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

Summary

The Underworld Podcast: Episode Summary

Title: The Nazi Drug Kingpin, the Biggest Narco You've Never Heard Of & The Cocaine Coup
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Hosts: Sean Williams and Danny Gold

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Introduction: A Sinister Summit in Panama [01:27]

The episode opens in the tense atmosphere of January 5th, 1982, in Panama—a setting for one of the most significant gatherings of transnational criminals. Manuel Noriega, the head of Panamanian military intelligence, hosts a clandestine summit attended by infamous figures like Pablo Escobar, the future Colombian congressman and Medellin cartel leader, and the enigmatic Roberto Suarez Gomez, Bolivia's undisputed king of cocaine.

Danny Gold (01:50): "Suarez is a former cattle rancher and heir to a rubber fortune, and he has never been more powerful."

Notably absent from mainstream discussions, Suarez's influence extends beyond the typical narco narratives, bridging connections from Brooklyn to Beijing and infiltrating both the streets and boardrooms globally.

Roberto Suarez Gomez: From Rubber to Cocaine Magnate [10:52]

Roberto Suarez Gomez emerges as a pivotal figure whose ascent in the cocaine trade reshapes the global narcotics landscape. Born in 1932 into a dominant Bolivian rubber merchant family, Suarez adeptly transitions the family's vast cattle ranching empire into the burgeoning cocaine market during the 1970s.

Danny Gold (13:20): "Suarez is known by many as 'El Robin Hood Del Beni' due to his relationships with local farmers."

His strategic investments in aviation infrastructure facilitate the swift transportation of coca paste, solidifying his dominance and enabling the establishment of La Corporacion, an enterprise estimated to generate $400 million annually.

Klaus Barbie: The Butcher Behind the Operation [07:09]

No narrative on Suarez would be complete without acknowledging Klaus Barbie, the notorious Nazi fugitive known as the "Butcher of Lyon." Escaping European justice with Vatican assistance, Barbie thrives in Latin America under the alias Klaus Altman. In Bolivia, he orchestrates violent operations, leading the Bridegrooms of Death—a ruthless death squad composed of gangsters, Nazis, and fascist terrorists.

Danny Gold (08:45): "Barbie is the puppet master behind the scenes, ensuring the seamless operation of La Corporacion."

Barbie's expertise in violence and manipulation becomes instrumental in brokering alliances between Suarez, Escobar, and Noriega, thereby cementing La Corporacion's grip on the cocaine trade.

The Formation and Operations of La Corporacion [19:34]

La Corporacion operates with military precision and brutality, suppressing smaller coca producers and eliminating competition through fear and force. Under General Luis Garcia Mesa's puppetry, the Bolivian national drug control agency becomes an extension of the narco-fascist regime.

Andrew Klein (David Klein at The Atlantic, 21:21): "Leading units of the Bolivian army, the Nazis raided the illegal drug factories of the smaller producers, smashed up the equipment, impounded their stocks of cocaine, and forced many of them to hand over their houses, luxury flats, airplanes, boats, and whatever money they had."

This collaboration not only flood European markets with cocaine but also intertwines with global power dynamics, including interactions with Fidel Castro and the Holy See through Roberto Calvi, the president of Vatican's Banco Ambrosiano.

Geopolitical Entanglements and Sergio Levine’s Betrayal [24:14]

The intricate web of alliances begins to fray as geopolitical tensions heighten. Sergio Levine, an undercover DEA agent masquerading as a Sicilian mobster, attempts to dismantle La Corporacion by arresting key members. However, the CIA intervenes, leveraging Suarez and Barbie as assets to fund anti-communist efforts in regions like Nicaragua, thus obstructing Levine’s efforts.

Danny Gold (24:04): "Levine's bust is a washout, and Suarez continues building his corporation across Latin America."

This interference not only allows La Corporacion to flourish but also demonstrates the complex interplay between illegal enterprises and governmental interests during the Cold War.

The Collapse of La Corporacion [27:34]

By 1988, cracks within La Corporacion become evident. General Garcia Mesa is overthrown, severing a crucial layer of protection for Suarez and Barbie. Internal conflicts, particularly with Cesar Cano, lead to violent retributions, further destabilizing the organization.

Danny Gold (29:56): "Superbly chaotic and combustive, Suarez's downfall is no steady decline but a catastrophic implosion."

Additionally, Suarez's attempts to legitimize his operations falter as the war on drugs intensifies, culminating in his arrest in Bolivia and the subsequent unraveling of his empire.

Justice for Klaus Barbie: The Hunt and Trial [29:59]

Parallel to Suarez's decline, the pursuit of Klaus Barbie gains momentum. Beata and Serge Clásfeld, renowned Nazi hunters, collaborate with Bolivian authorities to extradite Barbie to France. Despite his defiant stance, Barbie is convicted on 41 counts of crimes against humanity in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison.

Danny Gold (32:46): "Barbie's interrogation methods were nothing short of monstrous, leaving lasting scars on his victims."

The trial not only serves as a landmark in international justice but also exposes France's complicity during the Nazi regime, igniting global discourse on collective evil and accountability.

The Final Curtain: Suarez’s Downfall and Legacy [36:04]

Suarez's empire crumbles under external pressures and internal betrayal. His nephew, Tejo de Paja, undermines his operations, and Suarez faces relentless raids by Bolivian and DEA forces. By 1996, Suarez is paroled, attempting to distance himself from his illicit past, only to succumb to a heart attack in 2000 after a tumultuous final chapter marked by family betrayals and persistent legal battles.

Danny Gold (37:55): "Suarez's life is a testament to the destructive nature of unchecked power and the relentless pursuit of justice."

Despite his imprisonment, Suarez's legacy endures as Tejo briefly continues operations before his own downfall, symbolizing the eventual inescapability of retribution for his transgressions.

Conclusion: The Enduring Impact of La Corporacion [40:44]

The episode wraps up by reflecting on the profound impact of Suarez and Barbie on the global cocaine trade. Their stories illustrate the intricate connections between criminal enterprises and international politics, emphasizing that the war on drugs often serves to merely dismantle individual leaders rather than eradicate the systemic issues underpinning the narcotics industry.

Sean Williams (40:26): "Suarez was right— the war on drugs didn't stop the drugs; it just stopped him."

The hosts underscore the cyclical nature of such criminal networks and hint at future episodes exploring similar dark intersections of power, corruption, and morality.

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Notable Quotes:

• Danny Gold (07:39): "This Nazi monster has come from Europe to Latin America, hooking up with right-wing business and military guys in Bolivia..."

• David Klein (21:21): "Leading units of the Bolivian army, the Nazis raided the illegal drug factories of the smaller producers..."

• Sean Williams (40:26): "Suarez was right, though. The war on drugs didn't stop the drugs, just stopped him."

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Final Thoughts:

This episode of The Underworld Podcast masterfully intertwines the lives of Roberto Suarez Gomez and Klaus Barbie, revealing the dark symbiosis between drug trafficking and political manipulation. Through meticulous storytelling and insightful analysis, hosts Sean Williams and Danny Gold illuminate the shadowy underbelly of transnational crime, leaving listeners with a profound understanding of how such entities shape global dynamics.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Sean Williams]

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[Danny Gold]

Code [e-mail] it's January 5th, 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 seizing the country's control, Pablo Escobar, head of what will become the feared Medellin cartel. He's there too. He's about to become a Colombian congressman, ensuring parliamentary immunity, a diplomatic passport and cover to become the world's most infamous narco terrorist. 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 plow industry that's fueling Hollywood and Wall street careers and destroying lives in the ghettos of LA, NY and all over the United States. 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 in storing violent General Luis Garcia Mesa 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. So slick does Suarez's operation run that most know it as La Corporacion, the corporation worth an estimated $400 million a year. 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. 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, despised for his role in the deaths of French resistance fighters and thousands of Jewish men, women and children. Rather than hide in Latin America like so many Nazis fleeing European justice, Barbie has thrived in the open, albeit under a false name. Barbie as Klaus Altman, pitched up in Bolivia before getting wildly rich off black markets in pharmaceuticals, shipping, counterfeiting and of course, cocaine. The German employed his skills in violence, torture and manipulation to christen the so called Bridegrooms of Death, a right wing death squad comprised of gangsters, Nazis and fascist terrorists. It was Barbie and the bridegrooms who led the cocaine coup. And it's Barbie acting as Suarez's number one henchman who's brokered this meeting with Escobar and Noriega. According to Suarez's wife, his Jewish wife, by the way, Barbie's connections go even further than that. Barbie has escaped Europe with the help of the Vatican, of course. And it's through these Nazi sympathizing prelates that he's forging another massive deal for his boss with Roberto Calvi, President of the Vatican's Banco Ambrosiano, AKA God's Banker. That says Suarez's wife was how General Motors cocaine flooded Europe with the blessing and participation of the Holy See in Rome. Calvi would be dead in six months, his body found swinging from a London bridge. And it's barely a year before life will finally catch up with Klaus Barbie too tripped up by politics in La Paz and a pair of intrepid Nazi hunters who've chased him around the world. But that's all to come. Right now, in this Panama meeting, Klaus Barbie, Nazi, mass murderer, trafficker, and paramilitary is one of the most important gangsters on the planet. This is the Underworld Podcast. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the weekly crime show that tries to make sense of the senseless and money from podcasting. I'm Sean Williams, coming to you from a sunny and frozen Seoul, South Korea. And I'm joined today, as ever, by intrepid rodeo fan and dog walker Danny Gold in New York. You want to say something about the rodeo you went to? You're going to move to Arkansas and start wearing, like, dickies dungarees.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Professional bull riders at Madison Square Garden. Dude with a bunch of friends, it ruled. Drank Budweiser, tall boys, ate hot dogs. Do you know, in bullfighting, the objective you got to just. You got to hit 8 seconds and then you're good. I didn't know that. And I kind of feel like I could do it.

[Danny Gold]

I mean, please do it. Yes. That would be an awesome episode of the show. As we mentioned last week, I'm about to fly from here to Croatia, which is just as well because I think I'm going to get gout if I eat any more ramen or fried chicken. Sit the food here. Oh, my God, I want to. I want to move. One of the weird things about this job is that I suppose I wrote most this script about Bolivian cocaine Nazis while sitting in a Chinese cafe in Seoul, which is kind of part of the fun. Quick shout out to follow us on the socials. Buy our T shirts, mugs. Just generally help us fend off death and taxes with any get rich schemes you want to read about on 4chan. You want to know any more about Korea, Danny, or should I just get on with it?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think you should get on with it eventually. I want to know more, but also patreon.com InterWorldPodcast Sign up there or on Spotify or itunes. Definitely do ratings, comments. All that and theunderwallpodcastmail.com for anything else.

[Danny Gold]

Cool. Yeah. So Klaus Barbie part two it is. I have plopped us right into the height of his power in the cold open. And by the end of the last episode on this topic, we were kind of at the end of the second act of a Le Carre or Len Dayton thriller.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, I mean, that's a pretty insane cold open, right? With legs of like seven different separate episodes that we've done. I mean, you did the gods banker thing a ways back, I think, Right? This whole web would make like a solid 10 episode series. Someone should pay you for. It's just, it's Mad stuff.

[Danny Gold]

Or just. Just buy the IP to this episode, guys. That would be good. It should go without saying, if you haven't already listened to that, do so right now without hesitation. But here's a brief rundown of where we're at. Maybe Dale could play some oldie woolly Top of the Pops chart music or something. So Klaus Barbie, this Nazi monster has come from Europe to Latin America hooking up with right wing business and military guys in Bolivia, which basically goes for a coup more often than Danny complains about. Brad Summer. He gets rich dipping into post war black markets which he was already doing before Germany lost the war. And he leads the bridegrooms of death Los nobios de Muerte on a rampage. Taking control of Bolivia on behalf of of Roberto Suarez Gomez Rey de la cocaina or King of Cocaine.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Wait, was that a. Did you just make a brat summer reference? It's like It's January of 2025, dude.

[Danny Gold]

I will be 40 this year. So these are, these are my touch points. He's also been working for us and German intelligence. Barbie, that is not Charlie xcx who know his true identity. Even while he's hooking Suarez up with Latin America's assault with narcos and dictators. Your. Your Noriegas and your Escobar. He's the guy in the shadows. The cocaine industries puppet master. And this is the early 80s. So basically even your grandma is taking coke and working in boiler rooms and watching Miami Vice till 3am I reckon I kind of.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, the phrase taking coke has always bothered me. I feel like, you know, just say, just say doing coke. Like that. That works much better.

[Danny Gold]

Okay, thank you. Yeah. Didn't I say like using something else terrible last week as well? I'm just like completely losing my mind.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I don't, I don't mean you specifically. People say that all the time. And I'm just like what?

[Danny Gold]

That.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I don't know.

[Danny Gold]

You're great.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You're great though.

[Danny Gold]

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I needed that boost. It is 8:18am however, Barbie's true identity has been revealed for almost a decade by this point. Not by Western officials, but by Beata and Serge Clasfeld, two of the most famous Nazi hunters on earth who've already tried and failed to kidnap him and deliver him to justice across the Atlantic.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's not as easy as it sounds, man. Like, you know, when they grabbed Eichmann, the UN issued condemnations and there were like multiple countries who protested about sovereignty.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah. Including Argentina. Okay. Which brings us at this point up to this Panama narco summit in 1982, just as Noriega and Pablo Escobar are reaching the peaks of their own power. But before we dive back into all that drama and the high speed denouement of Barbie's downfall. You like that denouement? I'm clever. Thank you. Thank God there is some good news at the end of all this. Let's learn a bit more about Roberto Suarez Gomez. Because this guy was genuinely massive, a true kingpin, and I barely heard about him before researching this stuff, and I don't think you did, Danny. Eva, Right.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, I mean, if I've come across his name, it wasn't something that. That stuck in memory. So it was very. When you first started talking about this guy a while ago, I was very, very surprised that, like, the extent of who he is and what he'd done, because it's kind of shocking that it doesn't. That he isn't more well known, I would say.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, I think it's to do with the stuff he did at the end of his life, which obviously we're going to get into at the end of the show, but we'll get there. Incidentally, Alejandro Sosa from Scarface, he is supposedly modeled on Suarez. So that's your pogfather for the week.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. And always remember, if hustling is a must, you want to be Sosa and not Tony, correct?

[Danny Gold]

Yes, that is true. Trigger warning. This episode will include a Robin Hood reference, I think, maybe even two. But here's the tale of the biggest narco you never even heard of. And it begins in 1932, when Suarez is born into a family of rubber merchants in the vast jungle state of Beni, northeastern Bolivia, which backs onto Brazil, and even today is home to just over half a million people. Very, very remote, inaccessible place. But it's not like Suarez's folks are just some backcountry farmers. These are descendants of Bolivia's biggest rubber traders, with huge land holdings outside La Paz and the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which is Bolivia's largest city today. In fact, by 1890, their company, Casa Suarez, supplies up to 70% of global rubber demand. It is colossal, and it acts in the words of one academic paper I read as a parastate in remote areas with a history of chronic economic and social restructuring. Nice. Anybody who's watched Fitz Corraldo will know the bottom fell out of rubber at the start of the 20th century. So the family switched their 6.5 million hectares, which is about the size of Sri Lanka or West Virginia to cattle ranching. It is this gigantic business that Roberto is born into a Nepo baby in a country where it's pretty rare to be a Nepo baby. And he expands it and his bank balance becoming more of a key player in Bolivia's political scene at the same time, which is fought more at the barrel of an AK than the ballot boxes. You might have got into a couple of weeks back. Coups, by the way, since Bolivia's independence in 1825. 190. Absolute limbs, I think the kids say.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I don't, I don't think anyone says that.

[Danny Gold]

Oh man, you need to watch more British Instagram videos about.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, maybe it's a British thing. Yeah, then I would not, I would not be tuned in.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, I'm very down with the youth. Suarez gets married to ada levy in 1958 and the couple are going to have four kids. That is not all of his siring, as we'll get into later, but throughout the 60s, agrarian reform and global economics starts whacking the Suarez cattle firm hard. Roberto then gets deeper into the state, becoming a local leader in 1962, while his older brother Hugo. Hugo, I guess, is appointed agricultural minister. The Suarez's are too big to fail, basically. And La Paz knows that if they go down, there's going to be a massive black hole in food supply, jobs and social services in one of the nation's poorest corners. So sitting pretty, you might think. But times, to quote Bobby Dylan, they are a changing. Aren't they always, Danny? And in the 1970s, a highway connects Beni with Bolivia's cities, sparking a wave of migration. Exactly. When the trade in coca paste is on the up, Suarez has suddenly found himself sitting on the world's hottest drug industry. And he's already got the tools to thrive. Here's a piece by the academic Eric Dante Gutierrez. In the same way that cattle farming benefited from the foundations built by rubber, Roberto's drug business benefited from his cattle infrastructure. Roberto trained as a pilot and modernized the cattle business by building airstrips on his ranches and invested in what became Bolivia's largest private fleet of small aircraft. With the aircraft, Roberto was able to transport meat quickly to Bolivian and Brazilian cities and gain considerable value added.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So, you know. Yeah, like Nepo, baby, but I mean the guy, he's on the ball, right? This is innovation.

[Danny Gold]

Oh yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He might, he might deserve some, some recognition for this.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah. I mean, I haven't watched all of succession, but what's the succession sort of parallel here? Like which kid. Which kid is not an idiot?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I don't. I don't really remember, but no.

[Danny Gold]

There we go. Good reference for you anyway. Yes, you're right. Good business is just good business. And Suarez is no dispassionate Mandarin. He's loved by the farmers, has relationships with many of them. Like, not sexual relationships. And it's for that reason that he's known by many as El Robin Hood Del Beni. Apologies for the reference. There. There is.

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[Danny Gold]

He went to a local church.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He was going to the grocery store with us. He was the guy next door. But he was leading a double life. He was certainly a peeping Tom. Looking through the windows, looking at people, fantasizing about what he could do. He then began entering the houses.

[Danny Gold]

He could get into their home, take something and get out and not be caught. He felt very powerful.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Danny Gold]

To your favorite shows. By the mid-1970s, Suarez already controls a large portion of Latin American coca production. And he gets in with Barbie, Garcia Mesa, and other military leaders looking to snatch control of Bolivia from its leftist government in 1980. Of course, they do just that. And Suarez doubles down on his relationship with Escobar and the nascent Medellin cartel in Colombia, making them the preferred buyers for his mountains and mountains of coca. Now, this relationship isn't all smooth sailing. In fact, in the early days, it's pretty common for the Colombians to show up at one of Suarez's jungle airstrips with suitcases filled with banknotes at the top, but paper below, just exactly like you see in a Michael Bay movie, and then escape with the gear while firing on Suarez's men with machine guns. It's not. It's not great business practice, but I guess if you get away with it, all good. Pretty soon, however, Klaus Barbie puts a stop to these shenanigans, working with a wanted German neo Nazi named Joachim Fiebelkon. Literally, I mean, everyone in the Bridegrooms of death is like an evil villain from a comic book. Barbie surrounds airstrips of men carrying bazookas. During each deal, the Colombians get the message. They stop bilking the Bolivians, and the relationship grows closer. La Corporation is truly born, and Barbie even uses his contacts in Italy. Remember, he came over via the Vatican to ship gear into Europe, earning his boys the brilliant title La Coca Nostra.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Also, the Corporation, not to be confused with a Cuban organized crime group that we did an episode on. I guess it was called, you know, the Corporation. That was. What was it? Jose Batil. And that was. Oh, yeah, being at 1950s, 1960s is really when it got going and their focus was on the sort of illegal lottery, La Bolita.

[Danny Gold]

They called themselves La Corporation, right, Because I think these guys, other people called them that. So, yeah, it's not. I'm not sure if it's the name that they called themselves, but it's the name we're going to call them. So now we are up to the events of the cold open. Suarez is cementing ties with Escobar and Noriega, and Barbie is his security point man. Says a retired Bolivian soldier. Quote, you can't imagine the protection operations that were set up here. Every time Pablo Escobar arrived, Barbie himself was in charge of clearing the way for him. Suarez has coca flowing through Latin America at record numbers, and he's even got product heading in the other direction to Europe. Garcia Mesa, the general who's taken power in the cocaine coup, folds the bridegrooms of death into Bolivia's national drug control agency. Yes, the narcos are now the DEA. And he tasked Barbie in his fascist nutcases, around 600 of them in total by now, with eliminating smaller competition. According to David Klein at the Atlantic, quote, leading units of the Bolivian army, the Nazis raided the illegal drug factories of the smaller producers, smashed up the equipment, impounded their stocks of cocaine, and forced many of them to hand over their houses, luxury flats, airplanes, boats and whatever money they had. Those who resisted were tortured and killed as examples to others. And that quote, by the way, is why we don't open sentences for sub clause but go off Klein anyway. Suarez, it goes without saying, is wildly powerful by this point. By some measures, the most powerful drug kingpin on earth. But while he's played a steady hand over all these decades, building power in agriculture, politics and narcotics, heavy Danny is the head that wears the crown. Shakespeare said that. Deal with it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You're saying my name a lot. Is that like some LinkedIn influencer power play that I don't know about or something along those lines? Yeah, whatever it is.

[Danny Gold]

I'm always attempting to get to play those kind of mental games with everyone I meet now. Abc, yeah. Suarez's downfall is no steady decline. It is chaotic and combustive. And at this point in the tale, everyone, we're right at the top of the roller coaster, looking down. And don't worry, Klaus Barbie is still going to burn with him. We already mentioned a couple of factors of this in the first part, but I'll run you through them both briefly now. First, while it's one thing for narcos to take a country, it's quite another for them to run it. Garcil Mesa, Suarez's puppet. He's pretty shit at politics bowl account. And by 1981, with Jimmy Carter rip switching off the tap of full sit guys of US aid because of all the coups and drugs, the Bolivian people are getting fed up with the narco fascist overlords of their poor country. That year, Garcia Mesa is toppled, and he runs away to Argentina with his lieutenant, who I'm only mentioning because US diplomats dub him the IDI Amin of the Andes, which is a great nickname. With Garcia gone, so is a significant layer of protection for Suarez and Barbie. Not good news for the narcos. Just previous to all of this, Suarez has closed a deal with a Sicilian mobster based in Buenos aires to sell 1,000 kilos of coca for 9 million bucks. In May 1980, this product had left a jungle airstrip on A plane set for Florida. Problem? The Sicilian mobster. He isn't a Sicilian mobster at all. He's an undercover DE agent named Michael Levine. When the plane sets off, Levine has cops arrest two members of Suarez's La Corporacion in a Miami bank. And he thinks he's scored one of the biggest busts in history and brought down the end of the King of Cocaine. But he hasn't. At least not yet, because lavinzop is about to get stomped on by none other than the CIA. And here is why. It's 1980, which means Iran has just been taken by the Ayatollah, and left and right wing guerrillas are fighting for control of Nicaragua. So America thinks, why not just get stuck into the cocaine trade to help channel funds to the right wing Nicaraguans, the so called Contras, to make sure it doesn't fall to a bunch of unwashed commies. The way Levine tells it in his book the Big White Lie, the CIA gets Suarez and Barbie off the hook because they're assets. In fact, Levine recounts that the CIA told him it had no information at all on Suarez in his records, which, yeah, would be. Would be bullshit. Levine's bust is a washout, and Suarez continues building his corporation across Latin America.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I mean, this story is like, it's almost like a. We didn't start the fire of narco stories, right? Pretty much every. All these major news events of like 40 years somehow end up entwined in it.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, I mean, I guess I didn't like say outright Iran Contra in that little bit, but, you know, I guess there's going to be like a million podcasts about that, so you guys can look it up there. On December 26, 1982, Suarez hosts another get together, this time in the tiny, tiny village of San Vicente, right in the far south of Bolivia. Now, this place is home to only 100 people, but you may have heard of it because it claims to be the site that death of famed bandit Butch Cassidy. And it's even home to the Museo Butch Cassidy y Sundance Kid, which is quite funny. It also has a 2.2km airstrip, which means that Suarez can invite his pals from Medellin to what is ostensibly a celebration of his eldest son Robbie's birthday. But it's actually a kind of Yalta for the cocaine industry's leading lights. Here's Academic Gutierrez again. Quote, for the party, airplanes were dispatched to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to pick up celebrity chefs, to Panama to collect boxes of whiskey, champagne, and other spirits, and to Colombia to bring in Escobar and Lieutenant Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. When Escobar disembarked, a group of. Fourth generation. Fourth generation. I don't know why fourth generation is important there. Mariachis from Tecatlitan. I can never get those names right. Mexico descended from a second plane paying ranchera music. As the party started, a prized thoroughbred horse named Piropol arrived on a Super DC3 plane, a gift of the Ochoas to Roberto, who in turn impressed the Colombians. When he showed off his fully grown pet Jaguar named Kayan, it was evident that these were no ordinary mobsters driving fancy cars. Barbie is also there, but he is reeling. On one hand, his wife and son have just died in quick succession. And with Levine's sting and Bolivia's new civilian leader keen to curry favor with Washington, he fears that La Paz is going to team up with the Clarsfelds, the Nazi hunters, and extradite him to Europe. The following year, Suarez's story takes another mad turn when Fidel Castro, yet another cast member of Cold War greats, reaches out to him and Escobar, inviting them to Cuba. When they reach Havana, according to Info Bay, the regime tells them about, quote, the marked interest that Fidel and his entourage had in using drug trafficking as a weapon against Yankee imperialism and in supporting Colombian guerrilla groups with funding from trafficking. Now there definitely is evidence Suarez has it in for the U.S. he mocks the war on drugs, saying that two American companies, Tobacco firm Philip Morris and gun maker Smith and Wessons, kills more people than cocaine. And besides, he adds, quote, no one can eliminate the largest business in the world, I. E. His. Which is true. But Suarez would equally be nothing without Yankee imperialists. In fact, no one's done more to inflate his bank balance than the spies and cocaine users of the United States. So Suarez isn't going to start funding some Communist insurgencies if it costs him $. The story goes that Castro figures this out and arranges to have Suarez and Escobar arrested in Havana in an attempt to help out the Nicaraguan buddies, the leftists. But two Cuban generals warn the pair, allowing them to escape before the arresting party arrives. And both of these generals are later executed by firing squad.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Dude, you can't even do this in, like, one season, right? You need multiple seasons. We need. We need, like, Jeff Bezos, Lord of the Ring. Budgets for this kind of thing. It's crazy.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, like, when you think about what they covered in narcos, I really don't know why they weren't Doing this stuff. This is so much more interesting. Anyway, Suarez and Escobar flee back to their jungle redoubts, but cracks in their relationship are beginning to appear. For one, Suarez has reportedly grown tired of the Medellin cartel's relentless campaigns of violence against civilians. I mean, this is coming from a guy teaming up with a Nazi mass murderer, of course. But Escobar's blood soap work is too much for him. By 1983, the CIA is scaling down its involvement in Suarez, and with it, another vital pillar in his protection. That year, he reaches out to the US government, offering to settle Bolivia's entire national debt, which is over $3 billion, then, in return for lifelong amnesty. But the US says, Nah. There might be a more prosaic reason for this fallout. One I'm a bit more inclined to believe, to be honest, because in 1984, the Medellin cartel suddenly refused to pay la Corporation the 14 gram per kilo of coca paste. They'd agree with Suarez, and they drop it down to nine grand. Suarez isn't a fan of this, to say the least. In March 1984, Colombian and DEA forces raid Tranquilandia, the Medellin cartel's giant cocaine processing complex. A couple months later, La Corporacion cuts ties with Medellin altogether, and Suarez sells instead to a Colombian narco named Cesar Cano, who's got good roots into the Bahamas and Florida. But in 1985, Medellin cartel hitmen kill Cano and his bodyguards on the steps of his mother's home in Bogota. Suarez is spooked by this, fearing he's going to get a dose of plummel next. And he winds down La Corporacion, attempting to go legit by processing coca instead into medicinal tea and other fields. But his name is all too associated with the illegal drug trade, which is now infamous for the killings we've all come to know from the cartels. And he can't bootstrap his all coca trade. At this point, you might be wondering, why haven't we heard much about Klaus Barbie? What's going on with his story? And how are you going to weave two separate narratives that span decades, but whose ups and downs don't dovetail neatly at all and seem like they're a complete nightmare to write about coherently?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, I'm actually wondering the hell out of that dude.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, well, this is why you tune into a show written by professional wordsmith guys, and by the time Roberto Suarez Gomez is hanging up his jungle boots, Klaus Barbie is already in Europe. Yes, this is the uplifting part of the story, the bit where the Nazi faces justice. Kinda. I mean, you might remember from part one that the Klasfelds, the Nazi hunters, had once teamed up with a Bolivian reporter to kidnap Barbie. Well, that reporter's name is Gustavo SANCHEZ, and in 1983, the president of Bolivia makes him Interior Minister. Putting a journalist in charge of anything more consequential than a toaster seems like a disaster. But in this case, Sanchez's first mission is to re up on capturing Barbie and flushing him out of Latin America. Working with The Klasfelds in 1983, Sanchez arrests the German on tax evasion charges and cops hold him secretly in La Paz. Near midnight on February 3, the Bolivians put him on a military plane and fly him almost 2,000 miles north to Cayenne, French Guyana, which is the closest French territory. From there, Barbie is whisked aboard a French military jet and dispatched across the Atlantic to France. Here's Sanchez himself writing in a Guardian op ed quote. When I told him he was going to Lyon, he said, it cannot be. At this point, I said to him, yes, you're going back there. Do you remember the French adage which said that criminal always returns to the scene of the crime? Don't you remember sending Jews to concentration camps and gas chambers, as you personally killed so many in Lyon? You were going back there, but Babi said, in war there are winners and losers. So you lost. I said, it's time to pay. It's nice when you can sort of recant your own anecdotes, but yeah, it's pretty cool. Baby is 70 years old by this point, and he remains unrepentant for his crimes. It was war, he says, in France, and the war is over. When I stand before the throne of God, he adds, I shall be judged innocent. I mean, what. But while God can't get a conviction, the French authorities can. In 1987, Barbie is found guilty on 41 counts of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison. Along the way, testimony from his victims captivate France and the world. Here is victim Inat Leger, speaking about Barbie's interrogations. He had the eyes of a monster. He was savage. My God, how savage. Something unimaginable. He broke my teeth, he pulled my hair. He put a bottle in my mouth, pushing until my jaws open with the pressure. Another woman says that Barbie ordered her to lie flat on her chair and hit her on the back with a spiked ball on a chain, which broke a vertebra. It was a beast, not a Man, she says it was terror. He took pleasure in it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Why does every episode you do involve descriptions of torture?

[Danny Gold]

And why do I spend hours each night on 4chan looking at worst medieval tortures? I don't know. I must be really healthy. This is pretty horrific stuff, of course. And Barbie's orders to send 41 Jewish orphans and 10 adults to Auschwitz, in perhaps his most shameful episode, bring the crimes of the Nazis in France back into sharp focus. Here's an Excerpt from Peter McFarren's book the Devil's Agent, which I used a lot for part one. Quote. The 1987 trial against Klaus Barbie was considered the most important in contemporary French history. It brought to public attention France's complicity with the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, the role played by the French Resistance, the dramatic and tragic story of the victims of the Holocaust, and how forces of collective evil, inhumanity were able to prevail against so many, and with such horrendous repercussions until the victory of the Allied forces. Barbie gets spinal cancer soon after, and he dies in a French prison cell in 1991, aged 77. Incredibly, his daughter Ute sticks up for her father until the very end. I do not see my father as a butcher, she says. With me, he was always a very good father, very sweet, loving. And for me, these accusations, these defamations, are still a consequence of the war. For us, the war has not finished. That is crazy. And I could tell you stories about people who've told me similar things in Germany, which is ridiculous for us guys. Barbie's story is over, though. But let's get back over to Roberto Suarez Gomez, the retired king of cocaine, for the final act of this week's episode. His star has already long faded by the time the leader of his favourite Nazi henchmen is being sentenced in France. But in 1988, the year after Barbie's incarceration, Suarez's world really crumbles around him. One of his sons is already in prison in Switzerland. It's hard to keep up with all the Suarez's offspring, given he's supposed to have fathered 18 kids with three women other than his wife. But it's a nephew Suarez should have really looked out for. And to tee up this mad tale. Here is a brilliant lead from a 1988 LA Times piece. Under pressure from foreign allies and betrayed by a trusted nephew, the king suddenly tumbles from power. He tries mightily to recover his lost status, but in vain. His fortunes take a final plunge as he is seized by old enemies and locked away. If it weren't about the misfortunes of a South American drug lord, the story might throb with the classical elements of a Greek tragedy. Instead, it oozes with the sordid drama of a Mafia movie. Now that is good stuff. But not for Suarez. Remember how Escobar's boys had dropped their price in 14k to 9k overnight in 1984, and he switched buyers? Well, not Jorge Roca. Suarez, the big boss's nephew, nicknamed Tejo de Paja, or Straw Roof on account of his hair, judging by pics I've seen. I mean, if you're British, think Mark Lawrenson. If you're your American early Chuck Norris. Tejo, who'd grown up in la, carries on selling to the Colombians at the low price, drawing some of Roberto Suarez's lieutenants into the deceit.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Be your own people, Sean. Be your own people.

[Danny Gold]

They really do. Yeah. So Suarez's empire has basically fallen. His own family are usurping him. The Americans don't care about him anymore, and the bridegrooms of death and all the protection and connections they've bought, well, they're long gone too. For Bolivia, this aging narco is an embarrassment at a time when they're desperate for aid and foreign investment. So in 1988, Bolivian National Police raid Suarez's rural hacienda, El Mosquito, discovering half a ton of coca. Suarez is arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison for his crimes. This is a godfather behind bars. So Suarez hardly lives like a regular perp. But it's what goes on outside prison that hurts him more. In March 1990, his son Robbie is gunned down by Bolivian and DEA agents in Santa Cruz. Slightly less concerning for him is that later that year, Tejo is arrested in the US and sentenced to 35 years for a bunch of organised crime related offences. His story isn't over just yet, but Suarez's almost is. By all accounts, the old man softens with age, his health worsening, and in 1996, he's released on parole for good behaviour. He makes it clear to media that he should be called the king of Coca, not of cocaine. And in July 2000, he tells a TV show that, quote, the worst mistake I ever made in my life was to have gotten involved in cocaine trafficking. With all his assets seized, Suarez has come full circle, going from one of the most feared drug lords in the world back to being a cattle farmer.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I mean, it's interesting though, right? Like, guy was a tugging of the industry, was making bank and still just couldn't turn up the. I guess not easy money, but like the amount, the billions of dollars that that coca production provided. Like, he could have had a pretty good life, you know, no Nazis, just hanging out.

[Danny Gold]

But then, you know, he could have had a good life and we never would have heard about him. Depends. Depends on what kind of power you want, I guess. And I don't know, man, you know, like, is he really. Is that really credible that he's suddenly having this backtrack? Maybe it is, maybe it is, I don't know. Later that month, Suarez attempts suicide, barricading himself in his room and wielding a gun. But an ambulance arrives with doctors who convince him to instead stay at a private clinic. Five days later, on July 20, 2000, age 68, Suarez dies from a heart attack. Thousands show up for his funeral in Santa Cruz, including his ex wife, who left him when she found out about his involvement in the drug trade, but have stayed friends since. It's nice. Suarez is buried in a niche in the city of Cochabamba, alongside his son Robbie. But that's not actually the end of la Corporacion, because in 2018, after 27 years in prison, Tejo, Suarez's treacherous nephew, carried on selling to the Colombians, returns to Bolivia to serve out the final 15 years of his sentence. Only he escapes almost immediately, causing the Justice Ministry to grant him freedom because they can't be bothered to chase him around the country. He's in his late 60s by this point. Big mistake. Techo lays low for a couple years, then he pops up again in 2020, having re upped on his contacts to continue shipping coke from Bolivia, this time with a headquarters in Peru. Remember the EP from About the Shining Path? A few weeks back? Peru is now ground zero for global coke production. Tejo is re arrested in March 2021 in Lima and sentenced to another 30 years in prison, which, given he's 74 these days, might see him die behind bars. I think the Americans might want to extradite him back too, which is fair enough, given he ran away immediately last time. But that really is the end of la Corporation. Bolivian coca production is down compared to its neighbors, partly because of state policies to work with growers rather than crack down on them. I read somewhere that there are crop replacement programs that actually work there, which is, if you listen to this show a bunch, you'll know that is that is pretty rare. Bolivian coups haven't stopped, though. The last One was in June 2024, and it failed. Although Evo Morales is supposed to be Making a comeback. So the next one could come pretty soon. And that is it, guys. The tale of how a fugitive Nazi, a cattle rancher, and Pablo Escobar birthed the modern cocaine trade. Suarez was right, though. The war on drugs didn't stop the drugs, just stopped him. Pretty crazy, eh?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. I mean, look, dude, when you first told me about the story, I was just thinking it was going to be a weird one that was hard to. To get through, but this is. I mean, this is crazy. Like, there's. I feel like there's other episodes. I mean, we've done a bunch of this stuff, right? God's Banker and. And all the narco stuff, but it feels like there's other stuff in here too, you know?

[Danny Gold]

Yeah, yeah, tons. And, like, with the Castros as well, like, we've done something like. You've done loads of stuff on Cuba. I feel there's even more to be done on how they try to, like, they kind of craply try to get up on the cocaine trade as well.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, it's just, you know, every. Every thread you go through in this, like, you know, Castro's involved, Iran Contra, Nazi fugitive. It's. It's. It's pretty nuts. But, yeah, have fun. I mean, the title will be up by the time you guys listen to this, but thinking of a title for this episode, it's gonna be.

[Danny Gold]

Gonna be a fun SEO dream.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. As always, guys. Patreon.com the Underworld podcast for bonuses. I think you're doing one in Korea this week, aren't you? Or next week or something like that?

[Danny Gold]

I'm gonna do one. Yeah. I'm gonna. I'm gonna try and get up in the next, like, two or three days or so, but. Yeah, it's hard to meet people here. It's really tough, man. People don't want to speak to me.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Charming guy like you, I find that hard. What? How dare we should get a stash house going. Actually, by the time people hear this, one of these will be up. We'll get a stash house going by the end of the month as well. That's been kind of cool. People are sending in stories they want to hear talked about, like the. The Canadian Olympian guy who just got tagged again, who they're. They're looking for. Supposed to have, like, an army of, like, hitman. Someone keeps emailing those stories, which is awesome. But, yeah, until next week, guys. Thanks for. Thanks for tuning in.

[Danny Gold]

Yeah. Cheers.

[Ryan Reynolds]

SA.

[Danny Gold]

SA SA.