So they had a lot of questions. But descending through a cloud bank, one of the choppers hit a mountaintop. As instructed, I took those to a bank near the Cali airport and deposited one into the account of a sister and the other to the mother of a captain in the Colombian anti-narcotics task force. Another attempt with a massive car bomb succeeded only in injuring one of Escobars. Police were guided to his hide-out by radiophone signals. On August26, 1995, after six-and-a-half years with the cartel, he was extradited to the United States. About that time, however, cartel-friendly police arrived at the search site. Salcedo pleaded guilty in Miami to a single count of racketeering. Former UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo pleaded guilty Monday for his role in the college admissions scandal, the US Attorney's Office in Massachusetts said. I didn't have to be there. En la serie vimos que Salcedo fue el personaje clave para atrapar a los lderes del Crtel. There was no turning back for Salcedo. At its peak, the family ran what one U.S. Justice Department official told Congress was the most prolific and successful criminal enterprise in history.. 03 Mar 2023 15:33:39 [2] After being ordered to kill Pallomari, Salcedo began to believe that he had no choice for leaving the operation other than its dismantling. Please enter a valid 5-digit Zip Code. So I had to give up. However, word of Salcedos role reached Cali, 185 miles southwest of Bogota. The Medellin boss had escaped from prison, and from continuing Cali assassination plots, in 1992 only to be tracked down by national police 15 months later. Finally, Escobar was sent to prison. 'Narcos' actor Matias Varela on his huge role as Jorge Salcedo Pablo Escobar of Medellin was a bandit a criminal a crazy guy who was threatening to kill their wives and children. [3][pageneeded][2]. [Laughs] So we had to accommodate to the lifestyle. Where were you? Calling on a secure phone line from an undisclosed location, Salcedo, now in his late 60s, spoke at length about his time with the cartel, his life since then in the federal witness protection program, and all the things the show gets rightincluding some of the most harrowing scenes. He had put a bomb in the building that destroyed the equivalent of the FBI in Colombia. THE compound of Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela filled a city block. Luckily for us, the good people at Netflix were able to connect us to Salcedo for an exclusive interview. The Orejuela brothers wanted four Panamanian operatives questioned. Now that your story is so central to a very popular TV show internationally, do you worry that it might revive interest in you? Eventually, a total of $6 million in secret donations made Ernesto Samper our president. So all of a sudden the scene became violent. Jorge Salcedo Cabrera is a Colombian civil engineer, countersurveillance specialist, and former head of security for Miguel Rodrguez Orejuela and the Cali Cartel who turned confidential informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Cali Cartel informant is currently in the witness protection program. He found the four held in different rooms of the house, each bound and tied to a chair -- three men and a woman. Thus was Salcedo drafted into the Cali cartel. Between sources like the army sergeant, the police captain and others, my bosses and I were kept informed about dates, times and places for raids and such things as which cartel cars were being followed and what phone numbers were being tapped. [3][pageneeded] Working under the pretense of casing Pallomari for assassination, Salcedo forwarded his location to the DEA. The four, three men and a woman, were held in different rooms, each tied to a chair. The ploy seemed to deflect suspicion. Both the sergeant and the captain were among hundreds of police and military officers fired for corruption. And not just the cartel, but the entire corrupt government and the system. Rosenthal's arrest led to Salcedo being introduced to Chris Feistl and David Mitchell, two Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents operating in Cali. Oh yes, that was a very tense moment. The drug boss had just been rescued from an escape vault with the help of a local police captain. U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler agreed, noting Salcedos service rendered to this country and actions that saved the lives of a number of people.. They had 5 children. Jorge Salcedo. They could do it to me. 2005 - 2023 WebMD LLC. says the actress. Instead, it ends up being an execution. Today, the Orejuela brothers are in U.S. federal prison. Thus was Salcedo drafted into the Cali cartel. Federal prosecutor Edward R. Ryan called the defection a shock and a very personal betrayal to the Cali bosses, leaving the man marked for death. They were having a meeting, and they were excluding me of everything. Maria was born in Bucaramanga, Santander del Sur, Colombie. Obviously, Im not looking for celebrity -- it would jeopardize our safety, he told The Times. My role was to be on the outside, make sure the road was clear. They have 32 years of experience. Learn how and when to remove this template message, United States Federal Witness Protection Program, United States Army Command and General Staff College, "Revelan identidad del hombre que compr las bombas MK-82", "The real Jorge Salcedo talks about what the show gets right", "A daring betrayal helped wipe out Cali cocaine cartel", "Defense lawyer pleads guilty to aiding cartel", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jorge_Salcedo_Cabrera&oldid=1108223474, Drug Enforcement Administration informants, People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program, University of Los Andes (Colombia) alumni, Articles lacking page references from November 2019, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox military person with embed, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 3 September 2022, at 05:41. THE wonkish, soft-spoken family man was an unlikely drug gang recruit. For Jorge Salcedo, who made vengeful enemies of the most notorious crime bosses in the drug world, hiding has been a way of life for nearly two decades. Corruption is the oxygen that keeps organized crime alive. [3][pageneeded] He entered the Federal Witness Protection Program, where he remains to this day. Immigration activists rallied outside the Legislative Office Building Thursday to protest the planned deportation of U.S. Army veteran Jorge Luis Salcedo, a Glastonbury resident with a wife and . What did you say? In the wrong hands, his records of bribes and business dealings posed a greater threat to cartel operations than confinement in a Colombian jail. And what stories did you tell Eric? AT dawn on a Sunday in August, four weeks after the failed raid that left Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela wounded, another police strike team arrived outside an apartment building in Cali. Then there were the two checks signed by Miguel worth about $50,000. I had to go. Years later, he was a consultant for "Narcos" and worked closely with the showrunner Eric Newman. Desperate for protection from what they feared most -- extradition to the United States -- the cartel bosses poured millions of dollars into the bank accounts of Colombian politicians. And I witnessed many, many millions more. Just hide, have many places, change routes and change communications, and create a kind of a wrong idea of where you are. According to the terms of the plea agreement, the government will recommend a sentence at the low . He also helped agents raid a cartel bomb-making site and a weapons storage warehouse with hundreds of machine guns. Not much has been said about what sort of person was I. The Bogota team listened, tapped on cement walls and floors, then pulled out power drills and bored into suspicious areas. Jorge Salcedo is a well known Actor. On a cartel radiophone, Salcedo overheard a call between Miguel and his son, William. The two factions agreed, and Jorge worked with the commandos to develop a plan of attack. But behind the fall of the ruthless Orejuela brothers and collapse of their $7 billion-a-year empire lies a story of daring and betrayal. Im sorry. As lo exige el Gobierno Federal. The dons said Salcedos skills were required to end Escobars reign of terror and protect them and their families. With two U.S. agents, the team of Colombian national police poured silently into the building. BOSTON (AP) A former University of California, Los Angeles men's soccer coach was sentenced to eight months behind bars Friday for pocketing $200,000 in bribes to help applicants get into the school as bogus athletic recruits. Jorge Salcedo told the judge that he joined in the college admissions bribery scheme because he was desperate for cash after buying a house his family couldn't afford. Though that law was repealed after the politicians behind it were exposed for taking bribes from the cartels, the brothers remained in Bogotas La Picota prison, beyond the reach of U.S. authorities. I came here to protect you and your family, but I left my business behind, so I'm done." I enjoy traveling, kayaking, fishing, bicycling, and cooking. The case is U.S. v. Ernst et al., case number 1:19-cr-10081 , in the U.S . In addition to being a corporate, tax and government affairs attorney, he specializes in both domestic and international transactions, as well as real estate and international tax planning. Salcedo scrapped the mission. So your first assignment was to nail Pablo Escobar? How did you know where to find me? Pallomari asked the next day. Within a week, Salcedo faced his first life-threatening decision. So I got locked in a room by the cartel. U.S. Army Veteran From Glastonbury Facing Deportation Drug cartels, whether in Colombia or Mexico, cannot function without massive assistance from compromised officials at all levels. Dr. Jorge Salcedo, MD, Family Medicine | Cedar Park, TX | WebMD Stream It Or Skip It: 'Tonight You're Sleeping With Me' on Netflix, a Dull, Passionless Polish Rom-Dram Stream It Or Skip It: 'Disconnect: The Wedding Planner' on Netflix, A Nollywood Rom-Com [3][pageneeded] In the aftermath, Salcedo was demoted. However, this defiant personality was sheltering a man capable of seeing things from another perspective. Almost immediately, people began to disappear -- Salcedo and his family, Pallomari -- but this time it was into the custody and protection of U.S. authorities. The compound of drug lord Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela filled a city block and contained a swimming pool, tennis court and half a soccer field. Federal drug agents had to prove the cartel leaders continued to operate their empire from prison, after the extradition ban was lifted. I had nothing to do with drugs, he said. In the whole truth, I'm not proud of what I did in general, but I'm proud of what I did in capturing Miguel and bringing down the cartel. [3][pageneeded] His resignation was denied by Miguel Rodrguez Orejuela, and he was forced to continue his relationship with the cartel. It was aborted at the last minute. He is still No. Many safe houses conceal vaults in the walls for escapes. Salcedo was ordered to arrange an aerial bomb attack on Escobars wing of the prison. 8 Months in Prison for Former UCLA Soccer Coach - Inside Higher Ed Four drug traffickers and members of the now-defunct Cali Cartel cover faces on January 15, 2009, in Bogota. Still, he served as a consultant for the new season and spoke extensively with Narcos showrunner Eric Newman to ensure the series' accuracy. There was public outrage. Updated He was relocated to the U.S. along with. Another attempt with a car bomb succeeded only in injuring one of Escobars children. [1] His father was a member of the Colombian military. Miguel Orejuela was extradited to Florida in 2005, a year after Gilberto. Ex-UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo gets 8 months in prison for And, then, Mexican leaders need to sweep out officials at all levels who have sold their souls to organized crime. On one occasion, we knew that Miguel had time for lunch and a shower before the raiding party was scheduled to arrive. Salcedo in his silver Mazda sedan was joined on an isolated dirt road by two U.S. agents crammed into a small, rented car. The risk was so incredible, Agent Kacerosky said in testimony. In turn, identifying opportunities that were missed by everyone else. Salcedo is represented by Susan G. Winkler of Winkler Law LLC and Thomas C. Frongillo of Campbell Conroy & O'Neil PC. My father was a general. One day in the summer of 1994, Salcedo was dispatched along with the cartels chief enforcer to a farmhouse outside Cali. We had about 150 persons dedicated to caring for the safety of these people, Salcedo recalled. Salcedo did not comply with his orders and pretended to not know where Pallomari was, believing Pallomari to be his bargaining chip for his freedom. Four weeks after the failed raid that left Miguel wounded, another police team arrived outside an apartment building in Cali. [3][pageneeded], In July 1995, Salcedo met with Feistl and Mitchell to devise a plan to capture Miguel Rodrguez Orejuela. Listening in on the phone conversation as Miguel reported to his son the details of his ordeal, Salcedos only thought: SALCEDO was a prime suspect, one of only five to 10 people who knew where Miguel had been hiding. All six of them. They did that the same. The drug bosses there, engaged at the time in a vicious feud with Escobar and the Medellin, summoned the 41-year-old engineer to visit. But more than a decade after betraying his bosses, Salcedos life remains in jeopardy. This time, it follows the richest cartel in history, the Cali Cartel, which rose to high echelons in the drug trafficking ring thanks to the vacuum left by Pablo . Miguel heard them too late. The ploy deflected suspicion. Call Dr. Jorge Salcedo on phone number (281) 500-8600 for more information and advice or to book an appointment. Widespread arrests and firings followed, and the grip of corruption was broken. After going into hiding, Salcedo focused his efforts on monitoring his electronic communication network, extracting intelligence on both national police and the Medelln Cartel. Instead of going through with the Cali Cartel's plan, Salcedo hid Pallomari and his family and decided to become a DEA informant. He started his career designing forklifts and other machinery. The Week in Photos: California exits pandemic emergency amid a winter landscape, Column: Did the DOJ just say Donald Trump can be held accountable for Jan. 6? Salcedo realized it was more than interrogation. A federal judge in Boston on Friday sentenced former UCLA soccer coach Jorge Salcedo to eight months in prison followed by a year of supervised release for taking $200,000 in bribes to help secure the admission of two students as part of the nationwide scheme prosecutors dubbed "Varsity Blues." Shipments of drugs and money were lost. As Colombian citizens, the Orejuela brothers could not be extradited to the United States. On season 3 of Netflix's Narcos, it doesn't take long to realize that one man is at the center of all the action: Jorge Salcedo. There were suspicions of a leak, Salcedo said. UCLA men's soccer coach placed on leave after indictment in college Again, people began to disappear Salcedo and his family, and Pallomari this time into the custody and protection of U.S. authorities. He had been summoned to the cartel hideout to give Miguel a report on the pending assassination of Pallomari. The entire cartel brain trust would go to jail in exchange for a limited five-year sentence to be served at a prison built, or substantially remodeled, at cartel expense. They are foreigners and will be very embarrassed by any questions.. I am dead.. Jorge Salcedo told the judge that he joined in the college admissions bribery scheme because he was desperate for . Operatives were arrested. [3][pageneeded] On August6, Salcedo and the DEA collaborated on another assault on Miguel, this time on the Hacienda Buenos Aires. The new constitution included a no-extradition provision for native Colombians. They said, "We need somebody like you to protect us." Then, he crossed them. Miguel was getting paranoid, Salcedo said. It's been debated whether Salcedo made this choice out of the. Salcedo was consulted on the show, and provided feedback on the role he played in the prosecution and arrest of the Rodrguez Orejuela brothers.[6]. It doesn't make sense that I'm going to go kill a killer. I got a call from Miguel, and he said, "You have to get me out of this building," because all of a sudden it was surrounded by police, so I had a request by Miguel. I was invited to L.A. Miguel literally tried to wipe out all non-Colombian nationals operating in Colombia, said Ryan. The global cartel was directed by Cali-based Colombians, but its operatives included many non-Colombians susceptible to extradition. My role kept changing. I had no option. Military leaders grew restless because of the security failings of an impotent and corrupt government and tried to fill the vacuum, sometimes taking military actions without approval from officials in Bogota, the capital. I had been fighting against the guerrillas. On a cartel radiophone he overheard a call between Miguel and his son, William. In Miami, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents targeted the Cali cartels distribution organizations. The police demanded identity papers and prepared to search their cars. Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Honduras Facultad De Ciencias Medicas. Who contacted you? en este video te cuento toda la historia de Jorge Salcedo, el hombre que entrego, a Miguel. Let it pass.". After the failed raid Salcedo continued monitoring the communications of national police and rival cartel. Former UCLA soccer coach Jorge Salcedo pleads guilty in college - CNN Toggle navigation . The early 1990s were, he said, the golden years for the cartel. From deep inside the U.S. witness-protection program, the official has shared his story in conversations with the Los Angeles Times. He has done an inestimable service to the U.S. and Colombia, said his lawyer, Robert F. Dunlap of Miami. In the years since, he has made sporadic telephone calls to a Times reporter from undisclosed locations. And the [Colombian] army was very impressed as well, so I received training and helped the military as well. And at that time, there were other things going onthey were reorganizing narco-trafficking and all that. All I did that night was go to my most secure location to secure my most beloved possession on earth, which is my family. [3][pageneeded], In 1995, Gilberto Rodrguez Orejuela was captured by a joint task-force in Cali. The families were huge. Some regularly shared information with Salcedo. Salcedo said he responded: When they pressed for information, Salcedo told them: We are homosexuals. Salcedo said they got bored and rowdy. The attack had to be abandoned. Instead of preparing his report, Salcedo called in federal police. The cash was disguised as a birthday present, about the size of a large shoebox, wrapped in red paper with gold trim. A daring betrayal helped wipe out Cali cocaine cartel The Cali dons knew Salcedo had ties to mercenaries. Jose Santacruz Londono got right to the point. He started his career designing. Former UCLA soccer coach violated probation by 'walking to Mexico I had to lose my old name, and I've been working as an engineer under my new name. One well-placed insider was the sergeant and chief of staff to the military commander of the anti-narcotics task force. I left my name in Colombia when I entered the U.S. witness protection program 16 years ago. The Bogot team listened, tapped on cement walls and floors, then pulled out power drills and bored into suspicious areas. The sensational evidence was rushed back to Bogota. Anti-government guerrilla groups unleashed waves of kidnappings that terrorized the nation. Jorge Salcedo Cabrera - Wikiwand Salcedo insisted the drug lord was there. I did not go near it. This time he contacted a Miami lawyer who could make the connections. [3][pageneeded], Salcedo stayed in Colombia, awaiting diplomatic permission from the Colombia government to leave. For a long time, I was thinking that it was the DEA who killed him. In addition to living quarters, it contained a large swimming pool, a tennis court and half of a soccer field. Dr. Jorge Salcedo - Family Practice, Cypress TX Jorge married first name Salcedo (born Padilla). It was a very bad idea, but they sent me anyway. From Austin Butler and Cate Blanchett to a potential Best Supporting Actress toss-up, see who EW thinks will win at the 2023 Oscars. He held university degrees in mechanical engineering and industrial economics. Pam Grier reflects on her most iconic roles, from Coffy to Jackie Brown. But because I was always at the meeting, I was a witness to everything that was spoken there. When I agreed to assist U.S. drug enforcement agents 16 years ago, the Cali cartel was making $7 billion a year.
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