Leder, Carlos

Carlos Leder was born in 1949 in the city of Armenia, Colombia, in the family of a German engineer by nationality, and a Colombian teacher ^{[5] [6]} . Later it became the reason for his nickname - El Aleman ("German" in Spanish). Carlos was the youngest of four children. Carlos's parents divorced when he was 4 years old. Carlos early embarked on a criminal path. He dropped out of school in grade 6 and spent his youth - carjacking cars ^[7] and transporting them from the USA to Canada , and he gained his first experience in drug trafficking by trading marijuana

Start of criminal activities

In 1973, Carlos Leder was arrested on charges of drug trafficking, and was taken to Danbury federal prison in Connecticut , where he met George Young , another drug dealer ^[5] . In prison, two young criminals became friends and began to make plans for after release. George Young was by this time a real expert on drug smuggling (especially marijuana) from Mexico using light single-engine aircraft , since they had one indisputable advantage - they could fly below the radar control level. In addition, George Young already had a plan to fix cocaine smuggling to the United States, and he described in paints all the advantages of cocaine over marijuana: small volume, and, as a result, ease of transportation, high cost and profit. Carlos and Young decided to go after smuggling cocaine into the United States ^{[6] [8]} . According to Leder, light single-engine aircraft were to be the main means of transporting cocaine ^[9] .

In 1976, George Young was released from prison for good behavior, and a year later, for the same reason, Carlos Leder was also released. Immediately after his release, Leder went to Colombia, where he and Young set about implementing their plans. They came in contact with two American women, with whom they spent their holidays in Antigua . As it turned out later, young drug dealers used American women for their own purposes, transporting so much cocaine in the girls' suitcases in the United States that, if discovered, they could well face a serious prison sentence. After several such shipments, the money was enough to buy your own small plane. After that, Leder and Young contacted the Colombians and agreed with them on larger shipments of drugs.

Normans Cay

The plans of Carlos Leder and George Young was one drawback - small single-engine aircraft could not carry cargo from Colombia to the United States without refueling. A transshipment base was required halfway through; otherwise, the enterprise had threatened to destroy everything that had been planned, without starting. Leder found a way out. He drew attention to the small Bahamas island of Normans Cay , located 340 kilometers off the coast of Florida , which was close enough to the United States and allowed to control the entire process of smuggling, and at the same time far enough to not be afraid of the American authorities. Carlos bought the island for 4.5 million dollars ^[10] and then forced all of its few inhabitants to leave their homes. Some of them managed to get rid of for a bribe, some were killed ^[11] . In addition, the activities of Leder at Normans Cay were protected by Bahamian officials who were bought by him. On the island of Carlos built a kilometer runway , radar , put on the island for the protection of a group of commandos, prepared by Yair Klein ^[5] . Normans Cay Island was turned into a real impregnable fortress: it was patrolled by armed guards, more resembling a mini-army with its off-road vehicles, patrol boats, large-caliber machine guns, etc., and dozens of Dobermen guarded the airport ^{[11] [1 ]} . Colombian cocaine was shipped via Normans Cay to Georgia , Florida and Carolina ^[12] . Soon the work of the comrades-in-arms went so well that a shipment of cocaine weighing up to 300 kg ^{[5] [11] [13] [14] [15]} passed through the island every day! For a short time, Leder became rich and attracted the attention of influential and powerful Colombian drug barons. Soon after meeting them, Carlos Leder, Pablo Escobar , José Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha and the Ochoa clan founded the famous Medellín cocaine cartel. Shortly before this event, Carlos Leder and George Young had a fight (according to some sources, the reason for the disagreement was Leder’s desire to make Norman-Kay his own personal property with the help of secret frauds) and ceased their cooperation. With the departure of Yang, Leder became the sole owner of both the Normans Kay and all the contraband from Colombia to the USA, which brought him fabulous profits and, as a result, made him one of the richest people on the planet. From 1978 to 1982, the main channel for the supply of Colombian cocaine to the United States passed through the island, representing at least 25% of the total share of the drug on the American black market ^{[11] [1]} .

End of cocaine empire, harassment and arrest

The beginning of the end of the successful "career" of Carlos Ledera was the end of the 1970s - the beginning of the 1980s, and Leder, who by that time was addicted to cocaine and suffered from delusions of grandeur , himself contributed in no small measure to the collapse of his own cocaine empire. Reckless behavior on the island of Normans Cay (in particular the extremely rude and illegal expulsion of local residents of the island) led to such a significant number of complaints against him that even the authorities, mostly bribed by Leder, could not even close their eyes to his activities. Leder began to receive warnings and proposals from the authorities to leave the island, but he did not react to this, preferring to simply buy off the officials who annoyed him. On September 5, 1983, Brian Ross published his famous report on corruption in the Bahamian government (including a number of Bahamian officials bribing Leder) ^[16] , followed by a storming of the Normans-Kay police assault and freezing all Leder’s accounts in Colombia and the USA . This dealt a serious blow to his business. In addition, the United States demanded that Carlos Leder be extradited to the court (by that time, American law enforcement agencies were able to collect enough materials to initiate a criminal case against him), but Leder was not extradited - Pablo Escobar helped him. Against this background, Leder began to act recklessly and thoughtlessly. The last straw that overcame the patience of the official authorities of Colombia was the murder ordered by Leder in 1984 of Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in 1984. The cartel began a real hunt, and Colombian President Belisario Betancourt , who had previously been a staunch opponent of issuing Colombians to the United States, personally signed an order to extradite all the drug barons at the first request of the American side. Thus, US law enforcement agencies were legally allowed to prosecute and try Colombian drug barons. These measures led to a real full-scale war between the drug cartels and the authorities, which led to a large number of casualties, including among the civilian population of Colombia. According to some estimates, more than a hundred journalists were killed during the special operations, the number of dead police officers is in the thousands. For a long time, Carlos Leder was hiding among the partisans, and in 1985 he even appeared on television, where he condemned "American imperialism and treaties on the extradition of Colombian citizens for court in the United States" while playing on the national feelings of Colombians ^[17] . However, it did not help him. Leder was arrested in 1987 in the jungles of Colombia, where he was hiding from the authorities, and was later issued by the United States, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and for another 135 years. As of 2015, this term is serving in US prisons.

• At the peak of his power, when Leder was one of the most influential and richest drug lords on the planet, he decided to try to legalize his business, and for this he offered the President of Colombia Alfonso López Michelsen to pay off the entire external debt of Colombia.
• Carlos Leder became the author of the promotions in the “First Dose Free” style, which also brought him some popularity.
• Carlos Leder made two major contributions to the development of the world drug trade: firstly, to a large extent, it was thanks to him that the Medellín cocaine cartel was founded - one of the most profitable and cruel drug cartels in history; and, secondly, it was Leder who completely changed the scheme of transporting drugs that were delivered to the United States not directly, but through Vietnam, which led to a significant increase in the volume of supplies, and, therefore, profits.
• By the time his cocaine empire began to collapse, Carlos Ledera’s fortune was estimated at $ 987 million, and Leder’s name was mentioned more than once in Forbes magazine .
• Unlike other Colombian drug lords, Carlos Leder is fluent in English, which allowed him to do without the help of an interpreter at the trial and express his own opinion during the trial.
• George Young, a former friend and associate of Carlos Leder, also spoke at the trial as a witness for the prosecution. Thus, Young "revenge" Leder for the offense inflicted on him.
• From time to time, Carlos Leder files complaints and demands to various authorities demanding to be released, and proving that the trial was illegal.
• The place of imprisonment of Carlos Leder is unknown. Because of this, it was even rumored that he was released in exchange for some information given to them. It was also rumored that Carlos was subject to the Witness Protection Program .

• In the 2001 Cocaine film, Diego Delgado’s character (Spanish actor Jordi Moglia ) was based on Carlos Ledera.
• In the Colombian television series Escobar, el Patrón del Mal Leder is represented as Gerber (Colombian actor Alejandro Martinez ).
• In the American television series Narcos , released in 2015, Juan Readinger played the role of Carlos Leder.

• Drug business in colombia
• Medellin cocaine cartel
• Escobar, Pablo
• Ochoa Vazquez, Juan David
• Ochoa Vazquez, Fabio
• Rodriguez Gacha, Jose Gonzalo
• Young, George Jacob

• Guy Gulyotta, Jeff Lin: Cocaine Kings, a documentary novel.