About the Book
For more than 20 years, the Cali cartel saturated U.S. streets with cocaine, ruining neighborhoods and lives while reaping millions in cash. Efforts to combat the influx of drugs from Colombia were often stymied by the careful organization and execution of the drug trade. Through the use of bribery, terrorist structures, and legitimate business practices, the cartel rose to become a serious threat to Colombian society's fragile stability, while providing over 70% of the world's cocaine to various markets. It took more than two decades and a global effort, spearheaded by U.S. law enforcement, to topple this notorious criminal organization.
The rise and fall of one of Colombia's most notorious drug cartels is a story of how organized crime can function at the most sophisticated levels, yet still be taken down by the very forces it seeks to evade. This book vividly examines the Cali Cartel, providing unique insight into the history of international trafficking, organized crime, and U.S. drug policy. Relying on first hand accounts, interviews, and DEA records, Chepesiuk brings the story to life, illustrating how drug traffickers operate and why they are so difficult to stop. In detailing law enforcement's biggest takedown, this book describes how such transnational criminal organizations must be dismantled, and why drug trafficking continues to be an important problem in the United States. The fall of the cartel also provides lessons for law enforcement efforts to combat terrorists and other formidable criminal organizations.
Table of Contents:
Dedication
Quotation
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Prologue: The Labs That Made It Snow
The Rise
Getting Started
New York, New York
Chepe Does His Thing
Growing the Criminal Enterprise
Heating Up
Dirty Laundry
Going Multinational
The War of the Cartels
Exit the King
The Fall
Breakthrough
Submission to Justice
The Narco Cassettes
A Man of Peace
Exit the Señor
Take Down
The Epilogue
What Goes Around
A Chronology of the Cali Cartel
Bibliography
About the Author :
RON CHEPESIUK is the author of 18 books including Hard Target: The U.S.'s War with International Drug Trafficking, 1982-1997 and War on Drugs: An International Encyclopedia. He has also published more than 2,000 newspaper and magazine articles that have appeared in such publications as USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Modern Maturity, and others. He is a Fulbright Scholar and teaches writing in the Journalism Program for the Extension Division of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Review :
"Chepesiuk's fascinating, factual history of the rise and fall of the world's most extensive illicit drug cartel is a timely, pertinent lesson for our nation's ongoing war, not only against drugs but against the international terrorist network, many of whom derive their resources from drug trafficking."-Ben Gilman Member of Congress (1973-2003) and former Chairman, House International Relations Committee
"International organized crime and terrorism have emerged in our time as the nemesis of civilization. Ron Chepesiuk's powerful telling of the epic tale of the rise and destruction of the Cali Cartel proves that these dragons can be slain. . . . This book should be mandatory reading in every police academy in America."-Terry O'Neill Attorney and Counselor at Law
"Offers an intimate, never-before-seen glimpse into a shadowy underworld of sophisticated and murderous drug traffickers. . . . They eventually met their downfall, as Chepesiuk's vivid portrayal shows, but some cartel leaders have been set free and threaten to rise again."-Tracey Eaton Latin American Bureau Chief, The Dallas Morning News
"Ron Chepesiuk does an outstanding job of describing the inner workings of the Cali Cartel, one of the most notorious criminal enterprises in history."-James W. McMahon Superintendent, New York State Police
"Ron Chepesiuk has turned his investigative talents to a fascinating story of how the anit-drug forces finally brought down the world's most powerful drug trafficking mafia. A story of big business, greed, violence, and corruption, Chepesiuk brings the readers inside the drug traffickers' empire as well as the frustrating and long battle waged by drug agents. Through his meticulous reporting, he has delivered an important addition to the literature on the great drug cartels, and in the process, provided key insights about what could make or break the current war on terrorism."-Gerald Posner author, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy
"The author effectively capsulized, chapter by chapter, the law enforcement and political strategies targeting the Cali Cartel and the Cartel's response to those efforts. . . . Having worked the Cali Cartel from 1985 through 1995 on the streets of New York City, I wish I had his sources."-William Mante Senior Investigator (Ret.), New York State Police, KNEU
"The Bullet or the Bribe is a courageous and powerful presentation about a much discussed but little understood subject. Responsibly researched and documented, author Ron Chepesiuk makes his nonfiction read like fiction--proving, once again, that the secret to good writing is good storytelling. In short, Chepesiuk tells a good story."-Dan E. Moldea author, The Killing of Robert R. Kennedy
"This book follows a complex criminal organization and investigation of that organization. The magnitude of the organization is overwhelming. . . . Ron is able to explain the inner workings of a massive criminal empire and the investigation of that empire so that it is easy to understand. I could not put the book down until I finished reading it."-Hank Petroski L.A.P.D. Detective-Sergeant (Ret.)
?[B]y 1999 Columbia "had become the premier coca-cultivating country in the world, producing more coca leaf than Peru and Bolivia combined." Maybe that's why Chepesiuk's close look at the Cali Cartel is so important. Drug trafficking has yet to play out, and until it does, (if it ever does), we had best be as informed about it as possible.?-Charlotte Observer
?Chepesiuk's book is the product of extensive research and interviews with dozens of DEA, FBI, US Customs agents, the New York state police, and various individuals in Colombia. It is the most detailed study of the murky world of narcotics traffickers this reviewer has seen....This well-written volume is extensively footnoted and contains a useful index, bibliography, and chronology of the Cali Cartel. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduate collections and above.?-Choice
?Mr. Chespesuik's story of the takedown of this empire is a tribute to all of the law enforcement officers involved in the long campaign. His book should be mandatory reading in every law enforcement academy in the nation.?-The Forum
?The Bullet or the Bribe takes an inside look at how anti-drug forces finally brought down the world's most powerful drug trafficking mafia. Using firsthand accounts, interviews and Drug Enforcement Administration records, Chepesiuk weaves an epic tale of big business, greed, violence and corruption.?-New York Law Journal
?This meticulously research book reflects both the author's knowledge and his range of contacts with excerpts from dozens of interviews. It is obviously the work of someone who is an expert in investigative journalism.?-Trends in Organized Crime
"ÝB¨y 1999 Columbia "had become the premier coca-cultivating country in the world, producing more coca leaf than Peru and Bolivia combined." Maybe that's why Chepesiuk's close look at the Cali Cartel is so important. Drug trafficking has yet to play out, and until it does, (if it ever does), we had best be as informed about it as possible."-Charlotte Observer
"[B]y 1999 Columbia "had become the premier coca-cultivating country in the world, producing more coca leaf than Peru and Bolivia combined." Maybe that's why Chepesiuk's close look at the Cali Cartel is so important. Drug trafficking has yet to play out, and until it does, (if it ever does), we had best be as informed about it as possible."-Charlotte Observer
"Mr. Chespesuik's story of the takedown of this empire is a tribute to all of the law enforcement officers involved in the long campaign. His book should be mandatory reading in every law enforcement academy in the nation."-The Forum
"The Bullet or the Bribe takes an inside look at how anti-drug forces finally brought down the world's most powerful drug trafficking mafia. Using firsthand accounts, interviews and Drug Enforcement Administration records, Chepesiuk weaves an epic tale of big business, greed, violence and corruption."-New York Law Journal
"This meticulously research book reflects both the author's knowledge and his range of contacts with excerpts from dozens of interviews. It is obviously the work of someone who is an expert in investigative journalism."-Trends in Organized Crime
"Chepesiuk's book is the product of extensive research and interviews with dozens of DEA, FBI, US Customs agents, the New York state police, and various individuals in Colombia. It is the most detailed study of the murky world of narcotics traffickers this reviewer has seen....This well-written volume is extensively footnoted and contains a useful index, bibliography, and chronology of the Cali Cartel. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduate collections and above."-Choice
