join the resinsertado debriefings. What they hear is shocking. Reinsertado testimony of FARC brutality is overwhelming. And it also begins to produce firsthand testimony of cocaine trafficking. ibid.
‘We’re gonna take those top fifty commanders and we’re gonna try and indict all fifty of them.’ ibid. DEA agent
‘He was an enormous drug trafficker, a prodigious producer of cocaine, 30,000 kilograms of cocaine of month. He had real control of the drug trade within Colombia. He was the man.’ Drug Lords: The Takedown s1e9: The Madman; Jay Bergman, DEA
El Loco is what is known as ‘an invisible’, a drug lord whose identity is unknown. Yet intelligence sources say he is trafficking vast amounts of cocaine. ibid.
‘He was a massive supplier of cocaine to the Mexican cartels.’ ibid. Ana
By 2008 the DEA have pieced together elements of Barrera’s original story. But they are no closer to establishing his identity. ibid.
To get to Daniel ‘El Loco’ Barrera, Ana [agent] needs someone from inside his organisation. ibid.
In Bogata, El Loco is out of his comfort zone. Investigators begin to make inroads into his network. ibid.
‘El Loco Barrera invested large sums of money to buy off witnesses and bribe police personnel.’ ibid. Ana
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The cocaine king of Colombia, Pablo Escobar, who mastered every page of the playbook and added some chapters of his own. ibid.
The head of the largest drugs syndicate in history with an entire nation under his thumb. ibid.
A reported net worth of $30 billion. ibid.