Sohlberg and the White Death (37 page)

“Andres Samper.”

“Who does he work for?”

“His uncle . . . Carlos Samper.”

“Never heard of them,” said Sohlberg who lied to get more information out of the race car driver. “Tell me more about them.”

“Inspector Solderberger . . . Columbia has changed a lot since the biggest of the cartel bosses were killed or sent to prison in the late eighties. . . . Everything is now decentralized and low-key. No more super-flashy lifestyles or crazy wars over territory. No one wants to be the Standard Oil or Rockefeller of cocaine . . . that attracts way too much attention . . . governments feel threatened . . . so they arrest and kill and prosecute and seize assets . . . or they start shaking us down for giant bribes.”

“Ah,” said Sohlberg. “The dangers of government regulation.”

“That’s why production has been separated from distribution . . . and distribution from wholesalers . . . and wholesalers from retailers. It’s all gone smaller . . . more quiet . . . and more efficient.”

“Like cars nowadays.”

“I never thought of it that way but you’re right. Every operation is now harder to track and attack thanks to the break-up of the vertically integrated families. Everyone is now quietly minding their own business.”

“How cozy. How did the Sampers get into the action?”

“The Samper Family took over the interests of the Ochoa brothers in the late eighties when the Ochoas started losing control. . . . The Columbian government was going after the Ochoas because Washington D.C. was putting a lot of pressure on Columbia. . . .”

“The domino effect.”

“Exactly. The Columbian government also feared that the cartels would completely take over the country. . . . That’s why the Columbian government arrested Jorge Luis and his brothers . . . Juan and Fabio. It was very bad for the cash flow . . . specially when they arrested Jorge Luis . . . the brains behind the family business. I’m sure you know that my father and oldest brother worked for him. That I won’t deny . . . it’s old history.”

“Old but
true
history . . . right?”

Archer took a croissant. “We worked for the Ochoa Family. When the Ochoas’ troubles got real bad Jorge Luis and his brother Juan decided that they didn’t want a war with the government . . . a war that they would lose like Pablo Escobar and most of the other big players in the Medellín Cartel who went on the offensive. So they took care of business.”

“How?”

“They paid off the top Columbian judges and politicians with a four hundred million dollar bribe. In exchange the two brothers got light sentences in luxury prisons and the government’s promise to never extradite them to the U.S.A. The brothers are out now . . . free . . . enjoying their billions of dollars.”

“And the other Ochoa brother?”

“He went on the offense. Poor Fabio. I really liked him. But extreme greed got hold of him.”

“How so?”

“Fabio recruited the Mexican President . . . Carlos Salinas de Gortari . . . and other Mexican politicians into the drug trade. The president’s brother and bag man . . . Raul . . . did the introductions. . . . They recruited Mexican generals and judges and prosecutors. . . . Fabio’s over-reaching landed him a thirty year sentence inside a maximum security prison of the U.S. Government.”

Laprade glowered. “One brother in prison out of three brothers is not enough. All three of them should’ve been flushed down the toilet.”

“What else can you tell us?” said Sohlberg.

Archer avoided Laprade’s vengeful gaze. “After the deal with the government Jorge Luis Ochoa retired . . . but not before he separated production from export distribution. He sold off the two operations to his top lieutenants in exchange for a percentage of gross income.”

“Who were the buyers?”

“The Uribe Family bought the production side of the business. The Samper Family bought the export distribution side. Jorge Luis isn’t the boss anymore but he’s got his finger in the two pies. His monthly income is more than fifty million dollars . . . he just sits there and takes his cut.”

“Like a franchise.”

“Yep.”

~ ~ ~

A dozen cups of coffee had the desired caffeinated result on Devin Archer. The race car driver was much less stoned. The words spilled out of the Formula One champion in a unstoppable torrent. Sohlberg could barely keep up with his questions.

“Why,” said Sohlberg, “did the Samper Family ask you to arrange the secret charter with Ervin Vikøren?”

“Because the Samper Family felt that money had been stolen from them by partners who froze them out of a business deal.”

“What partners? . . . What business deal?”

“The Samper Family and other export distributors of the Medellín and Cali Cartels have pretty much decided to partner with the 'Ndrangheta as their exclusive wholesalers for the European markets.”

“Why?”

“Because the Sicilian and the American Mafia don’t pay on time or in full . . . the same goes for the Camorra in Naples. These old fools live in a fantasy world . . . they think that they can dictate to the Columbians. They’re pathetic imitations of Hollywood Dons . . .
Pacino
Godfathers
or
Brando
Godfathers
we call them. . . . They’re senile old geezer organizations that are too blind to see that they’re already on the way to the history books.”

Sohlberg chuckled. “Senile old geezers? . . . They’re still dangerous and very active criminals.”

“Yeah,” said Archer, “but they’re nothing like the new cartels. This mess in Norway all started when the Samper Family heard through the grapevine that their partners in the 'Ndrangheta had frozen them out of a business deal between the 'Ndrangheta
and
the very highest levels of top Russian government officials. Semion Mogilevich was the matchmaker. He got a piece of the action . . . as usual.”

“Which of the 'Ndrangheta families are involved?”

“The Pelle . . . Vottari . . . Romeo Family.”

Sohlberg controlled himself. His face remained an impassive mask. Ishmael’s shadow was emerging from the picture that Archer was painting.

Laprade cleared his throat. “Everyone in law enforcement knows about those gangsters. Tell us something we don’t know. Tell us . . . what was the business deal that the Columbians wanted to horn in on the 'Ndrangheta and the Russians?”

“Carlos Samper wanted a piece of the business that was going to manufacture
legal
drugs which would become a major profit center. The Samper Family was furious that they weren’t included in a legit business that would make billions of dollars in profits every month thanks to the legitimate drug inventions of this chemist Edvard Csáky.”

“Okay,” said Sohlberg. “But why did the Sampers feel that they had the rights to the legit drugs invented by the chemist Edvard Csáky?”

“When you’re in business with people like the Ochoa and the Samper you don’t leave them out of any business that might come your way. You have to respect them and invite them. It’s up to them and only them as to whether they’re going to participate or pass.”

“So they kidnaped the scientist?”

“No. The chemist was kidnaped by rogue agents in Moscow’s police and Russia’s F.S.B. They then sold him to the highest bidder. . . . Keep in mind that these guys are protected by two of President Putin’s closest friends and business partners. They do whatever they feel like doing. No one in Russia is going to say no to them.”

Sohlberg was not surprised. He had read many credible reports about wide-spread corruption in Russia’s government. “So the Russians sold the chemist?”

“Yes. The Samper Family bought him for thirty million U.S. dollars.”

“What about the Russians who are in the legit drug business with the 'Ndrangheta . . . did these Russians agree to the kidnaping of the chemist?”

“Eventually. They weren’t happy about this. But what are they going to do when the right hand steals from the left hand inside the Russian government? . . . Mogilevich himself got five million dollars to give up his piece of the legit business with the chemist.”

“Strange,” said Laprade. “Pigs like him don’t give up feeding on the trough. He’ll be asking to get back in for more . . . he won’t quit.”

“What choice did he have? . . . If Semion Mogilevich opposed it then Putin’s friends in the Kremlin would use any one of a dozen government agencies to destroy or outright kill Mogilevich and his top people.”

“How and why do you know all of this inside information?”

“Because of my wife. . . . Violeta Zapatero . . . through her mother she’s a cousin of Carlos Samper . . . the family boss.”

The three detectives instantly realized the extreme value of Devin Archer as an informant loaded with inside information. The wife had never turned up in any file on Devin Archer. Sohlberg wasted no time. He took the lead:

“How does the Samper Family take their cocaine out of Columbia?”

“They don’t.”

“What?” said a greatly surprised Sohlberg. He had never believed the reports that several of his informants had given him about the Columbians
not
being involved in the delivery of their product to Europe.

Devin Archer did not notice Sohlberg’s surprise. He continued:

“Like I said . . . the Columbians don’t ship the stuff to the Italians. It’s the 'Ndrangheta that comes to pick it up in Columbia . . . twice a month.”

“Where? . . . How?”

“They own huge container ships that they bought real cheap in Singapore after the Great Recession of 2008. The ships come from Europe . . . some go through the Panama Canal into ports like Buenaventura or Tumaco in the Pacific Ocean or Esmeraldas down south in Ecuador.”

“Where else?”

“Barranquilla up in the Caribbean . . . or their favorite . . . Puerto José in Venezuela.”

“Why is that port their favorite?”

“Because the 'Ndrangheta own four oil tankers that sail into the port along with oil tankers from all over the world . . . of course the Italians don’t pick up oil . . . they load up on cocaine . . . and the Venezuelan army and cops and president get a nice payoff.”

“Where do the boats then go?”

“We’re not sure. But we’ve heard rumors that they go to northern Africa . . . Morocco. Then the coca is shipped off to Spain and the rest of Europe.”

“How?”

“That we don’t know.”

~ ~ ~

Sohlberg drank the last of his hot chocolate. He was now one step closer to taking down Ishmael and the 'Ndrangheta. He had a lot of work ahead—all of the information on ships and ports had to be confirmed and further investigated. But he was elated at having hit the mother lode of information on how the 'Ndrangheta imported the white powder. Unfortunately the exact details of the Italians’ money laundering were still a mystery.

The Norwegian decided to switch topics. He didn’t want Devin Archer to understand the true worth of his information. “Did the Italians go along when the Russians sold the chemist to the Columbians?”

“No. The Pelle-Vottari Family would
never
have agreed to selling the chemist. The legal drug project was their baby. Edvard Csáky was their man. The Pelle-Vottari Family pumped in most of the seven hundred million U.S. dollars required to patent the drugs and get them approved for human use. They’re not sure who betrayed them . . . but they’re in a rage over the kidnaping of the chemist. He was the ultimate goose of the golden eggs.”

Sohlberg wanted to smile. This piece of information confirmed what his European Union bureaucrat had told him about Ultra and Edvard Csáky. “Couldn’t they find a substitute for the man?”

“I doubt it. The Pelle-Vottari Family planned on making billions
more
from other designer drugs made by Csáky. I heard that he was close to designing a painkiller that is ten times more addictive and powerful than oxycodone. The word on the street is that the Pelle-Vottari planned on marketing the drug as a substitute for heroin and methadone. They were going to make a killing from Edvard Csáky. So . . . I’m sure that the Pelle-Vottari Family is doing its best to find out what happened to the chemist.”

“Of course,” said Sohlberg. He was amazed at the boldness of Ishmael and the 'Ndrangheta in using him and Laprade to find their chemist through official law enforcement channels. “Now . . . let’s talk about the two Asians in Ervin Vikøren’s boat. What were they doing there? . . . Why were they on that boat?”

“Carlos Samper wanted them for protection.”

“Protection? . . . What
protection
?”

“Money and protection always go together. One gives you the other. Chicken and the egg. If you have money then you can buy protection from the government. If you have protection from the government then you can make money. Like I said . . . chicken and the egg if you know what I mean.”

“What was the protection?”