The story begins with a guerrilla group called M-19. The group is formed after the fraudulent presidential elections of April19,1970, where the man they supported was denied his rightful victory, according to them. In later years, they engaged in kidnapping of wealthy people and demanding high ransoms. Since cartel members had money, they became targets, but when the cartel savagely retaliated, the two sides made peace, and M-19 went to work for the cartel. In 1980, they stormed the Dominican embassy and took 14 ambassadors prisoner, including the ambassador from the United States. When the hostages were finally released, it was widely thought that the CIA negotiated the truce, and that it involved millions of dollars and implied deals. Within the cartel, it was known that M-19 and the CIA were closely linked after that event.
In 1980, a representative of the group contacted Jerry to offer him $20 million to fly cocaine to Europe and return with heroin. The offer had been cleared with Escobar and Herrera. Since so much money was involved, there was little doubt that the cartel would not allow M-19 to rake in the profits, which meant they were fronting for the CIA. So, while the offer came from that group, Jerry was really dealing with the intelligence agency.
Jerry was chosen because Escobar and Herrera were impressed with his skills. All his deliveries had been on time without any difficulty from authorities. The other cartel members liked him. He was reliable and he kept his mouth shut. After some consideration, Jerry rejected the offer. He had heard of problems in working with the CIA, and $20 million made him too much of a visible target. Herrera assured him it was alright to reject the offer but Jerry worried that he had just entered a new chapter in his smuggling life.
He was right. As he later learned, you can only
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