The Nazi Drug Kingpin, the Biggest Narco You've Never Heard Of & The Cocaine Coup

The Underworld Podcast

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 871 Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s January 5, 1982, and the central American state of Panama is playing host to one of the most extraordinary narco summits in history. Hosting the pow-wow is Manuel Noriega, chief of Panamanian military intelligence and just a year from siezing its control. Pablo Escobar, head of what will become the feared Medellin Cartel, is there too. But even these criminal heavyweights aren’t the biggest gangsters in the room. That title belongs to Roberto Suarez Gomez, Bolivia’s so-called King of Cocaine, supplier of Andean coca paste to a global blow industry. Suarez, a former cattle rancher and heir to a rubber fortune, has never been more powerful. Just two years previous he’d backed Bolivia’s so-called ‘Cocaine Coup', tearing through capital La Paz and installing violent general Luis Garcia Meza as president. Since then Suarez has built the modern cocaine market, cementing Escobar as his chief buyer, and pulling in Noriega and even the Castros of Cuba. But Suarez couldn’t have done all this without the fourth man in this room in Panama, quiet and slight, with a saturnine face that belies the litany of evil he’s managed in his 67 years. This is Klaus Barbie, fugitive SS officer and so-called ‘Butcher of Lyon’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.1	It's January 5, 1982, and the Central American state of Panama is playing host to one of the most
0:37.0	extraordinary narco
0:38.3	summits in history.
0:40.3	Hosting the powwow is Manuel Noriega, Chief of Panamanian Military Intelligence and just
0:46.3	a year from seizing the country's control.
0:50.3	Pablo Escobar, head of what would become the feared Medellín cartel, he's there too.
0:55.0	He's about to become a Colombian congressman, ensuring parliamentary immunity, a diplomatic passball, and cover to become the world's most infamous narco-terrorist.
1:06.0	But even these criminal heavyweights aren't the biggest gangsters in the room.
1:11.3	That title belongs to Roberto Suarez Gomez, Bolivia's so-called King of Cocaine, supplier
1:18.7	of Andean coca paste to a global blow industry that's fueling Hollywood and Wall Street
1:23.7	careers and destroying lives in the ghettos of L.A., New York and all over the United
1:28.9	States. Suarez, a former cattle rancher and heir to a rubber fortune, has never been more powerful.
1:36.4	Just two years previous, he'd backed Bolivia's so-called cocaine coup, tearing through capital
1:41.8	La Paz and instoring violent general Luis Garcia Mesa as president.
1:48.2	Since then, Suarez has built the modern cocaine market, cementing Escobar as his chief
1:53.5	buyer and pulling in Noriega and even the castros of Cuba.
1:58.5	So slick does Suarez's operation run that most know it as La Corpacion, the
2:03.6	corporation, worth an estimated $400 million a year.
2:09.6	One DEA officer who tried and failed to bust it calls the group the General Motors of Cocaine. But Suarez couldn't have done all this without the fourth man in this room in Panama,
2:21.3	quiet and slight, with a satinine face that belies the litany of evil he's managed in his 67 years.
	...

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