Synopsis
In this riveting and relentless nonfiction thriller, award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel tells the harrowing story of former Cali cartel insider Jorge Salcedo, an ordinary man facing an extraordinary dilemma—a man forced to risk everything to escape the powerful and treacherous Cali crime syndicate.
Colombia in the 1990s is a country in chaos, as a weak government battles guerrilla movements and narco-traffickers, including the notorious Pablo Escobar and his rivals in the Cali cartel. Enter Jorge Salcedo, a part-time soldier, a gifted engineer, a respected businessman and family man—and a man who despises Pablo Escobar for patriotic and deeply personal reasons. He is introduced to the godfathers of the Cali cartel, who are at war with Escobar and desperately want their foe dead. With mixed feelings, Jorge agrees to help them.
Once inside, Jorge rises to become head of security for Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, principal godfather of the $7-billion-a-year Cali drug cartel. Jorge tries to turn a blind eye to the violence, corruption, and brutality that surround him, and he struggles privately to preserve his integrity even as he is drawn deeper into the web of cartel operations. Then comes an order from the godfathers that he can’t obey—but can’t refuse. Jorge realizes that his only way out is to bring down the biggest, richest crime syndicate of all time.
Thus begins a heart-pumping roller-coaster ride of intensifying peril. Secretly aided by a pair of young American DEA agents, Jorge races time and cartel assassins to extract damaging evidence, help capture the fugitive godfather, and save the life of a witness targeted for murder. Through it all, death lurks a single misstep away.
William C. Rempel is the only reporter with access to this story and to Jorge, who remains in hiding somewhere in the United States—even the author doesn’t know where—but has revealed his experience in gripping detail. Salcedo’s is the story of one extraordinary ordinary man forced to risk everything to end a nightmare of his own making.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
William Rempel spent 36 years as an investigative reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times. While at the paper, he produced ground-breaking reports on subjects ranging from oil tanker safety to the al Qaeda threat prior to September 11, 2001. His investigative work on the corrupt regime of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos led him to disclosure of the Marcos diaries and resulted in Delusions of a Dictator. His international stories include exclusive reports detailing secret US arms deals with Iran, tracking tons of explosives smuggled to terrorist camps in Libya, tracing embargoed nuclear technology shipped out of South Africa, and documenting the use of Ukrainian cargo planes by Colombian drug lords. His domestic stories have inspired consumer protection legislation, exposed dishonest public officials, and disclosed controversial government actions from city halls to the White House. Rempel has been recognized with numerous journalism honors, including an Overseas Press Club award, the Loeb Award, and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
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