THE toadies of Andrés López López, Ed Planeta Mexicana, SA de CV. Seventh reprinting, CANCUN Mexico 2009 The statement is made by Andres Lopez Lopez, Colombian exnarcotraficante, currently being held in Miami, Florida was decided to write it considered important to show how it handles the dark world of narcotics, especially the Colombian cartels, their relationships other and with the Mexican cartels and other parts of the world. Is a mea culpa with which Lopez claimed otherwise seeks to society, to which he himself admits, caused so much damage.
The period covered by his narrative ranges from the early 70's, when a Colombian smuggler cigarettes and liquor Cachaco Ramon discovers that a whitish powdery substance that began to be mentioned much and was called cocaine, left many more profit than the products that the driving. Like him, other illegal traders of various courses of Colombia began to turn his attention to the substance from Bolivia and other places further south.
The power of these people with money in abundance, he felt confident enough to challenge head-on the Colombian government and thus arises the first offense, from which officially begins the story of Colombian drug trafficking, of cartels. This was the murder In April 1984 the Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, riddled as the main enemy of the nascent smuggling of coca. Pablo Escobar ordered to end the life of the officer, because he was determined that the laws will not apply to him.
The book chronicles the life of different cartels, but the main element of what the author tells us, is called "crossover." It is called so when a drug dealer talks with Colombian and U.S. authorities, so that in return for giving them information on drug operations, is acquitted and allowed to reside in the U.S. and retain some of the money they earned in their illicit activities.
But there is a but, the "crossover" is actually quite limited, beyond its true size, grows into a myth, a fantasy, and many drug dealers fall into it, naively believing that the U.S. judicial system would forgive , which happens rarely.
In creating this myth of American lawyers contribute as much as Colombian and U.S. officials who play a double play, that is, start having relations with drug traffickers in order to meet anti-cartel operations and thus are gradually deciphering as operating cartels. These American and Colombian officials are able to wrap drug traffickers to the myth of "crossover" and so many of these begin to provide information to the authorities, they become "snitches."
The book's title comes toadies in the same way the Colombian traffickers called those who betray the guild, the "toads" are those who become informants and eagerly looking to take the leap of criminal life social life somewhere in Miami. Therefore the central elements of the Colombian narco become the "crossover" made by "snitches."
When this arises, it begins to be a real headache among criminal groups, therefore mistrust begins to erode its operation and any questionable action becomes riddled reason to appear anywhere in the jungle or a city in Colombia.
It tells how the world of Colombian narco consists of treachery, deceit, false loyalties, murders and all kinds of manipulations that are able to start generating their own wars between cartels, which began to plunge the Colombian life in an environment of deaths everywhere. Women also have a role in all this, because many of the conflicts generated by the fight between a female or by the intrigues and betrayals perpetrated by a girlfriend, lover or wife of a top drug trafficker.
A Despite all this, the quick profits that provide access to beautiful women, new cars, travel and abundant life in luxury, they are very appealing to Colombians who have no other options for development, so quickly integrate real armies under the command of cartel leaders.
Part of the book's central story revolves around the North Valley Cartel, which the author was a member. Tells us how it was the most powerful group in Colombia, however, was unknown to the authorities. For years they did not know of its existence, allowing him to work freely and gain control over most of the cocaine trade from South America to Mexico and the United States. For a long time both the DEA and the Colombian government concentrated on known drug cartels of Medellin, Cali and others, the first founded by Pablo Escobar. These were his goals, believing they were the only cartel in power did not know was out there a cartel formed by several heads working in coordination.
This ignorance by the DEA and other government agencies, led to focus on fighting the cartels is mentioned, while tens of tons of cocaine were taken to the American Union from the coast in the Pacific and the Atlantic. The rider of the Caribbean and the Pacific coast of Mexico were the preferred routes of this cartel and while the authorities pursued the other groups, this was increasingly growing.
But everything comes to an end. Various betrayals by internal conflict, began to "toads" belonging to the cartel began to inform the authorities that there was a cartel and was unaware of the most powerful in the world, the North Valley.
Various meetings between "frogs" and authorities took place in hotels in Panama as the Marriott and others. There are people in the DEA met with drug dealers go for information and agreeing to the terms of their performance, and subsequently relaxed living somewhere in South Florida.
When a drug was no other choice because of his feuds with other heads of cartels, began to envision the possibility of spending the other side, run the mythical "crossover." For this, we made several preparatory meetings, various groups involved the DEA, Colombian authorities, undercover agents, lawyers, etc.. A whole world about the next delivery of an item of drug trafficking. The DEA is primarily interested in knowing if the information could give the "toad" was good or fair or poor. They had to find the position of "frog" in the criminal group to see if they really had access to good information or was merely a foot soldier in the cartel.
The investigations carried out Americans and Colombians who took months, for operating cartels so tight, so many times when he got a "frog" to surrender, they did not know whether it was worthwhile or not, if the information they would was given first class or not. Hard data expected by the DEA were the names of the chiefs, dates of upcoming shipments, properties, routes, contacts with Mexican drug trafficker, form of transportation, human elements in charge, buying more weapons, hiding places of dollars, etc..
If the "frog" could give data supporting on these issues, then it began to spoil, but it meant to be saved from spending several years in a U.S. prison, but that did not know the "frog", made him believe that would be an amnesty but then eventually gave that no American court was going to forgive. But the myth of "crossover" went on and on, mainly due to one or two drug traffickers who had won the exchange with the U.S. authorities, he talked to his fellow drug dealers in business, it was very easy, so readily believe it and so would generate more "snitches." The author calls
a false version of the "crossover" as "light" version. It's the ending in prison handed down in a federal court in New York or Florida, by a judge or judge sentencing impassive without hesitation. Thus, the large catches begin the new millennium, mainly from the late 90's and in 2000 significant head start to fall.
The author explains in great detail how they conspire with each other, how they organize ambushes, assassinations, killings, as alleged deceptive conciliation meetings and there are massacred. Nothing new under the sun but always remove that bloody read so that they are charged debts and insults between cartels. Torture, whether family or friends, wives and lovers, often they are passed to the side murderer in order to save life and ensure their ostentatious life.
Customs between cartels that all properties of leader who has been murdered, become the property of ordering his murder, and many properties like house, ranches, land, cars, money, and pass the accounts of murderers and most of his boss. It is the spoils of war.
Eventually, drug traffickers as Wilberth Varela, Diego Leon Montoya, Fernando Henao, Varela and other nicknames such as "the lollipop", "scratch" "Don Berna" and others were falling slowly, some killed by bullets from a betrayal, an element of his who decided to change the cartel or a candidate for "crossover."
However, as we all know, the drug has no end, while there are customers who purchase the product, there will always be sellers. The story shows how fragmented to disintegrate the world's most powerful cartel, the Norte del Valle, but soon his place was taken by another group located somewhere in the Colombian jungle.
