Cruel Revenge | The FBI Files S5 EP 8 | Real Crime

hi everyone my name is joshua miles and i'm guessing if you're watching this then you are a massive true crime enthusiast just like me for those of you who are in the us who are avid true crime fans you'll probably have heard about crime khan now crime con is the world's number one true crime event and i am delighted to let you know that crime con has made the jump across the pond and has arrived in the uk and i do hope that i will get to see all of your lovely faces there in miami a young man is abducted at gunpoint the kidnappers demand a fortune and threaten to kill the police and fbi uncover disturbing leads and look for answers in the smallest clues in a desperate race to find the victim and bring him home to his family [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 former head of the fbi's new york office the kidnapper's motivation seemed 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 at six o'clock the sales office of real estate developer jesus portela was closing mr portela had emigrated from cuba 22 years earlier building a successful business in miami his 22 year old son mario was recently married and worked as a salesman for his father as did mario's uncle a little after six a couple approached the office [Music] mario and his uncle went out to talk with him [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] the 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 soon he spotted a car matching the description of the kidnapper's vehicle for years he had carried a licensed gun for protection now he was 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 date 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 one kidnapping 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 questioning mr portela and recognizing the fact that he was a prominent businessman in the community led us to believe that it was not narcotics related and strictly a financial gain for for the people who connect his son it meant anybody who knew of mr portela'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 portela didn't recognize the voice 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 of the fbi and warned that the group was watching the portela house and gave the address the distraught 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 felt the kidnappers were very violent they took precautions as far as the phone calls that they were making and they were very serious in their threats they knew what they were doing and we 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 the 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 a federal crime and mr portela's business reached across state lines [Music] agents from the fbi's reactive squad installed recording equipment on mr portela'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 they asked jesus to meet him at an empty garage agents watched 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 gil to question mr portella fella yes my name is john gill i'm an introduction i have been assigned the administrator for this kidnapping the agent asked if mr portela 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 paris she recently purchased a condominium from him and said she discovered her neighbor's payments were lower than hers mr portela 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 financier 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 portela 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 an interest payment and she apologized and mr patella just assumed that this had all gone away agents later tracked down rose de paris 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 with each day that passes the chances of finding a kidnapping victim alive drastically diminish they hoped the kidnappers would call again if they did the reactive squad was prepared having wired jesus portella's home and office with telephone tap and trace equipment at his office right all right i'll be there special agent gil orontia 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 detect that i was coming in they needed mr portela'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 day detectives would take shifts staying with the portela 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 portela some of the things that he could ask the kidnappers which only mario portela 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 portela 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 portela to listen to a taped recording 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 agents reminded mr portela 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 the man agreed to call back with the answers [Music] mr portela had kept him on the line long enough for agents to trace the call to a miami pay phone the caller had gone before surveillance units arrived [Music] in the harrowing days after the kidnapping mr portella received several other calls [Music] speaking in spanish a different man talked vaguely and mysteriously of a business proposition apparently unrelated to the abduction the demeanor of mr patel 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 and trying to communicate his involvement and whatever mr patel's problem was caused us to be highly suspicious that 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 kidnappers 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 the clock was ticking they needed to find mario in miami the fbi and metro date police were trying to find mario portala 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 search but interview the people there that they were not related or associated with the kidnapping whatsoever [Music] interviewing the caller agents determined he knew nothing of the abduction and was merely trying to get work with mr portela's company [Music] investigators again were forced to wait for the kidnappers to make the next move 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 [Music] 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 portela negotiated agents traced the call to another miami pay phone units were on their way [Music] eventually the caller agreed to 1 million trying to stall longer mr portela 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 the hour mr portela met plainclothes 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 at the portella home agents hid 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 portela 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 pay phone 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 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] jesus portela 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 orontia 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 date 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 i'm waiting for a phone call to do 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 perfectly legitimate and doesn't draw the attention of law enforcement hanlon knew used car dealerships sometimes illegally rented cars that were for sale placing temporary tags on them he began phoning every dealership in the area the time-consuming work paid off when hanlon spoke to a clerk at one dealership in miami asked her you ran any old cars and she said sure you know and uh you know when he uh with paper tags and she said yeah and i said any old chevys she said yeah i said i asked her i said any blue and gray ones she said yeah i says where is it she says it's here and i said well when when when was it rented and she says 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 they impounded it to have it searched for evidence metro day 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 portela drove a volvo so we barreled back over there picked up the keys we showed them to the family members of course they identified them it 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 julia de paris immediately [Music] the clerk also identified the man who was with her it was his brother julio agents were familiar with the de paris name they remembered rose de paris was the woman who had had the dispute with mr portela the previous year julita was rosa'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 paris 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 hulita the couple seemed to be romantically involved it had been 10 days since the abduction agents hoped the suspects would lead them to mario portela 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 continued to watch them the fbi and metro date surveillance effort included air and ground units but the suspect seemed to be wary of a tail they were very erratic uh 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 the 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 davey 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 thirteen days after mario portello was kidnapped teenagers discovered a body in davey florida 25 miles north of miami davey 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 how old he was because his entire head had been taped his hands have been taped behind his back and his ankles have been taped together as well so at the same we really didn't have very much information as to the identity of the 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 remove 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 dr only could describe the victim as male between the ages of 20 and 40 5 foot 9 inches tall with brown eyes and brown hair the victim had been severely beaten the cause of death was asphyxiation [Music] he believed 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 the victim the tightly wrapped duct tape had distorted facial features and the summer heat caused significant decomposition we took fingerprints from the victim so we could 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 davey fbi special agent john gill noted the description loosely matched that of mario portela 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 davie florida i met with detective taylor and we both proceeded then to the broward county medical examiner's office dr angley 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 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 pares the man who had threatened jesus portela 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 portella 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 uh 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 the lady who was the apartment manager i showed her the photographs she recognized hector julita and julio de paris's new tenants but said they seem to be rarely at home so i left my card with her and asked her if she would call me and i called her 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 pets through 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 ass so we tackled him wrestled the gun from him took him into custody and then there was another person there the man with a gun was julia's boyfriend jesse ramirez was held on charges of assaulting a federal officer the other man in the room was hector de paris 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 julita and julio were still outstanding so when we left i had two agents remain at the apartment several hours later julia came back she was taken into custody and then she was brought down to 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 the 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 pares and they needed to know the details of mario portela's last days on september 24th 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 davie 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 the second day of interrogation he became cooperative to the point that he was right on the edge of defaulting and divulging his criminality as he became more trustful of mr taylor and i he advised us that yes he would cooperate and divulge details 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 paramore discovered that maintaining guard on a kidnap victim is a lot of trouble and 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 a venture 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 paris felt humiliated that he could not force mr portela 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 portela so on august 17th 1984 10 days after the kidnapping they decided to murder him jesse ramirez began wrapping mario portella's head with duct tape as he pleaded for his life and prayed as mario struggled to breathe jesse beat him with a metal bar after the murder julio de paris 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 about 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 arantia was there as we entered this apartment we saw a roll of duct tape on the side of a nightstand we 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 them 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 catalogued 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 if you have two 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 roll of tape from the apartment was a perfect fit with a piece of tape recovered from the victim's head he also compared the tears on a strip of medical tape found on suspect jesse ramirez shoes to those on the roll 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 julia 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 believed 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 paris in the fbi's wanted poster special agent orontia flew to costa rica the man did look like the photo but it was his voice the one from the ransom calls that tipped irantia 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 cinched it i knew it was him the federal trial of julio de parius began five years to the day after mario portela'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 to 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 patella family has persevered they will never forget mario and they have not given up their dream

Channel: Real Crime

Views: 258,045

Keywords: real crime, crime documentary, true crime, full documentary, full episode, fbi, fbi files, fbi documentary, documentary, crime, crime patrol, true crime daily, unsolved, crime stories, crime documentaries full episodes, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail, the fbi files full episode, Cruel Revenge, ransom, kidnapping

Id: 5fljcUfkqw4

Length: 49min 34sec (2974 seconds)

Published: Sat May 08 2021