The Colombian Cocaine Story

1995

A true story

Written 04/2010* 1,256 Words*

By Howard Yasgar

In the 1980’s and the 1990’s, my partner Don Chait and I had a company in Miami, Florida, called Automotive Parts Industries or API.

Our company was involved in the export of automotive parts to parts to dealers in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

Consequently, we always had customers from many different countries coming to visit and buy from us.

When customers came, they usually carried with them an attaché case filled with U.S. currency.

Their currency always included a lot of well- worn bills in small denominations like $1.00, $5.00, $10.00 and $20 bills. The money was always packed up into neat little bundles and held together with elastic bands.

All our foreign customers needed to have U.S. currency to be able to do business in the United States.

So, the only way they could ever get enough U.S. currency, was to buy it from money dealers in their country.

The money dealers in Colombia would usually charge them a 10% to 15% commission to sell them U.S. money.

Lots of street kids would chase after American tourists trying to buy their U.S. currency, and sometimes, when there was a shortage of U.S. currency, our customers had to pay even more.

Besides all the problems of buying currency, it was very dangerous to carry around attaché cases full of cash,

And there was always a risk of having the money stolen, it happened all the time.

So, no one liked the Colombian system of buying and selling U.S. currency.

Then, one day the system changed for Colombians.

Cocaine dealers in Colombia, realized they had large quantities of U.S. currency sitting in America, so they devised a plan to make their U.S. currency available to Colombian businessmen.

Now, all a Colombian businessman had to do was give the cocaine dealers a 10% premium in their local currency, and they did it while they were still in Colombia.

Then when the businessmen came to the states, they would meet with a contact at some pre-determined location and they would receive their U.S. currency.

This arrangement solved the problem of people having to buy and carry dollars in an attaché case, and it helped the cocaine dealers make an additional 10% profit.

Now comes our story.

One day, one of our best Colombian customers named Omar, came to see us.

I always remembered Omar because he carried an attaché case with all kinds of automotive decals on it.

Omar, who didn’t speak a word of English, had flown to Miami with an associate, and once they were here in Miami, they rented a car to drive to New York City, they were also intending on stopping in Atlanta.

Omar told me their intention was to come to see me, buy what they needed from me in Miami, and then they would drive up to New York City, where they would check into a pre-determined hotel where a courier would meet them with the U.S. Currency that they had already paid for in Colombia.

Omar said they had bought $30,000.00 in U.S. currency, and he intended to pay me in cash for everything when they came back to Miami in a week or so.

About a week passed, and I received a call from Omar, he was calling me from New York City.

Omar asked if I would send him $300.00 in cash by Western Union as soon as possible. He said he would explain everything to me when they got back to Miami.

Omar and his friend arrived in Miami a couple of days later and told me the following story.

They had arrived in New York City, and headed to their usual hotel, where they had reserved room 201.

That was their usual room where they were to receive their U.S. currency from the Colombian drug dealers.

The Hotel manager said, their regular room was now under renovation, but they could have room #200 next to it.

Omar said he didn’t like that one bit; the original room 201 was where they had arranged to receive their money.

Why hadn’t he been told about the room change when he made his reservations?

Omar told the hotel desk clerk that if someone came asking for them, he was to direct him to their new hotel room # 202, the clerk said he would.

The next morning, there was a knock at their door, it was a young courier carrying a bowling bag with all their U.S. cash in it.

Omar said he opened the bag and spread the money out on the bed to count it.

At that moment the hotel room door came crashing down and a bunch of police with guns drawn stormed into the room.

Omar, his friend and the courier were thrown on the floor and handcuffed.

As this was going on, a big German Shepard dog jumped on the bed.

Omar said the dog was growling and chewing on the bowling bag and the money.

Omar told me he was so scared he thought he was having a heart attack.

They were all put under arrest and taken to the police station.

As Omar and his friend spoke no English an interpreter was called in to translate for them.

The interpreter told them that the money had traces of cocaine on it, and that they were to appear before a Magistrate that very day.

Omar explained to the judge that he was in the auto parts business and not the cocaine business, he told the Magistrate he had just purchased the U.S. money in Colombia, it was to buy auto parts.

The judge said he had heard this story before.

But Omar said the Judge appeared to be very sympathetic, and he told them that they would be released, but their money was to be held as evidence.

He said they would be informed when they could return to New York for a trial, and if they wanted, they could hire an attorney.

Omar said he was in a state of shock, the money was all his working capital, and he really didn’t understand what was going on.

So that’s when he called me to send them the $300.00 to get back to Miami.

Omar said he didn’t know what happened to the courier, but he did know he couldn’t afford to hire an attorney.

He also knew that he couldn’t afford to return to New York for a trial.

He said the translator told him that if they ever found Omar guilty in New York, he could go to jail for a long time.

Omar said he knew he couldn’t complain about it to the drug dealers; they would be worse than the police in New York.

Omar said, all he wanted to do now was get on the next plane home to Colombia, which he did.

He had no money to pay me for what he bought, and he never mentioned repaying the $300.00 I had sent him.