Word: cartelized
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Thus began a nine-hour public relations blitz by the man who allegedly serves as a patriarch of the Cali cartel. Rodriguez consented to see reporter Tom Quinn and me -- "the first and only interview I've given in my 52 years" -- in order to clarify what he insists are lies about his involvement in cocaine trafficking. Along the way he tried to raise doubts about the motivations of two enemies -- Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar Gaviria and the U.S. government, which wants him extradited to face numerous counts of drug peddling...
...Moody, given the kind of question you're asking, I gather you have this image of Gilberto Rodriguez, chief of a drug cartel. You'll be disappointed. I am not a narco trafficker, let alone the chief of a drug cartel. Neither am I a megalomaniac. Therefore I am not pleased when people try to portray me as an evil, intelligent, powerful man who has an unlimited fortune...
...what is the Cali cartel...
...Cali cartel is a poor invention of General Jaime Ruiz Barrera, or as he was called affectionately, Gato ("the Cat") Ruiz. He was commander of the Fourth Brigade from 1986 to 1988, if I'm not wrong. He chased Mr. Escobar and his partners persistently and yet failed in all his attempts. He didn't succeed in gaining immortality with the Medellin cartel. Thus the Cali cartel was invented, and with it the war over the New York market. Of course this tale about the Cali cartel has been helped along by my differences with Mr. Escobar...
Lacayo's own business ventures suggest a possible conflict of interest, although he has never been accused officially of impropriety. Gracsa, a company of which he is a stockholder and former general manager, is part of a cartel of cooking-oil companies that benefited from foreign donations of cooking oil last year. The government sold the oil to the firms at below market price; they turned around and sold it to consumers for nearly twice what they had paid. While admitting the companies turned a handsome profit, Alfredo Marin, Gracsa's general manager, maintains, "The government has done nothing, nothing...