So I got into the meeting, and I was able to tell him what was happening [with the police], so I was able to earn his trust. I had to escape, the former cartel official explained. It was an absurd idea. From somewhere deep inside the federal witness protection program that harbors him and his family, he has shared pieces of his story in sporadic telephone conversations with a reporter. Jorge Salcedo, the former men's soccer head coach at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) facing charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme, arrives at the federal . He took the police aside and pulled out 500 pesos. He started his. They treated him like a crackpot -- I confirmed that, drug enforcement agent Edward J. Kacerosky testified years later. I am dead.. But the first five years, I was dedicated to helping my family, to help them accommodate to the lifestyle of the United States. How has your life under witness protection been? The enforcer insisted that Salcedo accompany him. Worcester:508-368-0100. The Colombian television series En la boca del lobo focuses on the years Salcedo worked for the Cali Cartel. 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. Or was it a test, to see how brave you are or how you're going to deal with this? Salcedo barely escaped El Salvador and arrest before the botched pickup was exposed. Ryan, the federal prosecutor, in a recent interview called Salcedo one of the countrys least-known heroes, one of the people most responsible for bringing down the most powerful criminals in the world., Ryan still marvels at Salcedos contribution, saying he and federal agents thought at the time that the effort had no more than a 1% chance to succeed., He recalled: You cant imagine just how alone this guy was -- talking on phones that he knew were bugged knowing so well how easily he could be compromised. Was this a "welcome to the club" situation? So your first assignment was to nail Pablo Escobar? Did those dangers include the North Valley cartel depicted in Season 3? Pablo Escobar of Medellin was a bandit a criminal a crazy guy who was threatening to kill their wives and children. Jorge Salcedo Cabrera (* 25. listopadu 1947 Bogota) byl f ochranky Calijskho drogovho kartelu, ovldajcho 80 % celosvtovho kokainovho obchodu. A former UCLA mens soccer coach was sentenced to eight months behind bars for his role in the sweeping college admissions bribery scheme that brought down dozens of school officials and well-heeled parents. Salcedo received one of the longest sentences in the payola scheme, and is the third coach to be locked up. Still, Salcedo used great care -- calling from a public phone and leaving only a vague message offering to be helpful.. He saw traitors everywhere.. And they had all read the book, but I was interested that they knew me personally. And the [Colombian] army was very impressed as well, so I received training and helped the military as well. "In Colombia, even honest people have to deal with the cartels." (via Seattle Times ). entrevista realizada por La W a quien fuera por varios aos jefe de seguridad de Miguel Rodrguez Orejuela, Jorge Salcedo. And not just the cartel, but the entire corrupt government and the system. [Escobar] was bad, killing soldiers and civilians. He sometimes complained to me. As the head of security for the Cali Cartel and an eventual informant whose work nearly singlehandedly brought down the whole cartel, Salcedo (played by Matias Varela) and his story are central to the show. Salcedo feigned progress toward setting up an assassination. Lauren Isackson was listed as a midfielder on the teams roster for the 2017 season but had zero soccer experienceand never set foot on the field during a game, prosecutors said. I asked as a courtesy, "How are you doing? Jorge Salcedo, 48, is among several sports coaches at top universities, including Yale and Georgetown, who federal prosecutors in Boston have brought . But Salcedos ability to protect Pallomari and himself was nearly exhausted. As U.S. prosecutor Ryan later would note, then the bodies began to show up., THE far-flung cartel was directed by Cali-based Colombians, but its operatives included many non-. My father was a general. 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. And this man is a businessman, and he's got night vision, heat detectors, and GPS." With the Cali cartel falling apart at the seams, mole Jorge Salcedo is forced to return to the city where everyone wants him dead. 1 to be killed, Ryan said. "I had to go. It seemed sometimes that they all had their hands out. Eventually, a total of $6 million in secret donations made Ernesto Samper our president. Miguel was getting paranoid, Salcedo said. I wanted to go to someone, but I didnt even know on what door to knock, he said. Another attempt with a massive car bomb succeeded only in injuring one of Escobars. If that call didn't happen, I most likely wouldn't be alive. Meanwhile, he beefed up security for the Orejuela brothers and their families. 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. 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 . Oh yes, that was a very tense moment. He stayed close to Miguel and his family, at every opportunity sharing car rides and meeting with them alone to let his vulnerability erode suspicions. Jose Santacruz Londono got right to the point. But that's the thing in intelligence, sometimes when you do something good, don't tell anybody. and is instead blown away by Salcedo, who does a Han and shoots first. So I had to start scanning every possibility that might have led to the Rodriguez brothers being taken down and prevent that. The Orejuela brothers wanted four Panamanian operatives questioned. They said, "We need somebody like you to protect us." After Escobar was killed by national police in 1993, Salcedo considered his duty with the Cali Cartel completed, and attempted to resign. It was, Agent Kacerosky later would observe tersely, historical., Salcedo pleaded guilty in Miami to a single count of racketeering and, at an unusual sentencing hearing, was universally praised by agents and prosecutors who recommended unprecedented leniency. I had nothing to do with drugs, he said. In that same year, Joel Rosenthal, an American lawyer who had helped the Cali Cartel with previous cases, was arrested for his connections to the cartel. He and his bodyguard were gunned down as they tried to flee across the rooftops. Jorge "El Navegante" Velasquez (?-1995) was an associate of the Cali Cartel who worked as one of their sicarios. No. In January 2021, Salcedo agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Dr. Saucedo attended the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico where he received his medical doctorate followed by training in . Lleg un acuerdo con la DEA para proteger. How did you do that? In 1989, he was summoned by the Carli cartel to a meeting. One night, a police raid was scheduled to arrest Pallomari at a hiding place. The drug boss had just been rescued from an escape vault with the help of a local police captain. If you've finished the season, you probably know that he's currently under witness protection in the United States. Salcedo was ingenious and intelligent, evident by his experiments with biodiesel during his youth. To me, to anybody. And at that time, there were other things going onthey were reorganizing narco-trafficking and all that. Salcedo insisted that the drug lord was there. [3][pageneeded] During this time, the Search Blocoriginally formed to hunt Escobarfocused its attention on the Cali Cartel. It was a cross-examination of everything. Some were on the cartel payroll. Some were on the cartel payroll. 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.. 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. Miguel was extradited to Florida in 2005, a year after Gilberto. Salcedo was invited to join the Cali Cartel in 1989, after Mario del Basto, a member of Salcedo's reserve unit, made first introductions. 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. And I was there when Cali cartel lawyers were allowed to rewrite our national constitution to outlaw extraditions of Colombian traffickers to the United States. After Jorge determined Miguel's location, the DEA agents planned a raid of the apartment complex. Salcedo was born on November 25, 1947, in Bogot, Colombia. He made over 40 film appearances in Argentina playing lead roles in films such as the 1949 Hardly a Criminal and Los Evadidos for which he won a Silver Condor for best actor. The Medellin gangs knew he was plotting to kill Escobar. UCLA and the University of California pushed back Friday against an attempt by Jorge Salcedo, the former men's soccer coach charged in the college admissions scandal, to subpoena a wide variety . He sensed doubts about his information. It was not an invitation I could refuse, he said. I started using very high-level equipment for communications and location detection. But cartel-friendly police arrived. He found the four held in different rooms of the house, each bound and tied to a chair -- three men and a woman. 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. I've never seen so many important people in terms of the movies and TV sector. The two factions agreed, and Jorge worked with the commandos to develop a plan of attack. Salcedo said they got bored and rowdy. 2. Meanwhile, the cartel bosses launched an internal blood bath targeting other extraditables. Boston Office: He was relocated to the U.S. along with his wife and children in 1995 and taken into the federal witness protection program. 2023 Oscars predictions: See who will win at the 95th Academy Awards. Meanwhile, Salcedo beefed up security for the Orejuela brothers and their extended families -- a mother, four sisters, in-laws, wives and children. Four weeks after the failed raid that left Miguel wounded, another police team arrived outside an apartment building in Cali. Aiding U.S. drug agents unexpectedly and at great risk was a senior cartel official, the head of security and intelligence for the syndicate. Biography Jorge Salcedo was born in Cali, Colombia, and he attempted to run a bio-diesel business after leaving the Colombian Army; he served under Major Carlos Cordova, his future colleague. They fought, they drank, they wanted women every day -- they were like mad dogs.. It was an absurd idea. In exchange, Salcedo accepted a $100,000 bribe from Singer. The extraditables were seen as security risks. Miguel Orejuela was extradited to Florida in 2005, a year after Gilberto. It was aborted at the last minute. In January 2021, Salcedo agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Caught sitting in a car by Navegante, the two have a creepy chat before Navegante pulls his gun . So I realized I couldn't use any of those to get a job with any experience that I could showin order to eliminate all sources of being found. Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, are among those jailed in the scandal. [Laughs] So we had to accommodate to the lifestyle. Salcedo became the head of security for the Cali cocaine cartel and gradually was drawn deeper and deeper into the dark, violent side of the cartel. Salcedo was a prime suspect, one of only five to 10 people who knew where Miguel was hiding. He was arrested as he scurried for a vault in the wall. The families were huge. Waiting at a rural airstrip for the dawn arrival of a cargo plane from Cali to retrieve the illicit munitions, Salcedo was distressed to see an executive jet swoop out of the clouds. Besides law enforcement, the cartel bought a piece of Colombias justice system with payoffs to prosecutors who lost evidence, misplaced paperwork, blocked search warrants or released prisoners before they could be questioned. Colombian drug lords Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, 63, and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, 67, entered guilty pleas and were ushered to federal prison for the next 30 years. An official website of the United States government. Not much has been said about what sort of person was I. He had emerged bleeding, an angry, wounded bear, apparently injured by one of the power drills. Now I was against Pablo Escobar.. In 14 previous seasons, Salcedo has led the Bruins to an overall record of 172-80-42. They just changed my functions. Salcedo insisted the drug lord was there. As Colombian citizens, the Orejuela brothers could not be extradited to the United States. Salcedo was escorted to Miguels offices and four cartel dons. Accompanied by two U.S. agents, the 15-man team of Colombian national police poured silently into the building. [3][pageneeded]. The Cali Cartel informant is currently in the witness protection program. They never got into their brains that the best thing they should have done is to give up and say "Hey, Pablo is gone, we're done." Official websites use .gov Jorge Saucedo, MD, MBA, is the current Division Chief of Cardiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Director of Heart and Vascular services for the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network. I was taken there. In 1995, some hits were Salcedos responsibility, including cartel chief accountant Guillermo Pallomari, a Chilean. Shipments of drugs and money were lost. All six of them. And the other thing is that when you get into this program, you don't go to cities that are highly populated. As Colombian citizens, the Orejuela brothers could not be extradited to the United States. Welcome to the Quantum Realm. Salcedo knew that if the DEA agents were identified, their case would be blown and his life would be in even more jeopardy. In the show, they also depict you as someone who had a plan to leave the cartel to start your own security firm. So I thought, why don't I use my knowledge for more. The soft-spoken family man once known as Jorge Salcedo was an unlikely drug-gang recruit. UCLA said that Salcedo has been placed on leave pending a review and will have no involvement with the team. The families were huge. [3][pageneeded], In 1995, Gilberto Rodrguez Orejuela was captured by a joint task-force in Cali. Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Ramsey E. Covington, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Services Criminal Investigations in Boston; and Mark Deckett, Resident Agent in Charge of the Department of Education, Office of Inspector General made the announcement today. Federal prosecutor Edward Ryan called the defection a very personal betrayal to the Cali bosses, leaving the man marked for death. They had already developed another enemy, the Norte Valley. He told me, "You get there first just to make sure the road is clear is safe for me." The Orejuela brothers promptly absorbed much of the Medellin cartel and ultimately controlled 80% of the international cocaine market. In the days after, the entire Cali cocaine cartel infrastructure was exposed. Local police helped. He knew where Miguel would be in the morning. And then after Pablo was dead, you tried to leave the cartel? Jorge Salcedo Cabrera (born November 25, 1947) 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. But people should know what I know now. Warmer storms could cause problems, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, Jaguars, narcos, illegal loggers: One mans battle to save a jungle and Maya ruins, No, theres still no link between video games and violence, Prosecution presents closing arguments in Alex Murdaugh murder trial, Intelligence agencies say theres no sign U.S. adversaries were behind Havana syndrome, Spain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws. If you 've finished the Season, you do n't tell anybody by national police in,! To knock, he said via Seattle Times ) I most likely would n't be alive honest people to! 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