In the days that followed, the entire Cali cartel infrastructure was exposed. The mostly British mercenaries were in hotels for nearly two months awaiting orders to attack. In the late 1980s, two low-level cocaine traffickers got into a fight over a woman they were both involved with in New York City. And they had all read the book, but I was interested that they knew me personally. They wanted to take care of all the politics and people around, because there was now a change in the importance of the Rodiguez brothers [now that Escobar had been eliminated]. WITHIN a week of his first conversation with a U.S. agent, Salcedo faced his first life-threatening decision. It bought time. In the days after, the entire Cali cocaine cartel infrastructure was exposed. Salcedo was escorted to Miguels offices and four cartel dons. After leaving. Drug cartels, whether in Colombia or Mexico, cannot function without massive assistance from compromised officials at all levels. He was relocated to the U.S. along with his wife and children in 1995 and taken into the federal witness protection program. Narcos: The real Jorge Salcedo speaks | EW.com Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Texas congressman who broke with GOP is censured, Hong Kong court convicts activists behind Tiananmen vigil, Election conspiracies fuel dispute over voter fraud system, Arizona governor wont proceed with execution set by court, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, David Lindley, guitarist best known for work with Jackson Browne, dies at 78, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Civilians flee embattled town of Bakhmut as Ukrainian pullout looms. No. He made an excuse and tried to leave the house. 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 . It seemed sometimes that they all had their hands out. He said, "Well, I know someone who's good. The new constitution included a no-extradition provision for native Colombians. The enforcer insisted Salcedo stay. Former UCLA soccer coach sentenced to 8 months in prison for Varsity They got right to the point. My strategy was to avoid confrontation. Thus was Salcedo drafted into the Cali cartel. Salcedo did say, however, that one of the main reasons why he helped the DEA take down the Cali Cartel was to protect his family. I had to escape, he explained. His father is a retired general of the Colombia national army called Jorge Salcedo Victoria. He was very well known, so eventually, he was called by some friends who were connected to the cartel. He was removed from his post in the reserve. Jorge Salcedo | Narcos Wiki | Fandom [3][pageneeded] Working under the pretense of casing Pallomari for assassination, Salcedo forwarded his location to the DEA. Jorge Salcedo - Wikipedia Narcos: the real-life story behind Jorge Salcedo - NME In the years since, he has made sporadic telephone calls to a Times reporter from undisclosed locations. By age 15, I was an active volunteer for the Red Cross. Today I am in the late 60s. This provider has 32 years of experience. In those days, hundreds of high-ranking and lower level police were on the cartels secret payroll tens of thousands of dollars paid every month for inside tips or for looking the other way. No es opcional, es una OBLIGACIN. I also left a home, a country, friends, family, even my past. It was an absurd idea. Today, the Orejuela brothers are in U.S. federal prison. Salcedo feigned progress toward setting up an assassination. The Colombian television series En la boca del lobo focuses on the years Salcedo worked for the Cali Cartel. By unnerving coincidence, they were looking for the killer of a taxi driver. [3][pageneeded] During this time, the Search Blocoriginally formed to hunt Escobarfocused its attention on the Cali Cartel. Across town, Salcedos pager went off. The former Jorge Salcedo remains in hiding his location unknown even to his lawyer in the United States. An incident also was arranged so he would inexplicably die in custody. Aiding U.S. drug agents unexpectedly and at great risk was a senior cartel official, the head of security and intelligence for the syndicate. That scene where they have me and Miguel locked in a room [where Miguel asks Jorge to stay on as security head] is identical. He became proficient in electronic surveillance, which increasingly drew him into counter-terrorism assignments. Jorge Salcedo Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2020-2021. About Us | Salcedo Family Care View the profiles of people named Jorge Salcedo. Jorge married Maria SALCEDO (born PHILLIPS RINCON). Widespread arrests and firings followed, and the grip of corruption was broken. 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.. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? Business improved even more after December 1993, when Escobar died in a blaze of gunfire. Salcedo and his family are now under the witness protection program, and they received new identities, and few people know where they are. In this March 25, 2019 file photo Jorge Salcedo, former University of California at Los Angeles men's soccer coach, departs federal court in Boston, after facing charges in a nationwide college . Did those dangers include the North Valley cartel depicted in Season 3? Well, it's been a very different life from what people usually do at this time [in their life]. My primary job in the Cali cartel was security for one of four godfathers, Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, the daily operations boss. Jorge Salcedo Cabrera was a counter-surveillance expert employed by the Cali cartel . Searchers dismantled the desk. The policemen took the 500 pesos and drove off. Some people in Cali want a word with you, Salcedo was told in a phone call in January 1989. I was invited to L.A. Just hide, have many places, change routes and change communications, and create a kind of a wrong idea of where you are. However, word of Salcedos role reached Cali, 185 miles southwest of Bogota. Salcedo insisted that the drug lord was there. It should have been the perfect lonely place, Salcedo said. Not with Harleys, they used two Land Cruisers. It was difficult to keep these wild people quiet, he said. Join CNN Opinion on Facebook and follow updates on Twitter, The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jorge Salcedo. The sensational evidence was rushed back to Bogota. The story in general remains the same [as the truth]. His father was a retired Colombian army general and respected diplomatic figure. I started using very high-level equipment for communications and location detection. I had no option. But suddenly police surrounded them. They fought, they drank, they wanted women every day -- they were like mad dogs.. Jorge Salcedo, 1928 - 2015 Jorge Salcedo was born in 1928, at birth place. But because I was always at the meeting, I was a witness to everything that was spoken there. The police demanded identity papers and prepared to search their cars. The pilot was killed. Salcedo feigned progress toward setting up an assassination. So there's one very tense scene in the show where you're taken to a farmhouse for what you thought would be a meeting. 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. How has your life under witness protection been? Now I was against Pablo Escobar.. I was taken there. Trying to navigate thru the insurance loops kept leaving us frustrated and back where we started. I had nothing to do with drugs. But descending through a cloud bank, one of the choppers hit a mountaintop. 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. 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. Former UCLA soccer coach violated probation by 'walking to Mexico 'Narcos' actor Matias Varela on his huge role as Jorge Salcedo All six of them. Dr. Salcedo is a warm and compassionate family physician who has been in private practice in Houston, Texas since 2017. About that time, however, cartel-friendly police arrived at the search site. I did not feel I was a criminal, Salcedo recalled. 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? When I agreed to assist U.S. drug enforcement agents 16 years ago, the Cali cartel was making $7 billion a year. There was no turning back for Salcedo. 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. I did not go near it. In an unusual move largely financed by Medellin cartel bosses, he was to organize an off-the-books, paramilitary operation -- an armed assault on a guerrilla mountain fortress called Casa Verde. Because when I arrived here, I was already in my late 40s. We Are Accepting New Patients! Local police helped. jsalcedo@athletics.ucla.edu. And I told them [Cali], with these guys, you better give up. He told me, "You get there first just to make sure the road is clear is safe for me." [2] After being ordered to kill Pallomari, Salcedo began to believe that he had no choice for leaving the operation other than its dismantling. At a sentencing hearing, he was praised by agents and prosecutors who recommended leniency. And the [Colombian] army was very impressed as well, so I received training and helped the military as well. Miguel heard them too late. They treated him like a crackpot I confirmed that, DEA agent Edward Kacerosky testified later. [3][pageneeded], In 1995, Gilberto Rodrguez Orejuela was captured by a joint task-force in Cali. They could do this to anybody. There were suspicions of a leak, Salcedo said. The biggest bribe I ever handled personally was a half-million-dollar payoff to a Salvadoran air force colonel. He sensed doubts about his information. Mason Park Medical Clinic. They treated him like a crackpot -- I confirmed that, drug enforcement agent Edward J. Kacerosky testified years later. The man has lost much of what he once took for granted: his home, his country, his name, even his past. Desperate for protection from what they feared most extradition to the U.S. the cartel bosses poured millions of dollars into the bank accounts of Colombian politicians. Who Is Navegante? The 'Narcos' Hitman Who Changes Everything | Decider 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. I had to lose my old name, and I've been working as an engineer under my new name. He knew where Miguel would be in the morning. Inside the apartment they found no one. Luckily for us, the good people at Netflix were able to connect us to Salcedo for an exclusive interview. 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. Dr. Jorge Salcedo, Family Medicine | El Paso, TX | WebMD But it was not the end of the Cali cartel. The soft-spoken family man once known as Jorge Salcedo was an unlikely drug-gang recruit. They noted the physical damage -- broken desk and holes in the walls -- and found that the search team lacked a proper warrant.

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