I just finished reading a book called "Killing Pablo", about the hunt
for Pablo Escobar, the most-wanted outlaw of the 20th century. I
think it might be interesting to some of the c'punk crowd. At an
operational level, bad communications security was Escobar's
downfall. It took him a while to realize that all his cellphone calls
were being traced. In the end, teams of radio direction finders would
try to locate him every time he turned on his radio, and then they
would raid the house. They were not so familiar with how to use the
gear, so it took them a while, but he was eventually found by a radio
locating team, and killed.
Apparently at one point there were so many US intelligence aircraft
buzzing around Medellin that they had to send down a special AWAC
plane to do air traffic control. The Colombian press would broadcast
the tail numbers of CIA planes, and publish photos.
Escobar's real downfall, of course, was his unrestrained violence.
After he blew up an Avianca flight, killing over 100 people (including
2 Americans) just to assassinate one guy (who wasn't even on the
plane), he made a lot of enemies and lost a lot of support. He also
gave the US a justification for getting involved, because air safety
is an international concern, and two Americans were killed.
Another interesting fact: After Escobar was killed, wholesale cocaine
prices in the US went down and supply went up. Suddenly the Cali
cartel could operate more efficiently, because they didn't have to
deal with the Medellin cartel anymore. Essentially, the DEA, the CIA,
the Colombian national police, and the Cali cartel all had the same
goal. Killing Escobar did nothing to keep cocaine out of America. It
just helped Cali.
It was a good read.
