Best Of Miami Cases | TRIPLE EPISODE | The FBI Files

October 8 1985 marked the beginning of a string of brutal robberies two masked men used military weapons in a violent spree that threatened innocence but no one knew who they were or where they would strike next before the FBI could stop them lives would be lost and law enforcement would be changed forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] in Miami a gang of robbers targeted Banks and armored cars They Carried assault weapons and weren't afraid to use them they struck during the day and sometimes twice a day for a while they seemed Unstoppable I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office we knew that to stop these criminals would require stealth Ingenuity and perhaps a little luck no one expected to become one of the bloodiest chapters in FBI history Miami Florida in 1985. two FBI agents it seemed to city under siege each week there were three to five bank robberies kidnappings major drug deals and shootings were everyday occurrences but just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse a new breed of Outlaws hit the streets and turned the Miami crime wave into a war [Music] on October 8th an armored car Courier made a scheduled pickup at a Steak and Ale Restaurant the driver waited for his partner to return unaware the two heavily armed men were also waiting nearby as the guard approached the rear of the truck the gunman Advanced with military-style precision the driver refused to open his door [Music] he drove away following company policy the subjects retreated to a getaway car and attempted to camouflage their escape with a military-issue smoke grenade [Music] the Metro Dade County police and the FBI responded to the scene robberies of armored cars and Banks fall under FBI jurisdiction the supervisor of the Miami FBI's violent crimes unit was special agent Gordon McNeil there were basically no clues as far as who these individuals were we had absolutely no idea no way to go no one had seen them without the the black hoods over their faces they wore gloves on both hands one piece of information Witnesses did provide was the license number of the getaway car agents tracked the number and learned the car had been stolen a month before but the lead was a dead end [Music] Roberts had escaped with only twenty eight hundred dollars but their use of military weapons and Commando tactics convinced agent McNeil they would probably strike somewhere in Miami again but where and when [Applause] the answer came just eight days later at a busy Supermarket on South Dixie Highway another armored car arrived to make a scheduled pickup a courier returned to the truck with several money bags filled with cash and receipts he never saw the car that came around the corner [Music] thank you Metro Dade Police and the FBI quickly responded to the alarm 31 1097 . these men were clearly not afraid to use deadly force Courier would later die from his injury [Music] while he was taken to the hospital agents interviewed his partner as he described the gunman it quickly became obvious they were probably the same men responsible for the previous robbery at the Steak and Ale Restaurant there was no money taken in that particular robbery but there were a number of shots fired so the Annie was still going up here as far as I was concerned because of you know the continued use of violence you know by these two individuals ballistic's evidence would further confirm the connection between the two robberies investigators found double odd Buckshot from the 12-gauge shotgun 45 caliber bullet casings and 223 shell casings the 223s seemed most significant and the identification division of the Firearms unit of the FBI laboratory compared those two shell casings and said they were fired from the same weapon so we definitely had a link now between the Win Dixie attempt and the Steak and Ale Robert two violent robberies were linked to the same masked gunman [Music] but there were no leads to their identities because they had not scored any cash at the Winn-Dixie robbery and so little at the stake in ale investigators were certain they would soon strike again this time a bank job at the Florida National Bank as a teller in the guard walked from the main building to the drive-through two Mass gunmen emerged from a car at gunpoint they ordered the teller to open the door to the drive-thru now she tried to comply but there was a problem with the key stalled in broad daylight in a busy intersection the gunman aborted the robbery and fled with only the ten thousand dollars the guard had been carrying within minutes local authorities in the FBI violent crimes just a few blocks away from the two previous robberies this pattern was starting to develop that all these crimes were happening in the same general area along the U.S Highway number one FBI interviews with the bank employees confirmed that the robbers were the same pair who'd hit the armored cars maybe they figured a drive-through bank would be less heavily fortified than Armored Cars easier sources of cash there was no higher priority in this case we had to find these guys and we had to get them off the street before they killed more innocent people but just an hour and a half later they hit the professional Savings Bank only 18 blocks away get down Houston control of the lobby had guns customers and employees quickly followed their orders high-powered weapons no one doubted they may [Music] this time they scored big thank you raced off with over forty one thousand dollars delivered earlier that day by Wells Fargo caped in yet another getaway car a Chevy Monte Carlo Witnesses had little to tell agents the robbers had ended quickly and forced everyone down on the floor where they couldn't see what was going on but since the men had actually been inside the bank this time perhaps the security cameras had captured them on tape agents were soon disappointed to learn that the cameras had somehow malfunctioned and nothing had been recorded it was the fourth robbery in six weeks the Heavenly armed robbers were looting Banks and armored cars in broad daylight the Witnesses in these cases indicated that they felt that these people looked like true professionals the way they walked the way they talked The Way They Carried the weapons and I truly believed up until when we finally found out who they were that we could very easily have been dealing with police officers here or very recent ex-military [Music] with such violent criminals on the loose agents honed their own skills on the firing range they worked the case relentlessly it's changing whatever slim leads they had like me to do but nothing panned out two months went by without another robbery and still there were no leads on Friday January 10 1986 William Roberts prepared to make a transaction at the Barnett Bank just as an armored truck was unloading outside he looked up from his checkbook and watched as two masked robbers shot the guard in the back as the guard lay on the ground one of the gunmen shot him twice more this was the robber's fifth heist in just three months and another big hit they fled with fifty four thousand dollars William Roberts trailed the men for blocks [Music] though he maintained his safe distance Roberts worried the thieves knew he was following them still he stayed on their tail and noted their license tag and car model we tracked them to a parking lot where they pulled in next to a white pickup truck Roberts parked across the street and continued to watch them foreign but could not see the tag number after driving off Roberts would flag down an officer and tell him the story [Music] the FBI responded to the scene and interviewed Bank employees found several 223 rounds later determined to be fired from the same weapon used in the first two robberies [Music] nearby FBI agents examined the getaway car the robbers had left behind but William Roberts was the star Witness thanks to Roberts the FBI had the first big break in a three-month string of violent robberies a check on the license tag of the getaway car revealed the car was registered to a man named aureliano Briel agents prepared to pay him a visit since the car had never been reported stolen they suspected Brielle was involved in the crimes they dressed for safety [Music] in Miami the FBI had been tracking two Mass gunmen who had been robbing armored cars and Banks already killing one guard now agents had located the registered owner of one of the getaway cars on January 14th special agent Morales and the partner arrived at the home of ireliano Briel the registered owner of the car the door special agent morelis now works undercover and wears a hood to protect his identity she asked me if I was there about her son and I said yes I was as a matter of fact she said well my son Emilio has been missing Mrs brielle's husband came to the door and they invited the agents to come into the house [Music] Mr Briel explained that his son Emilio had disappeared three months ago with a family car which he borrowed to go target shooting in the Everglades the brielle's had filed a missing person's report but heard nothing they had hoped the agents brought news of their son [Music] but both the brielle's and the Agents would be disappointed the FBI knew nothing of the young man's whereabouts and as the interview progressed agent Morales grew certain the brielle's knew nothing of the robberies the conclusion at the end of the day was that the Brielle family was not involved they were victims their car had been stolen and their son was missing [Music] the Metro Dade Police Department processed the brielle's car with FBI agents observing but evidence technicians found no fingerprints or anything else to advance the case the next two months were quiet again though the robbers remained on the loose agents worked other cases as they continued to mine every possible resource for Clues then on March 14th special agent Ben Grogan told a skeptical agent Morales about a newspaper article he believed was related to the case I guarantee it's that car right the article reported the attempted murder of a man named Jose Collazo two days early two-minute shot Collazo multiple times then they had stolen his gun in his car a black 1982 Chevy Monte Carlo guarantee I'm right Grogan swore that the vehicle would be the bank robber's next getaway car while it seemed to some agents nothing more than a hunch they respected growth car and disappeared shot him four times with the arm through face at 53 he was a career agent with 25 years on the job including time as a SWAT team leader his colleagues called him the doctor because he could do jobs no one else could do [Music] so they took a chance on his hunch Mr closer tell me what happened Grogan and another agent visited Collazo in the hospital [Music] was in rough shape with wounds to the side of his head his arm and his back [Music] but he managed to tell the story of his nightmarish afternoon in the Everglades car and Collazo had gone to a recreational trail near a lake where gun owners often practice target shooting he was declaring he's 22 when two men drove up beside him how you doing [Music] the driver pulled a gun on Collazo hold up shut up who somehow had the presence of mind to identify it as a steel blue Magnum revolver he pegged the other man's rifle as a Ruger Mini-14 get a new guy when the assailants demanded collazo's guns car and wallet he complied [Music] back up back up shut up but they shot him several times anyway at close range [Music] foreign Monte Carlo and their own F-150 pickup truck as they drove off they believed Collazo was dead [Music] he was just waiting until the shooters were gone then he would rally what little strength he had to survive wow Collazo had to make a decision as to whether he would try to live or just lay down and die and Collazo said he chose to try to live so he picked himself up out of that Lake and walked almost a mile after being shot three times to seek help [Music] finding Collazo was the best break in the case so far he provided the single clue no witness until now could offer a description of the suspect's faces they had not worn masks when they assaulted him using collazo's description a Dade County Police artist drew composite sketches of his assailants the drawings would be made into posters with information about the suspects and their crimes plus the warning that both men were heavily armed and extremely dangerous [Music] retired special agent John Hanlon a 22-year FBI veteran then assigned to the violent crimes unit remembers what Collazo said Collazo was able to give a description of the guys they told us about the white pickup truck he was shot in the same general area as as we thought Emilio Brielle had disappeared in the coming days agents stepped up their efforts [Music] conducted a grid search of the streets Crossing South Dixie Highway in the vicinity of the bank robberies I got the agents together uh uh after I told him what I had on my mind they looked at me like I was crazy but I said I want you to get down between 88th Street on South Dixie Highway and 185th Street and come up with any license numbers on white Ford F-150 pickup trucks something just told me in my gut that perhaps who knows we're trying to make our own luck what is it a million to 110 million to one I don't know but take him back with the license numbers of 10 white Ford F-150 pickup trucks computerized checks of the license numbers would reveal the owner's names agents would then request driver's license photos from the Department of Motor Vehicles perhaps if Collazo saw the photos he could identify the truck's owner but in 1986 technology was slow and before the photos came back from the DMV the robbers struck again on Wednesday March 19th just one week after collazo's assault [Music] back up get down come on get out give me the bag it was their sixth hit in five months give me the money your face down be quiet one kept the terrified customers at Bay the other looted money from a teller [Music] damn everybody go move go look out the men escaped with over eight thousand dollars in cash [Music] as customers and employees recovered from The Assault an off-duty Customs official who had seen the robbers fleet called police he'd noted the make of the getaway car a black Chevy Monte Carlo and the tag number ntj891 just as agent Grogan had predicted it was Jose collazo's car they didn't even change the tag and we're not really sure whether they were well we're pretty sure they weren't that stupid but we speculate that in their minds you know they were these hard hardened men and we think that they were probably just saying hey in your face police you know come and get us if you can investigators learned little of value from Witnesses this Bank the security cameras had filmed the entire robbery but the videotape was of little use the camera's lenses had captured little more than unidentifiable masked Bandits there was little doubt these robbers planned each hit carefully it appeared to me that they were doing surveillance of the banks prior to some other robberies because on most occasions they robbed the bank within 10 minutes of delivery of a cash shipment by an armored car company so they were waiting until the cash was inside from the armored car company and then hit the bank [Music] on April 10th Gordon McNeil and Ben Grogan discussed the case at Firearms practice sifting for any clues they may have overlooked it had been about three weeks since the last robbery there were no clues to the thieves identities but McNeil detected a pattern you're always looking in law enforcement for you know for patterns of crime the things that seem to happen on a consistent basis and the only thing that we had gone in these cases was this significant pattern that developed always on Friday between 9 and 12 hitting the same Banks multiple times always in the same 40 square block area always along South Dixie Highway agents planned a surveillance for the next day they would fan out to patrol the area where the robbers had struck so often you guys got a minute yeah unit supervisor Gordon McNeil personally led the operation everybody will leave from that location we just couldn't wait for them to Rob another bank we had to get out there and we had to make our own luck and maybe we could find them start watching for the vehicle agent Hanlon remembers what happened next Eddie Morales walked over and said hey let's go down there and I thought well what the heck you know so there's a whim I mean there was no pressure to go or anything of that kind I mean I certainly had left to do and we'll team up I like Daddy and I figure well we'll go on down there we'll ride down and you know rather cavalierly and and spend some good times with Ed and and we'll take it from there many believed it was a long shot 14 Miami FBI agents met in a parking lot at 8 45 a.m on Friday April 11 1986. it would surveil a 53 block grid along South Dixie Highway where two commando-style gunmen had pulled off three bank robberies and three armored car heists in six months the suspects were described as white men of medium Bill remember one with a handlebar mustache both about 30 years old and extremely dangerous they might be driving a black Monte Carlo license number mtj-891 after a robbery spree that had lasted six months Miami FBI agents went on the offensive in search of two killers possibly driving a black Monte Carlo they met to patrol an area where the two armed robbers had used military tactics to hit armored cars and Banks all would be stationed along a major thoroughfare of South Dixie Highway agents Ben Grogan and Jerry Dove were on their way to stake out the Barnett Bank when the impossible happened [Music] the suspect's vehicle pulled directly in front of him in disbelief agent Brogan advised all units of what he saw s [Music] Grogan was not an emotional person nothing could get broken excited and I still remember his voice he said we are behind a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo Dade Florida tag ntj891 he said that's the tag isn't it Gordo I mean he was just incredulous foreign were stationed at the professional Savings Bank when they heard grogan's call to search for their colleagues Morel is working the radio Hanlon tried to get a gauge on Grogan and Dove's location I remember saying to Eddie I mean call Ben telling to start calling the cross streets so we'll know how close we're getting before I Eddie had a chance to go on the air Ben starts calling off the cross streets and we're hitting those cross streets you know one after another so we were real close to them after proceeding South for several blocks Hanlon and Morales closed in behind them [Music] robbers soon suspected [Music] that whether they knew their pursuers their FBI or not the suspects wanted to lose them [Music] they took a right turn on 117th Street into a residential neighborhood quiet at this time of day [Music] still following still behind us are coming [Applause] they turned right again trying to lose the tail but the agents hung on playing for time as agent who else records we were just trying to wait for as many FBI units to get to the location as possible and we were also basically responding to what the subjects did they weren't in any hurry when they turned onto 120th Street they they actually slowed down the Caravan continued on with the agents always concerned about endangering innocent bystanders then the suspects made a left onto 82nd it appeared they were heading back to the Busy Highway where civilians would be at risk should a confrontation turn violent [Music] when Grogan saw the silhouette of a long-barreled rifle through the rear window of the subject's vehicle it was clear the suspects were preparing to do bad Grogan put the light on his car and ordered a felony stop Grogan pulled alongside the suspect's car and ordered them to stop the suspects ignored the order and Grogan pulled ahead of him blocking their escape site made an indelible impression on veteran agent John Hadley and I'll never forget the man's face I mean I could have done I could pick him out today I mean he looked like your basic Western bad man he looked very very determined it seemed the suspects were as desperate to prevent as the agents who pursued them two heavily armed fugitives had ignored FBI orders to stop their vehicle special agents now tried to force them to comply catch up to the group was agent Richard manausi behind the suspect's car he saw one of the gunmen take aim at Mireles in Hamlin Faith swung into a U-turn and then the mousey was able to hit him again and knocked him over into this parking area up against some cars over there the passenger opened Friday with the number 14 assault rifle outgunned agent manausi crawled to cover four seconds later firing it they were surrounded by FBI their vehicle could not move but they had Superior Firepower and they refused to surrender [Applause] the driver fired a shotgun blast and broke the driver a semi-automatic kept pumping out the rounds until one final cut McNeil in the hand Morales and Hamlin Advanced to cover him and one of them it was all one continuous recollection it was like one second I'm looking at Gordon McNeil's back trying to maneuver to his left and the next second is blue sky and I looked at my left arm and my left arm was completely shattered it was like roadkill his partner was down but the shooter kept on fire but when he tried to escape out the window Jerry Dove hit him in the chest with his nine millimeter [Music] but to Dub's horror the man shot McNeil in the neck I couldn't move my upper body I couldn't move my arm and I couldn't move my legs so I assumed that I was totally paralyzed at that particular point I couldn't move two more FBI agents alive [Music] he just made up his mind that he was going down he was gone out and he was going to take as many of us with him as he possibly could firing six shooters against the suspect's 31 semi-automatic assault Grogan were forced to retreat behind their car to reload [Applause] Hanlon 2 Reloaded but the shooter kept on coming and one went right through mine Knuckles on my right hand and through the knuckle in my thumb a bunch of lead and whatever went into the back of my arm and uh I remember uh my gun going flying uh I said Ben I've been hit Miss Hanlon tried to retreat under the bumper the gunman shot him in the groin [Applause] blood geysered from Mike glowing to my knee I mean the blood just came out like a balloon breaking Grogan was here and then dove before they could reload their weapons I remember bands saying oh my God and I he fell at my feet and at some point along in here I heard the blood or heard the breath go out of him he went the subject made his way to agent Dove's car with his left arm nearly blown off agent Morales managed to pull himself up shooter was trying to flee and Mireles had to stop it foreign mortally wounded the second suspect somehow dragged himself out of his car and joined his partner if the car started Morales knew they could only go in reverse back over the Fallen agents eventually I just got angry because I knew internally that I was dying and my one last thought was hey if I'm gonna die I'm gonna take these guys with me I'm gonna make sure that they're dead with his shotgun empty Norrell has changed to his revolver and staggered forward firing at the subjects so relis's shots lodged in the men's spines killing them both it was a violent end to the lives of two Violent Men just a few minutes after it began the bloodiest firefight in FBI history ended in tragedy two agents were dead and five wounded two suspects still unidentified had also been killed [Applause] [Applause] agent Jerry dove lay dead at the age of 30 he earned a law degree and fulfilled his Boyhood dream of joining the FBI he wanted to make a difference and had given his life trying had also perished in the firefight he had been just one year away from retirement when his wife could finally have stopped worrying about her husband's dangerous career sight Metro Dade County Homicide Bureau Sergeant David Rivers was also there s had the Herculean task of reconstructing five minutes of living Terror that would take weeks well we have to find out what happened and uh you do that in in various ways you you obviously speak to the agents that were involved and they can tell you what each one of them did individually and then part of that is to take those different statements as to what they did individually and match it up with the physical evidence the wounds on the body the the bullet holes in the cars where the guns are located where the cars are located and to reconstruct it to make sure everything's exactly interpreted properly technicians recovered 143 bullets fired from The Fugitive weapons that had plagued agents for so long were finally being answered the Ruger Mini-14 rifle used to kill agents Grogan and Dove would match the 223 bullets founded some of the armored car and bank robbery scenes in fact the FBI crime lab could Now forensically link The Killers with several of the earlier heists and from fingerprints the agent soon identified the subjects 32-year-old Michael Lee Platt and 34 year old William Russell Maddox but one question remained what kind of men had wreaked this destruction and why agents could not have been more surprised by what they learned from the Killer's friends and Neighbors instead of Outlaws living on the edge prepared for the ultimate confrontation Platt and Maddox were known as quiet family men photos show their families relaxing together Platt had a wife and three children Maddox was a single dad they were Partners in a landscaping business but further investigation gave up the LIE of their double life inside a shed agents found guns and ammunition including the 22 Maddox implanted stolen from Jose Collazo when they tried to kill him in the Everglades agents would also uncover evidence of a bizarre murder pact in which the men may have killed each other's previous wives no one had been charged in the two cases but now they would be reopened within days agents would confirm that Maddox and Platt had killed 25 year old Emilio Brielle in the Everglades a hiker found brielle's skeletal remains in the Everglades not far from where Collazo had been assaulted then another tragic footnote surfaced hey how did that interview go for you earlier today special agent Steve Warren who received a package from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles and it was a copy of William Russell maddox's driver's license he was the owner of one of the white Ford F-150 pickup trucks agents had located a few weeks before [Music] there had been a delay in sending the licenses if they had arrived April 11th or prior to that Collazo would have been able to positively identify Maddox and we probably would have been able to arrest Maddox and also plot and two FBI agents wouldn't have been killed but that's not the way the luck worked out in this particular case the FBI investigation revealed that both of the killers had served in the military plant had been a Ranger a member of the Army's Elite First Strike Force which explained the pair's Commando tactics fundamentally different than training received by law enforcement we don't have an acceptable body count in civilian law enforcement we're taught one way and that's defensive type shooting you take cover you do not take casualties and then you look at the way Platt reacted that day he reacted in a military fashion he had the heavier weapon he had the many 14 with a 30 round capacity his back was basically against the wall he had no place to go so he Advanced forward on our position laying down suppression fire and ambushed Grogan and Dove who were behind the car as agents finally put the pieces together a frightening portrait emerged of two formidable adversaries at the end of the shooting plaid had 11 hits Maddox had six hits plant was literally shot to pieces and he kept fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting until he ran out of breath he fought to the last they were going to die it's just they weren't dying fast enough and they weren't prepared to lay down and die you know they weren't about to give up out of this tragedy came some positive changes that have improved the safety of all in the law enforcement community agents and officers now carry more powerful weapons and their training better prepares them for violent confrontations like the one on April 11 1986. [Music] as hundreds mourned the deaths of two dedicated and selfless FBI agents those in law enforcement have looked for meaning in the tragic events of that April morning over the years Gordon McNeil has found some resolution the story's not platformatics it's not important who who they were uh it it's important to recall the the courage that was shown by the agents that day and and the FBI they did their job in Miami a young man is abducted at gunpoint the kidnappers demand a fortune and threaten to kill the police and FBI uncovered disturbing leads and looked for answers in the smallest Clues in a desperate race to find the victim and bring him home to his family [Music] [Applause] [Music] the kidnapping can shatter a family bringing Terror and heartache without warning in 1984 with the flash of a gun an ordinary business transaction became a violent abduction in seconds the son of a wealthy Miami developer was gone I'm Jim calstrom Farm ahead of the FBI's New York office kidnapper's motivations seem to be money but agents would learn this case and his resolution were more complicated than anyone believed [Music] Miami Florida Tuesday August 7 1984. [Music] at six o'clock the sales office of real estate developer Jesus portella was closing Mr portella had emigrated from Cuba 22 years earlier building a successful business in Miami two-year-old son Mario was recently married and worked as a Salesman for his father as did Mario's uncle [Music] a little after six a couple approached the office [Music] Mario and his uncle went out to talk with him foreign [Music] the couple asked about condo prices the man seemed anxious as they spoke the uncle explained that the office had closed he asked them to return in the morning [Music] at the couple's request he went inside to get some brochures for them he didn't see what was happening outside an armed man had pulled up and the three were abducting Mario [Applause] [Music] Uncle spotted temporary tags on the car but only got the last three numbers he told Jesus what he saw Mario forced into a blue and gray car heading north on 122nd Avenue then he called the police but Mario's father couldn't wait for the police to arrive he went looking for his son he spotted a car matching the description of the kidnapper's vehicle years he had carried a licensed gun for protection now he is ready to use it [Music] but it was the wrong car [Music] realizing he couldn't find the kidnappers himself Jesus returned to wait for the authorities the Metro Dade Police responded to the kidnapping call for detective Alvaro Romero abductions were not unusual in 1984. at that time we were inundated with kidnappings we had probably been a month related to narcotics or drug-related kidnappings where the victims would either be involved in drugs themselves or possibly family members were involved in in drug dealings but detectives quickly realized Mario's abduction was different [Music] Community led us to believe that it was not narcotics related and strictly a financial gain for for the people who kidnapped his son it meant anybody who knew of Mr portella's wealth could be a suspect hoping the kidnappers left some Trace behind crime scene technicians dusted the door for fingerprints Mario's Uncle believed they might have touched it as they peered inside no usable prints were found less than an hour after the kidnapping the phone rang speaking in Spanish the caller asked for Mario Mr portella didn't recognize the voice no the caller then announced he was part of a terrorist group that was holding Mario for three million dollars in Ransom although no recording equipment was in place a Spanish-speaking detective listening in identified the caller's accent as Colombian the caller threatened to kill Mario if Jesus notified police in the FBI and warned that the group was watching the portella house and gave the address struck father pleaded to speak with his son the kidnapper announced he would call Jesus's home in three days police could not trace the call but it helped them understand the type of criminal they were facing we thought the kidnappers were very violent they took precautions as far as the phone calls that they were making they're very serious in their threats and what they were doing and it took them very seriously as with any kidnap for ransom Metro Dade Police called the Miami Field Office of the FBI for assistance and the case went to special agent John Gill FBI was involved for the very onset the very fact that a large Ransom was demanded caused it to fall into the jurisdiction of what we call the Hobbes Act the Hobbes act makes extortion affecting interstate commerce of federal crime and Mr portella's business reached across state lines [Music] Agents from the FBI's reactive Squad installed recording equipment on Mr portella's office and home phones and arranged to have all incoming calls traced the next day special agent Gill wanted to talk with Jesus portela but not at the trailer or at home he asked Jesus to meet him at an empty garage agents watch the entrances and exits of the garage for any sign of the kidnappers but did not see anyone as far as they could tell it was safe for Gill to question Mr portella I have been assigned the administrator the agent asked if Mr portella knew of anyone who had a grudge against him or if he had ever been threatened the worried father could think of only one minor incident he said that eight months earlier a man and woman burst into his office he knew the woman her name was Rose De parias recently purchased a condominium from him and said she discovered her neighbors payments were lower than hers the portella explained that the difference was because the neighbor had obtained a better Finance rate it was between the buyer and the bank the payments were not made to him at all the finance here had paid for the condominium and he was out of the picture so to speak the two refused to accept the explanation the man began threatening him demanding that Portillo refund the money but there was nothing he could do before they left Rose De Paris vowed she would get her money back one way or another Mr portella had reported the incident to police [Music] and the police talked to this particular woman and explained to her the circumstances of financing and interest payment and she apologized and Mr patela just assumed that this had all gone away agents later Tracked Down Rose De parias and learned she was living in another state during the kidnapping when they confirmed her Alibi they ruled her out as a suspect investigators were getting worried we with each day that passes the chances of finding a kidnapping victim alive drastically diminished they hoped the kidnappers would call again if they did the reactive Squad was prepared having wired Jesus portela's home and office with telephone tap and Trace equipment [Music] special agent Gil orantia and other investigators needed to be there to monitor the calls and run the equipment but getting into the home unseen would be tricky the initial calls and our indications were that they were watching his home they being the kidnappers we were concerned that they might be able to attack that I was coming in they needed Mr portella's help I was crouched in the back seat as we drove to his home we went into the garage and then we went into the house we wanted to be able to record the phone calls and be able to capture everything that was said to him regarding any Ransom demands agents and Metro Dade detectives would take shifts staying with the portella family 24 hours a day they briefed Jesus on how to handle the calls he would be the lead in the effort to get his son back one of the things early on obviously was to determine if he's even alive or not and we discussed with Mr portella some of the things that he could ask the kidnappers which only Mario portella would know Proof of Life questions if you would that could come back to us to verify yes we know he's alive in building a profile of Mario with details about his life including favorite foods and names of pets the agents got to know the young man Mario portella was the All-American kid he had gone to school he had maintained outstanding grades he had just gotten married to a young lady and they were newlyweds with a bright future everybody loved him the reason that this case was so traumatic for so many people is that so many people could identify with them they were the type of family that we all aspire to be and they were living the American dream but they ran into a nightmare [Music] as promised the kidnappers called three days after the abduction [Music] the caller ordered Mr portella to listen to a taped recording the voice on the tape was Mario he pleaded with his father to pay the ransom money warning the kidnappers was serious and would kill him if he called the police or the FBI Jesus told the caller he had discreetly begun the process of securing the money from his bank [Music] agents reminded Mr portella to ask the proof of Life questions including what Mario's nickname was as a child and the name of the dog his wife used to have call back with the answers [Music] Mr portella had kept him on the line long enough for agents to trace the call to a Miami pay phone but the caller had gone before surveillance units arrived [Music] in the harrowing days after the kidnapping Mr portella received several other calls [Music] Spanish a different man talked vaguely and mysteriously of a business proposition apparently unrelated to the abduction the demeanor of Mr patello at the time was I really don't have time to talk to you about business because I have other problems this individual indicated on several calls that he in fact was a person that could help solve the problems his persistence at trying to communicate his involvement in whatever Mr patella's problem was caused us to be highly suspicious and somehow he was playing a role or a part in the kidnapping or the ransom demands Jesus kept the man on the line and investigators pinpointed the source of the call it was coming from the same area as the kidnapper's earlier call surveillance units made it to the scene in time to spot the person on the phone they followed him to a fast food restaurant where he emerged with a takeout bag from their biographical profile of Mario investigators knew the restaurant's burgers were his favorite they Then followed the man to an apartment complex where his behavior was even more suspicious when he took the hamburgers to an apartment and delivered them through the door having no conversation with the recipient and this was the brand of hamburgers that Mario and his father fancied Yes at that point we were suspicious that perhaps Mario was being held at that location the SWAT team responded and set up outside the apartment clock was ticking they needed to find Mario in Miami the FBI and Metro Dade Police were trying to find Mario portella and whoever kidnapped him [Applause] their first good lead brought them to a Miami apartment where they believed the kidnappers might be holding Mario the SWAT team quickly secured the apartment and searched each of its rooms but Mario was not there it had been a false lead for FBI special agent John Gill it was determined not only by a search but interview of the people there that they were not related or associated with the kidnapping whatsoever interviewing the caller agents determined he knew nothing of the abduction and was merely trying to get work with Mr portella's company [Music] investigators again were forced to wait for the kidnappers to make the next move [Music] it was the original caller he answered the proof of Life questions correctly suggesting Mario might still be alive and again demanded three million dollars as instructed Jesus tried to keep the caller on the line he said he had spoken to the bank and could only come up with one-third of the amount as Mr portella negotiated agents traced the call to another Miami pay phone units were on their way [Music] eventually the caller agreed to one million dollars trying to stall longer Mr portella said it would take time to get the money since the bank was closed for the night but the man ordered him to have it ready when he called back in three hours with instructions for the drop once again he disappeared before authorities could arrive within the hour Mr portella Met plain clothes agents at his bank there the FBI recorded the serial numbers of the bills that made up the million dollar Ransom so they could be traced when the kidnappers spent them thank you at the portella home agents hit a tracking device in the briefcase hoping it would lead them to wherever Mario was being held the kidnappers called on schedule and gave Mr portella directions for the ransom drop they ordered him to drive to a local restaurant leave the car door unlocked with the money inside wait for a call at a certain Payphone then go into the restaurant and sit down the caller warned Jesus to go alone [Music] with the loaded briefcases Jesus began the trip it took less than half an hour but to the worried father it must have seemed an eternity [Music] the restaurant was in a tough and dangerous part of Miami undercover agents and metro day detectives were already there watching agents also manned an empty apartment with a view of the restaurant Jesus portella arrived carrying a million dollars in cash and hoping finally to get his son back but he would soon discover that nothing was as the kidnappers said it would be [Music] as portella was on his way to deliver a million dollar Ransom in an unsafe part of Miami hoping to get his son Mario back the way he handled the troubling and dangerous situation impressed the investigators working with him including FBI special agent Gil orantia for him to have endured what he did I have all the respect for him in the world he performed very very well he did the things we asked him to he did things that probably most of us couldn't do the FBI and Metro Dade Police had undercover Personnel staking out the restaurant but the place was closed and Jesus began to wonder if it was a setup he found a pay phone though not where the kidnappers said it would be he was nervous about leaving his car unlocked with a million dollars in it he hoped the kidnappers would call before anything happened to him if thieves made off with the money he might never see his son again though he waited the phone call never came eventually Jesus had to leave with the ransom money but without Mario he and the investigators spent days waiting for the kidnappers to call again with new instructions there were no Ransom calls that came after the drop failed we were concerned at that point because obviously our only connection to them were the phone calls that was our connection to the bad guys that was our ability to do something about what they were doing and when they stopped calling we became very worried although the kidnappers were not leaving new Clues with Ransom calls older Clues were beginning to pay off FBI special agent John Hanlon was trying to find the car used in Mario's abduction it was an older blue and gray four-door Chevrolet sedan and had temporary dealer tags which were not in DMV databases at the time and of course with a paper tag it can't be traced so the car looks uh perfectly legitimate and doesn't draw the attention of uh law enforcement Hanlon new used car dealerships sometimes illegally rented cars that were for sale placing temporary tags on them he began phoning every dealership in the area time-consuming work paid off when Hanlon spoke to a clerk at one dealership in Miami I asked if you rent any old cars and she said sure you know any alone with Paper Tags and she said yeah and I said any old Chevys he said yeah I said I need blue and gray ones she said yeah and he says where is it she says it's here and I said well when when when was the rent and she says uh August the 7th and I'm thinking oh my God August 7th was the day of the kidnapping when agents discovered the car had been returned the next day it hounded it to have it searched for evidence Metro Dade forensics technicians processed the vehicle they found no usable hair fiber or fingerprint evidence but they did find a keychain under the back seat the FBI knew that Mario portella drove a Volvo so we Barrel back over there picked up the keys we showed them to the family members of course they identified them that also fit his automobile and we took it by the house and the house key fit his home it meant that vehicle was most likely used to abduct Mario portella checking records agents learned a woman named julita De Paris had rented the car the clerk at the dealership said the woman came in with a man she said was her brother Hanlon requested driver's license photos of julita De Paris and her siblings nine days after the abduction Hanlon met with the clerk who had rented out the car showing her a photo lineup that included a picture of julita De Paris along with several decoy pictures the clerk identified julita De Paris immediately [Music] the clerk also identified the man who was with her it was who lead his brother Julio agents were familiar with the departious name they remembered Rose De Paris was the woman who had had the dispute with Mr portella the previous year was Rose's sister they now believed Julio De Paris was the man who accompanied Rose and threatened Jesus although the FBI still ruled out any involvement by Rose De parias her siblings were now Prime suspects once we had good suspects in this investigation we put surveillance on some of the members in an attempt to gather more evidence the FBI noticed an unidentified man usually accompanied julita the couple seem to be romantically involved it had been 10 days since the abduction agents hope the suspects would lead them to Mario portella they needed to question them but doing so would alert any accomplices and put Mario's life at risk we couldn't exactly jump them at that moment because we were trying to rescue this young man that was our primary objective to get this young man back to his family so we continue to watch them the FBI and Metro Dade surveillance effort included air and ground units but the suspects seemed to be wary of a tail were very erratic and paranoid in their behavior their driving would go in One Direction and make a U-turn and go in another Direction and then go through a parking lot and then in another Direction which was very taxing on our ability to surveil and as much as you only have a limited number of automobiles to conduct a surveillance and when you're passing by the same subject three and four times in the course of one trip the chances of being identified as a surveillance vehicle are great the suspect's counter surveillance techniques worked following them exhausted the helicopter's fuel supply forcing agents to turn back ground units tried to remain undetected and keep the suspects in sight but soon they lost them it was a difficult blow to the investigation three days later and 25 miles north of Miami in the town of Davy Florida two teenagers were walking in a field when they made a grim discovery that would provide terrible answers to a family hoping for the best 13 days after Mario portella was kidnapped teenagers discovered a body in Davie Florida 25 miles north of Miami Davie police realized it was a murder the man's head was completely wrapped with duct tape detective Ed Taylor faced the challenge of identifying the victim all we knew at that time was it was a male we didn't know how old he was because his entire head had been taped his hands have been taped behind his back and his ankles had been taped together as well so at the scene we really didn't have very much information as to the identity victim or how old he was or anything of that nature they needed to examine the body tape and sleeping bag for more clues and removed the evidence to the controlled environment of the lab [Music] Dr James only then associate medical examiner for Broward County performed the autopsy he removed the duct tape surrounding the head careful to preserve each tear and section for later analysis by forensics technicians with the tape off doctor only could describe the victim as male between the ages of 20 and 40. five foot nine inches tall with brown eyes and brown hair although the victim had been severely beaten the cause of death was asphyxiation believe the man had been dead for 24 to 36 hours to Aid in identification doctor only photographed the victim for comparison with photos of missing persons but he knew the pictures would not be accurate representations of a victim the tightly wrapped duct tape had distorted facial features and the summer heat caused significant decomposition so we can submit them to other departments to see if he had ever been arrested before we did a press release to the various newspapers with a description of the victim and ran a photograph of the victim to see if anyone could identify him on August 25th a Miami newspaper ran an article about the body found in Davie FBI special agent John Gill noted the description Loosely matched out of Mario portella and immediately contacted the Davie Police Department about the abducted man we had received prior dental records of Mario patella from his family dentist and those records were in evidence at the FBI office in the event that they were needed to identify a victim those records were brought to in Davie Florida I met with Detective Taylor and we both proceeded then to the Broward County Medical examiner's Office Dr hungley was then capable with his experience to take those Dental films or x-rays and compare them to the body and positively identify that body as being our victim Mario patella [Music] for everyone trying to bring Mario home to his family the news was devastating we had to notify the patella family that the victim had been identified and deceased [Music] now agents were investigating a murder reviewing the complex case they outlined their suspects Julio de parias the man who had threatened Jesus portella the previous year his sister julita whose name appeared on the rental contract for the abduction vehicle and the man agents believed to be her boyfriend all three had disappeared agents also developed another suspect Hector De Paris Julio and who lead his brother he was close to his siblings and had a criminal record now with no chance of finding Mario alive the FBI's investigation could be overt [Music] they interviewed the sister of three of the suspects Rose De Paris who had threatened Jesus Portilla eight months before the kidnapping she denied any involvement and offered her full cooperation she said julita's boyfriend was Jesse Ramirez and that if he and the others could not be found in Miami they most likely went to Los Angeles where they had friends Miami agents forwarded the lead to the Los Angeles field office their special agent Gregory pack knew they had no time to lose it was imperative to find these people as soon as possible because they are dangerous people and they are people you don't want on the streets in your city or anybody else's City if they did this once kidnapped and murdered what's to say that they wouldn't do it a second time to some other victim special agent pack needed to narrow the scope of the search he knew the suspects were of Colombian descent and LA's Rampart District had a large Colombian population I went out there with these very good photographs and I went to all the places that you and I would have to go to occasionally in normal course of living dry cleaners restaurants hotels motels Apartments after a couple weeks of this door-to-door canvassing I ran across that lady who was the apartment manager I showed her the photographs she recognized Hector julita and Julio de parias's new tenants but said they seemed to be rarely at home so I left my card with her and asked her if she would call me when I called herd at least once a day this went on for probably eight or ten days finally in the evening about nine o'clock I received a call from the office and this apartment manager was on the line and wanted to be Pat true to me so I accepted the call and she told me that the people that I had been looking for were in the apartment now we approached the apartment house took up various positions so there wouldn't be any Escape out the windows or other doors and as we ran in the front door there was a gentleman pointing revolver as so we tackled him Wrestled a gun from him took him into custody and then there was another person there the man with a gun was who lead his boyfriend Jesse Ramirez he was held on charges of assaulting a Federal Officer the other man in the room was Hector de parias julita and Julio's brother he was held on a parole violation for drug possession and burglary two suspects were in custody but two were still at Large we knew who Lita and Julio were still outstanding so uh when we left I had two agents remain at the apartment several hours later who Lita came back she was taken into custody and then she was brought down at the FBI headquarters in Los Angeles agents waited for Julio De Paris but he never showed [Music] the case agent in Miami John Gill learned of the arrests Gregory pack the special agent and the Los Angeles division called our division here in Miami I was immediately on an airplane the morning of the telephone call met with agent pack at approximately three o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles where I briefed him on our experience and knowledge of the case Jesse Ramirez and julita De Paris refused to talk to investigators but special agent Gill and Davey Florida police detective Ed Taylor had more success with Hector De Paris they needed his help to find the fourth suspect Julio De Paris and they needed to know the details of Mario portella's last days on September 24 1984 the FBI apprehended three suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Mario portella but a fourth suspect Julio De Paris was still at Large only one of the three in custody Hector De Paris agreed to talk still he was evasive at first and investigators caught him in several lies Davy police detective Ed Taylor and FBI special agent John Gill decided on the soft approach to get the truth we befriended him in the style of interrogation realizing that the potential was there to develop Trust and cause him to in a sense confess on the second day of interrogation he became Cooperative to the point that he was light on the edge divulging his criminality as he became more trustful of Mr Taylor and I he advised us that yes he would cooperate in divulge details thank you he was not involved in the abduction but several days after the abduction Mario was being held captive in an apartment the brother sister and the sisters paramour discovered that maintaining guard on a kidnap victim is a lot of trouble they needed help they knew that Hector was available that he was unemployed and that he was addicted to marijuana could not get a job and in fact would jump at an opportunity to participate in an adventure with financial gain so they solicited his help to watch a victim as he put it according to Hector the motive for the kidnapping was actually Revenge Julio de parias felt humiliated that he could not force Mr portella to refund his sister's money after she purchased her condominium Hector said that after several days his brother Julio and Jesse Ramirez worried about getting caught and gave up on trying for a ransom they decided they had to get rid of the only link to them Mario portella so on August 17 1984 ten days after the kidnapping they decided to murder him Jesse Ramirez began rapping Mario portella's head with duct tape because he pleaded for his life and prayed as Mario struggled to breathe Jesse beat him with a metal bar [Music] after the murder Julio de parias paid Jesse Ramirez one thousand dollars for the job Hector claimed to have no idea of Julio's whereabouts but he did know where Mario was held and murdered Hector Not only was able to give us an address of an apartment complex and the building unit Hector was even able to draw us a diagram of the interior of the apartment where the various rooms were Furniture where the murder had taken place [Music] a team of Agents detectives and forensics technicians rushed to the apartment in Miami they secured it as a crime scene and processed it for Clues any evidence recovered might help put Mario's Killers Behind Bars but seeing it brought back to investigators the disappointment of not being able to save the young man's life special agent Gil oranti was there as we entered this apartment we saw a roll of duct tape on the side of a nightstand saw a bar that we believe was used to strike Mario with we saw blood in the apartment we saw all of these things that sort of put this thing for us evidentiary wise together but it was a difficult thing to look at it was um it was a situation where you know our goal was to to do the right thing and get him saved and we couldn't do it and it was it was tough it was tough for us to look at that in addition to duct tape investigators found pieces of adhesive medical tape in the room they also recovered hair and fiber evidence everything was cataloged and sent to the FBI lab in Washington DC for analysis their special agent Hal Deadman of the FBI's trace evidence unit analyzed the items my involvement in the case dealt with the comparison of hairs textile fibers and tape from the four locations the body recovery site the apartment where the victim was held a car that the body was transported in and another apartment where clothing from one of the suspects was recovered he matched carpet fibers from those locations to samples found on the suspects and the victim he also compared the tape wrapped around the victim's head arms and legs to the rolls of tape recovered at the murder scene [Music] pieces of tape that were once original or adjoining sections of the same piece of tape and that tape is torn the Yarns are not all going to have the same appearance they're not going to have the same length you'll have short pieces and long long pieces and you can fit these pieces of tape together much like you'd fit pieces together in a jigsaw puzzle special agent Deadman determined the tear on the role of tape from the apartment was a perfect fit with a piece of tape recovered from the victim's head also compared the tears on a strip of medical tape found on suspect Jesse Ramirez shoes to those on the role of medical tape found in the apartment and to those on a piece from the victim's body it was another exact match each piece of evidence contributed and the result was that there was a tremendously strong association between the suspects in this case and the victim Jesse Ramirez and julita De Paris were found guilty on kidnapping extortion and murder charges both were sentenced to life in prison Hector De Paris pleaded guilty to the same charges and received 40 years [Music] but the fourth suspect Julio De Paris was still out there we believe that he could have fled to Latin America somewhere so we printed up wanted Flyers that you'd find in your post office in police departments we sent them all over the place and we developed the same ones in Spanish and we distributed them throughout Latin America almost four years after the kidnapping in November of 1988 the FBI learned Costa Rican Customs officials were holding a man who resembled the photo of Julio de parias in the FBI's wanted poster special agent orantia flew to Costa Rica the man did look like the photo but it was his voice the one from The Ransom calls that tipped irania off I had listened to those phone calls over and over and over again hundreds of times I knew that voice that voice was a part of me as much as anything's a part of me so at the moment he opened his mouth that was it that was it it sensed it I knew it was him the federal trial of Julio de parias began five years to the day after Mario portella's abduction he was convicted of kidnapping extortion and murder and sentenced to life for the FBI agents who had gotten to know the victim's family the convictions were important but not the ending they had expected this was a horrendous crime for some type of Justice not to come out of it would have been difficult for the community in Miami and for the family and I'll be honest with you for us too the agents so I think the idea that some type of Justice occurred is Paramount that's that's the only thing we can we can cling to all of us that at least they were caught the Portillo family has persevered they will never forget Mario and they have not given up their dream [Music] three mysterious deaths in the Florida River confound local authorities preliminary investigation reveals little but when police and the FBI find a Sinister link to International drugs they uncover a conspiracy of unbridled greed and ruthless violence it's a case that thrusts an entire city into chaos [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the 1980s thousands of violent criminals flooded into America from Cuba and Colombia drugs at South Florida and the area bloated with illicit wealth became a violent powder keg I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office in the bloody Miami drug wars the winners got rich the losers buried and everyone was a Target Colombia South America until the 1970s life was simple but hard then a failed economy gave way to a sharp rise in drug trafficking the drug trade caused stiff competition that literally began to rip the country apart ruthless Colombian drug lords began consolidating their businesses into Partnerships known as cartels death came to anyone who got in their way as the cartel's influence grew so did the American Appetite for illicit drugs and Miami became the prime point of entry for most of the cocaine smuggled into the country and with it came bloodshed Colombian assassins were sent to Miami to wipe out the local competition the homicide rate Buddha more than triple the national average for large cities murder capital of the U.S former Metro Dade homicide detective Alex Alvarez recalls how in 1979 violence came to a Miami shopping mall his date of birth is several drug traffickers bought out a A Step Van lined it with bulletproof vests and portholes and did a drug hit in the parking lot and sprayed it with you know hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of rounds in the parking lot trying to kill their intended target two known drug traffickers were killed and several innocent bystanders were wounded there were also incidents of high-speed Pursuits on the expressway between two drug dealers that were just shooting it out on the expressway during rush hour traffic and a new ER injured and killed it was like the Wild Wild West so there was a need to try to curb and stop these drug traffickers who seem to be out of control the special Squad was formed to deal with the violence Central Tactical Unit or centak 26 was headquartered at the Metro Dade Police Department Sergeant George Placencia was a detective assigned to the unit the first of its kind in Miami it was a 26-1 in the nation the purpose of forming the task force was that we would go out and monitor all the homicides in the county and pick and choose the ones that we thought involved major drug traffickers and an attempt to work that angle the homicide angle and dismantle the organization by the mid-1980s constant pressure from law enforcement slowly changed the way drug traffickers were doing business in Miami they got a little bit more sophisticated they still did the murders but not the the shootouts in public drug traffickers went deep underground organizing cells that excluded all but family and close friends [Music] many cells specialized in activities such as cocaine Transportation distribution or money laundering in only a few years the business had become large still very deadly on the afternoon of July 29 1985 a marine salvager working on the Miami River noticed something off the bow of his boat floating in the water was a body by the time Metro Dade County Police responded Dock Workers had pulled two more bodies from the river the coroner examined the deceased for any signs of trauma or gunshot wounds he found none it appeared that the three had drowned on the bodies officers found beepers Rolex watches and plenty of cash two were armed essentially they were all carrying the tools of a drug Smuggler Metro day police called syntac-26 Argent Placencia investigated [Music] we started doing area cams to see if anybody had seen anything suspicious right seeing these individuals prior to them meeting their demise and that proved to be you know not so fruitful at all nobody had seen anything the three victims were identified as local Cuban Americans two had minor police records the official cause of death was drowning but there was no indication how they ended up in the water or why detective Alex Alvarez searched for a lead in the case we began Running Records checks and contacting The Drug Enforcement Administration to see if these people were known drug traffickers agents at the DEA did not know the men but they did have a source that could help right right what's the address they had an informant and that informant knew the son of one of the dead people that were fished out of the Miami rivers and it was definitely drug related and he was going to put us into contact with the Sun that afternoon investigators paid a visit to the Sun he was willing to tell what he knew hoping that the mystery of his father's death could be solved can you can you tell us what you know and how you found out about it well I know it's a really big business and he brings him back he told us that his father was one of the biggest drug smugglers in South Florida he brought in thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds of cocaine well I know last Saturday he said he was he said his father's crew used run-down steel hauled vessels to smuggle drugs into the country since the old boats aroused less suspicion than big yachts [Music] he also detailed how the Smugglers built false bulkheads into the boats concealing hidden compartments filled with hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds of cocaine when Customs search these boats their only hope of finding drugs would be to use a welding torch amongsters are smart they know that there's no way that customs and the open ocean is going to put a torch to a boat because if they're wrong they'll sink the boat now safely past Customs the Smugglers would continue to move their enormous cargo up the Miami River it would pardon the marina and then let it sit there for two or three days to make sure there's no surveillance and on the second third or fourth day when they were convinced there was no surveillance they come at the middle of the night unload the drugs into Vans and ship them off to different locations within South Florida the sun said he had been visited by two of his father's friends who were on board the ship the night his father drowned they told him that the boat was raided by a group of gunmen dressed as cops the Raiders threw the six-man crew overboard and then stole about 450 kilos of cocaine time was worth approximately 60 000 dollars so the net retail value of this load was approximately 27 million dollars and that's not the street value street value is probably two three times that the sun provided the names of all three men who survived but said he didn't know how to contact them the sentac detectives needed to find out if there has been a legitimate raid at the marina and contacted every law enforcement agency in South Florida that handled drug cases none of them had any operations close to the boat yard where this incident happened so at that time when I when I canceled out that this was a legitimate raid my next Focus was well these people must have been phony cops people impersonating police officers because there was a trend at that time at that time for people to dress up as police officers and and and raid drug dealers homes and steal their cash and steal their drugs [Music] to check the victim's son's story investigators went to the marina where the raid took place they interviewed the security guard who had been on duty that night he said that seven or eight men in police uniforms rushed the marina and headed for one of the boats [Music] they went right past the security guard security guard say being South Florida there's nothing unusual you know go at it he hadn't gotten a good look at any of them investigators later searched that boat but found no clues so they turned their attention to looking for the three men who had survived the raid two of the three survivors had minor police records but could not be located at their last known address the next day syntac-26 detectives played a hunch they figured that the survivors would likely be going to the wake for one of the deceased victims so we showed up at the funeral home with the names and identities of the people we were looking for the detectives were right they recognized the survivors from arrest photos and approached the men as they entered the men confirmed the boat was overrun by a group of Raiders dressed like cops they're wearing blue uniforms but the men denied the boat was involved in drug running they claimed they were simply having a party drinking beer with the three victims and two additional friends and while they were there drinking beer and having a good time uh people in blue uniforms stormed past the front gate of the marina and started yelling police police the gunman began assaulting them [Music] he said several friends were thrown in the Water by these individuals dressed in blue uniforms within minutes all six men were overboard in the Miami River but only three swam to safety the investigation had now become a triple homicide syntac-26 detectives were convinced The Raid was yet another instance of fake cops ripping off drug dealers but again the survivors denied that drugs were on the boat and insisted they did not know why the men attacked them they said they didn't see any badge numbers of police cars couldn't even tell which department the uniforms were from detailed information from the two witnesses the investigators were left without any significant leads [Music] the case stalled the FBI offered their assistance special agent Robert Martin at about the same time that the the homicide investigation began regarding the three bodies found in the Miami River an FBI cooperating Witness provided some information to us regarding a group of police officers who were involved in some rip-offs and he identified who those guys were at least several of them knew who some of them were had conversations with them detective Alvarez got an unexpected call from an agent in counterintelligence he says he needs to meet with us that he has a motive and impossible information about our case he put two and two together maybe this is related to this information that I'm getting to my information now we can we can narrow down Armando the FBI agent said was a well-connected nightclub worker that knew about a group of crooked cops who were ripping off drug dealers along the Miami River [Music] sentac 26 detectives went to see Armando Hoon [Music] but he did not want to see them would take the murder of a friend before Armando une would talk a motorist was driving through the Everglades spotted something that peaked his curiosity a wooden box he pulled over to his horror he found a body inside he called police detectives from miami-dade's drug task force sentac 26 were investigating the deaths of three men found floating in the Miami River they hoped an informant named Armando un could help them his friend and employer had been found murdered in the Florida Everglades his name was Luis Rodriguez the owner of a nightclub in Miami's Little Havana District he'd been shot several times in the head and then stuffed in a box rigged to Spring open a gruesome display investigating for centak 26 was detective Alex Alvarez and Sergeant George Placencia needed to get Armando un to talk we never mentioned anything about three bodies are Ploy in speaking to him was that we were investigating the death of his best friend the murder of his best friend according to detective Placencia Armando un was very candid we sat down and chatted with him for a while about Louis Rodriguez and he said yeah Luis Rodriguez was involved in drug trafficking all right would you recognize him he admitted that Rodriguez was dealing drugs out of his nightclub and said he believed the men Rodriguez was involved with killed him more Furious that his friend had been murdered and said he wanted to help he was making money if he knew about police officers real or fake robbing drug dealers he never mentioned that a police officer were involved he did say that Luis Rodriguez was friendly with some officers thank you very much Armando un seemed wary and selected his words carefully when the interview ended the detective still had no suspects in the Miami River Murders all they really knew was that Luis Rodriguez was dead and may be the fourth drug murder victim in his many days then a city of Miami detective contacted Placencia and Alvarez with a surprising lead he said that Luis Rodriguez had also worked for him as a police informant he told us that Lois Rodriguez was giving him information about people who were dressed as um and police imposters and were ripping off drug dealers and committing murders in Dade County one of those guys the detective explained that he had met Luis Rodriguez through a Miami patrol officer named Marco Rivera I said you need your help now I need you to set up a meeting between the street cop and George and I and let's tell him that we're investigating Luis Rodriguez's murder that'll be the cover story the meeting was set for that night at the Miami Police Department officer Ribera worked the late shift in 60 sector police code for Little Havana he verified that he knew Luis Rodriguez and that Rodriguez had on occasion been his informant but then without prompting he brought up the Miami River drownings volunteered some information about it that these guys stole the drugs themselves and when the owner of the drugs found out about it had them murdered or they were thrown in the in the water and drowned themselves that there was no cops involved at all his denial that officers were involved which no one had mentioned seemed too forceful [Music] the sentac 26 detectives tested him we asked uh this patrolman to repeat a story at the conclusion of our meeting and we detected that the story didn't fit the the first story that he had told us there was something wrong there a claimed a street source told him about the raid so the detectives asked to speak directly with the source [Music] yeah I guess so you know just give me a call tomorrow okay I'll try to contact him and if I can't get a contact if any reason I'll let you guys for the Syntec investigators the case had taken a dramatic turn this officer sworn to uphold the law seem to be hiding something the following day officer Marco Rivera introduced the detectives to the source with allegedly had information about the Miami River Murders [Music] Rivera claimed his Source could verify that drug trafficking Colombians had carried out the raid not Miami cops but as the source spoke he had a hard time remembering details of his story the Rivera had to help him remember according to detective Alvarez the officer keeps having to correct them no no no it happened like this and tell him about this and he's filling in the blanks for this guy who's obviously been been coached and cued on what to say so we knew at that point obviously he was covering something up officer Rivera's cover-up meant the detectives were faced with an even more serious problem in case the deadly Raiders were actually Miami police officers they needed to be very careful the problem that we weren't really trained or focused in to investigate which is you know we're not internal affairs investigators we don't investigate cops that wasn't our role that wasn't our job but we were charged with the responsibilities of investigating these murders and if these murders were committed by cops they were fair play we realized that if we're going to start to investigate cops we'd have to do things very differently the syntac-26 detectives had to cover themselves [Music] they asked the police chief to hold their personnel files as a precaution against internal leaks we did a lot of things to protect our our identity and our family's identity we took every thing that we had in our names and took them out of our names so they couldn't Trace where we lived and who we were you know we're investigating they're going to find out who we are so right away we we built a wall between them and us once they felt safe centac detectives began investigating the officers working the night shift in 60 sector Little Havana officer Marco Rivera's beat with the chief's permission Miami PD's Internal Affairs gave sentac 26 the Personnel records for the officers in question well the city of Miami Internal Affairs unit was very concerned they were very Cooperative they you know the names that we provided to them they started looking into and giving us the backgrounds that they had on these individuals foreign the investigators focused on a close-knit group of eight officers all relatively recent hires who joined the force at a time when Miami was in a crisis in the spring of 1980 Cuban president Fidel Castro had announced he would allow thousands of political refugees to seek asylum in foreign countries the U.S agreed to accept 3 500. then unexpectedly Castro announced that for the first time in years he would also allow American boats to enter Marielle Harbor the result was what became known as the Marielle boat lift more than 120 000 Cuban refugees flooded into South Florida which overwhelmed Miami's ability to handle them most were hard-working immigrants looking for a chance at the American dream most but not all ten percent of them was estimated were criminals that were dumped out of the prison system of Fidel Castro so it was a spike in the crime wave in Miami-Dade County stem the rising crime rate the city had to hire over 400 new Cadets in three years instead of hiring the best candidate they hired marginally acceptable they just couldn't find enough quality candidates and they went for quantity as opposed to Quality [Music] centac 26 began surveillance watching as the officers in question hung out together after hours enjoying Lifestyles far beyond the means of honest police officers [Music] Marco Rivera was the suspected ringleader [Music] Armando Garcia had recently become part owner of a bodybuilding gym Osvaldo coeho had just retired from the force he was 30 years old driving a one hundred thousand dollar Lotus it was easy to track their lavish spending one officer bought a home and built this pool and he paid the uh the developer cash showed up with a bag full of cash and gave it to him here for the purchase of my home still the detectives had little solid evidence I don't see any Mark units over here or a boy is definitely over here having coffee with some friends side but I don't see any units they needed first-hand information and they needed it soon if these officers had already left at least three people dead the detectives feared there could easily be more four people have been murdered in Miami over a 27 million dollar drug deal gone bad with so much money involved the dividing line between the criminals and the cops blurred the FBI offered their assistance to local law enforcement special agent Robert Martin began investigation which became a joint investigation into whether there was some police corruption in the city of Miami [Music] drug task force detectives with centak26 had narrowed their investigation to a suspected group of corrupt Miami police officers but the detectives needed inside information if they had any chance of cracking the case [Music] they hoped they could get it from a reluctant police Informer named Armando um they had already interviewed oon about the murder of his friend and partner nightclub owner Luis Rodriguez he seemed wary perhaps afraid they too were dirty cops thank you Airmont I want you to look at these photographs see if you recognize anyone detective George Placencia tried to win his trust by showing photos of their surveillance of the suspect officers photos and he's paused he dropped the photographs and shook her hand and you guys are doing a good job let's sit down and talk unfortunately came down to centak 26 where he told detective Alex Alvarez he figured he had nothing to lose he was scared he thought well if I stick it out with the crooked cops they probably they were the ones that probably killed my partner and he said well if they killed him the next person to go is me in a marathon debriefing he explained the origins of the Rogue officers in their criminal Enterprise he said his friend an employer nightclub owner Luis Rodriguez had grown tired of the officers coming into his bar and shaking down his patrons for small amounts of drugs he wanted to make sure that his customers weren't bothered so he first started paying the cops off not to come on Sunni devised another plan that could make everyone some money according to un Luis Rodriguez said to the officers hey you know what instead of arresting these people are coming over here with the petty drugs water nice setup deals you know maybe multi-kilo deals more drugs involved and when these people come over I'll give you a description of their car where they're coming from you can stop them steal their cocaine bring it to me I'll sell it I'll give you a share [Music] the officers agreed what made this whole thing possible for these cops was they grew up and knew people who were in the drug trade and that was the one aspect of what they had going for him patrolman Marco Rivera ran the rip-offs the dealers would never incriminate themselves by reporting the thefts and Rodriguez would always come through with the cash Boone said the operation grew quickly with more and more cops becoming involved but they got greedy wanting to do more rip-offs and bigger ones began Rodriguez introduced them to a second bar owner who knew of larger shipments Luis Rodriguez brought in another bar owner he knew and he worked smuggling boatloads of drugs into the United States and Rodriguez says wait a minute why stop why stop at these one kilo two kilograms of cocaine drug bust why don't we go for the boatloads and get 300 400 500 kilograms of cocaine at one shot Boone didn't know about the raid where the three men drowned but he did describe an earlier one the second bar owner had set up a group of Miami officers had slipped aboard a boat in another Marina thinking the crew had left for the night [Music] [Music] they knew exactly where the drugs were hidden but during the unloading they noticed the air conditioning was on and suspected the crew was still on board hiding [Music] that's it [Music] [Applause] your damn wedding the crewman surrendered [Music] the Raiders wasted no time disposing of the crew as they had in the other rage [Music] this time no one drowned all the men swam safely to shore the cops finished up then drove off with about 200 kilos of cocaine [Music] valued at over 10 million dollars [Music] Armando un confirmed the names of the officers involved just the very one centac had been watching [Music] unfortunately the investigators knew his credibility would be attacked in court [Music] jury's not going to believe Armando un and it self-proclaimed admitted drug trafficker over you know half a dozen or a dozen respected police officers they're just not going to believe it so we need more evidence foreign what they needed was a confession on tape from the very cops they were investigating they brought in the local bar owner from the drug raids and explained the evidence they had implicating him in the rip-offs he reluctantly agreed to wear a wire and to meet with officer Marco rubera he said Ribera had been avoiding him for weeks no doubt because it was sentac 26 investigation [Music] they would have to trick him into the meeting investigators hope the results would be worth the risk detectives set up in a building across from a bar in the area Ribera patrolled and sent the informant inside when surveillance units confirmed Ribeiro was nearby detectives called 9-1-1 and reported a bar fight [Music] officer Rivera drove up just as they planned foreign looking for the alleged fight but everything was quiet [Music] the informant made his move he told the officer he had been subpoenaed by the U.S attorney's office and wanted to know what to say Rivera took the bait but he didn't want to talk in front of witnesses [Music] thank you the corrupt cop spoke freely about his involvement in the drug operation [Music] Rivera had no idea everything he said was being recorded in Miami investigators pursued a group of Rogue police officers suspected of ripping off drug dealers and killing at least three of them the detectives of syntact 26 finally managed to tape an incriminating conversation with the group's leader officer Rivera as he talked about the raids the drugs the dirty cops detective Alex Alvarez it was key it was key key evidence because it was the corrupt police officer's own words about what he did when he did it and who he did it with the U.S attorney's Office in Miami reviewed the tapes assistant U.S attorney Russell Killinger knew they would need as much evidence as possible to convince a jury that several Miami law enforcement officers were behind the murders and thefts the tapes provided a good start but Killinger needed more evidence to implicate the other officers perhaps Armando un could get it we wanted to get oon wearing a wire and talking to the other cops so we get those other cops to confirm their own participation out of their own mouths wearing a wire Boone met with Miami officers Marco rubera and Armando Garcia [Music] he told them that investigators were asking him questions about the boat raids he warned him not to cooperate he assured him centak had nothing on any of them [Music] but then they became suspicious asking him if he was wired [Music] that defectively halted all plans to record any more of the officers [Music] but investigators were undaunted decided to more take more of a overt approach in the investigation and and go to the next level which was basically um uh subpoenaing witnesses to the grand juries issuing Bank subpoenas uh for bank records and financial records investigators began cataloging the assets of the suspects including Marco Rivera's safety deposit box at a Miami Bank the Box contained over two hundred sixty thousand dollars in cash nearly 10 times his annual salary like Ribera the other suspect officers left incriminating money trails and the money was burning holes in their pockets and they were violence spending money left and right they buy 20 30 40 50 000 cars cash they bought homes valued in excess of two hundred thousand dollars cash they bought expensive furniture they put down cash now this is an officer who's making thirty thousand dollars we had an enormous amount of evidence [Music] the financial records together with the taped conversations were enough evidence for arrest warrants to be issued two days after Christmas 1985 centac 26 Miami PD and the FBI began the arrests taking down six Miami cops including the ringleader officer Marco rubera officer Armando Garcia was also arrested without incident Osvaldo cuello and Emilio Ray surrendered in the following days the trial began on September 29 1986. Federal prosecutors thought they had a strong case we felt pretty good about the case we've gotten pretty much all the evidence in that that we had hoped to get in then on January 21st 1987 the jury came back with their verdicts I remember the judge just kept looking looking at the at the at the verdict forms and he would look at one and put it down and look at another and put it down and pick up the other one looking at it again and this went on for it seemed like an eternity and then he started shaking his head the jury was deadlocked causing the judge to declare a mistrial one juror had refused to deliberate investigators were stunned as all suspects were released that was really a low point in the investigation we found out later because the jurors that the 11 jurors that voted for um for conviction or so convinced that these officers because of all the evidence were guilty they started coming forward and saying you know um we started being contacted by we started getting contacted by friends and family members of these cops offering us jobs and offering US money and we knew that that was an attempt to try to to get us to sway our votes the mistrial was an enormous setback detectives knew if they could not put these corrupt cops away the people of Miami may never trust law enforcement again move of Miami officers were arrested and prosecuted for corruption but chaos in the Jury Room resulted in a mistrial all suspects were released they were thrilled that they weren't convicted what they didn't realize it was probably a blessing in disguise for us because all that did is give us more time and we were more determined to find out more evidence against them and that's exactly what happened the prosecutor and detectives were unwilling to give up with so much at stake investigators needed a break they finally got one we found out that these officers had hired a Hitman to kill Armando that Hitman was Killer Joe Martinez he confessed to being hired hoping he'd get leniency for another crime he had committed [Music] brought him in he testified against the the river cops we were able to add more charges against them and by that time you know the case was just becoming stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and they had nowhere to go and then they started to fold and they started to cooperate [Music] the case finally broke wide open when one of the defendants patrolman Emilio Ray decided to confess through his lawyer he had learned of the additional evidence against him he hoped for sentencing leniency in exchange for his testimony he described to us some some fairly bone-chilling conspiracies that that had gone on and that were going on in an effort to uh to try to to kill the government Witnesses all of the government's Witnesses especially Armando un were in danger investigators knew they had to use patrolman Rey's confession to put more pressure on the other River cops [Music] facing the beefed up federal case ringleader Marco Ribera confessed he had implicated uh some 60 other city-minded police officers and various uh criminal activities unfortunately Osvaldo coyo and Armando Garcia fled the Miami area five months later an FBI informant said coyo was hiding in the Bahamas FBI has no formal jurisdiction outside the United States so it maintains legal attache offices called leagueats in many foreign countries they work as Liaisons with each country's National Police the FBI liaison asked the Bahamian police for their assistance agreed to help get coleo was wanted for taking part in massive and deadly cocaine rip-offs in Miami investigators knew he had a broad network of friends he could ask for help [Music] kawaiyo called one of them several times to arrange for assistance yeah I can help you what do you need okay good see you then what kawaiyo didn't know was that the FBI had already approached a friend and he was working as an informant [Music] the Bahamian police arrested Osvaldo coyo without incident was extradited back to Miami to face charges of drug trafficking conspiracy and racketeering Armando Garcia was the last of the Rogue Miami cops still at Large on January 8 1989 the FBI added Garcia to their 10 most wanted fugitives list FBI special agent Robert Martin we don't pick our top 10 fugitives lightly they had to be people that we consider to be a serious danger not only to society but to the very nature and fabric of what makes our country what it is and one of those things is is uh honest honest law enforcement services our Garcia was added to the list for that reason the FBI had evidence that Garcia may have fled to South America but had few leaves [Music] special agent Robert Martin ran the public corruption Squad that kept searching for The elusive Fugitive Armando Garcia was was uniquely qualified to to understand what it was going to take to survive out of the country here was a police officer who knew every technique that we might use to to find him or capture him a guy that knew the difficulties moving in and out of foreign countries and doing investigations in those foreign countries on top of that she had a guy that had a lot of money yeah Garcia could be anywhere for four years agents looked into hundreds of leads with negative results then in late 1993 the FBI got a tip a friend was planning to visit the Garcia family in Colombia [Music] agents worked with the Colombian police who followed the friend to an apartment in Cali agents believe that fugitive Armando Garcia was living there the Columbia national police set up a surveillance with a number of units it was going to be a 24-hour surveillance and waited to see if they could identify anybody who would come out or travel around with her [Music] three days later they spotted Armando Garcia The Fugitive was caught off guard unarmed [Music] Garcia told them said I have four thousand dollars with me I have you see the jewelry I have you see my automobile I have goods and belongings in my apartment you can have all of that if you just let me go and quote the Columbia national police official who came to Miami to to describe events they then told Armando Garcia we're not the dirty cops you are the last of the main suspects Armando Garcia pleaded guilty to drug trafficking racketeering and tax evasion and was sentenced to 25 years when it was all over 17 Miami officers were convicted for their involvement in the drug rip offering it was the largest police corruption case in Florida history in response to the Scandal the city of Miami Police Department formed its own internal investigations unit that targeted over 100 additional officers they obviously were suffering from all the media exposure and then the embarrassment of having numerous officers arrested but I think it made a stronger department when you weed out the bad officers you know and just make the makes the good officers shine even brighter [Music]

Channel: The FBI Files

Views: 2,257,809

Keywords: FBI agents investigations, FBI cases, FBI crime lab analysis, FBI stories, The FBI Files, crime analysis, crime laboratory, crime scene evidence, crime scene experts, crime scene procedures, crime-solving procedures, criminal TV shows, criminal justice TV shows, criminal justice procedures, criminal justice system, criminal psychology, forensic analysis, forensic documentaries, forensic science, murder mysteries, true crime documentaries

Id: yo6Ds80LMhM

Length: 148min 23sec (8903 seconds)

Published: Sat May 27 2023