American Made by Attwood Shaun

Author:Attwood, Shaun
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Gadfly Press
Published: 2016-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

Cocaine

In Peru, the Cockroach introduced Pablo and Gustavo to suppliers of cocaine paste who were offering it for $60 a kilo at a time when a kilo of cocaine was selling for up to $60,000 in America.

In Renault 4s, Pablo smuggled the paste from the Andean mountains, across three countries: Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. He had a separate Renault 4 for each country, with the relevant country’s licence plate. Sometimes, he raced his cousin, Gustavo – who had penetrating dark eyes, a square face and a tidy moustache similar to Pablo’s – to see who could get back to Medellín first. The winner kept all of the proceeds. The paste was hidden in a compartment installed above the passenger’s-side wheel, which the checkpoint police never searched.

In a residential neighbourhood, the paste ended up in a house with covered windows, where it was transformed into cocaine. The cooks lived on the second floor. Most of the first floor had been converted into a kitchen. The cocaine was cooked in old refrigerators that Pablo had converted into ovens. Hoping for feedback on his first batch, he gave ten samples away. The majority said they preferred it to weed and requested more. Some said it gave them energy. Others said it calmed them down. Pablo didn’t like it. He preferred smoking pot.

With the coca plant growing widely in the jungles and mountains of Peru, cheap paste was readily available. Due to drug laws, the price of cocaine in America was sky high. The US authorities were focused on marijuana and heroin coming in from Mexico, not cocaine. Pablo calculated that he could make more from a single load of cocaine sold in America than he could from a convoy of trucks smuggling normal contraband.

Testing the export business, Pablo discovered that he’d underestimated the demand for cocaine. He could sell any amount to any country, especially to America, the largest consumer of cocaine in the world.

Pablo’s smugglers took drugs on flights and returned with large amounts of cash. Trucks replaced the Renault 4s. More workers were hired.

Vulture was one of Pablo’s drivers. As he racked up profits from his trips, Vulture started showing off by buying an expensive car, a motorbike and clothes. This did not go unnoticed by one of his relatives in the DAS, the Colombian equivalent to the FBI. Vulture told his relative that he was transporting potatoes.

The DAS stopped one of Pablo’s trucks and demanded the driver call his boss to pay a bribe. After Pablo and Gustavo showed up, they were arrested. The next day, Pablo’s mugshot was on the front page of the newspaper. His mother sobbed for hours.

After spending eight days in jail, Pablo paid to be transferred to a facility with outdoor recreation, including soccer. He bribed the judge but after two months, it was decided that he would be tried in a military court which was more difficult to corrupt. His lawyer warned that he could get a long sentence. One night, Pablo told a guard that he needed to stretch his legs to reduce his stress.

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