Has anyone seen "Narcos" on Netflix?
I was wondering about the accuracy portrayed in that show especially the relationship of the M-19 to Pablo Escobar. I'd think after all this time they'd have the facts, but who knows.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Netflix’s Narcos Tries to Be The Wire for Colombia’s Drug War
By Inkoo Kang
Thursday, August 27, 2015 | 20 days ago
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Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar in Narcos.
Daniel Daza/Netflix
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Narcos, Netflix’s new drug-war docudrama, is nearly as ambitious as its central character, Pablo Escobar. Over the course of 10 dense, sprawling episodes, the series tells the 20-year history of the narcotrafficker's rise and fall in relation to Colombia’s blood-soaked history and the U.S.’s escalating drug war, from Richard Nixon through George H.W. Bush. If that sounds a bit dry, that’s because Narcos can be too. But don’t forget, The Wire made a whole lot of us improbably care about the intricacies of Baltimore’s municipal jurisprudence by showing us the human cost of bad policy.
Unfortunately, humanity is what’s most lacking in this admirable but failed imitation of David Simon’s classic series. Creators Chris Brancato, Eric Newman, and Carlo Bernard gave themselves the task of adapting Escobar for faux-prestige TV. The gangster-turned-mass terrorist’s worst exploits, like the assassinations of over a thousand cops and the grotesque mutilations of his victims, are only mentioned or seen in passing, while Escobar’s penchant for 14-year-old girls and orders for the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of his enemies to be raped in public are elided completely — quite possibly because we spend half the show with Escobar, and he would be irredeemably, intolerably evil as a character if we were confronted with the whole truth about him.
Played by Brazilian superstar Wagner Moura (speaking Spanish), this Escobar is most compelling when he’s simply watching others, looking right through them while coldly deciding their fates. When he first appears on screen, he announces to a group of border patrolmen that he’s “Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria,” the future “president of the Republic of Colombia.” (He’ll say as many words as he damn pleases; it’s not like anyone would dare interrupt him.) To the half-dozen officers who’ve detained him, Escobar offers them an easy choice: plata o plomo, silver (in their hands) or lead (in their heads). With doughy menace, he informs the uniformed men that this deal involves not just themselves, but their wives and children too, all of whom Escobar knows by name, occupation, and route to work or school.
Reuniting with his Elite Squad director José Padilha, Moura, in certain scenes, is as difficult to look away from as a coiled snake. And yet the actor never finds the character’s core. Based on his introduction, Escobar seems to view himself as a businessman foremost, but that doesn’t explain his desire to be viewed as a Robin Hood to the miserable masses (an image the real-life Escobar hired PR professionals to create), nor his oft-noted bitterness toward the elegant, educated, and lighter-skinned oligarchy that the drug lord challenged, then terrorized via bombings, kidnappings, and, on one occasion, a plane explosion (with 110 passengers on board).
More:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/film/netflix-s-narcos-tries-to-be-the-wire-for-colombia-s-drug-war-7851220
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Variety:
TV Review: ‘Narcos’
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August 18, 2015 | 08:00AM PT Courtesy of Netflix
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Brian Lowry
TV Columnist
@blowryontv
Functioning as a history lesson as well as a compelling drama, “Narcos” has a “Goodfellas” vibe, inasmuch as it offers a heavily narrated, first-person account of the rise of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, and the DEA’s attempts to thwart him. Detailing cocaine’s rise as a Colombian cash crop and its rapid spread into the U.S. in the late 1980s, the sparely told project weaves together a taut, gripping narrative, in stark contrast with the flatness of its characters and color scheme. All told, this Gaumont production is the kind of binge-worthy TV addiction that Netflix was born to import.
Granted, the streaming service has certainly featured splashier series in terms of casting and subject matter, but the authenticity that “Narcos” brings to its fact-based story (there are, inevitably, some disclaimers regarding just how fact-based) trumps much of Netflix’s more celebrated fare. The filmmakers, moreover, have employed an intriguing device by incorporating actual footage of Escobar and the period, relying on the audience to separate fact from fiction (and not incidentally, probably saving a few bucks on recreating some of these scenes).
Reality TV, notably, already has gotten into this act, using elaborate re-enactments to augment its storytelling. But “Narcos” cleverly reverses that process, using news-type footage — including, inevitably, Nancy Reagan delivering her “Just Say No” to drugs admonition — to help advance its scripted agenda.
Ultimately, Escobar’s rise is a classic “Scarface”-esque rags-to-riches story, albeit one whose flourishes, such as the drug dealer flirting with politics, fall under the “You couldn’t make this stuff up” heading. Yet series creators Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro go well beyond Escobar’s narrow tale — using narration by DEA agent Steve Murphy, played by Boyd Holbrook — to chronicle the political history of Latin America and the climate that gave rise to the drug cartels. Into that world saunters Escobar (Wagner Moura), who quickly demonstrates his brand of quiet menace by dissuading the authorities from arresting him, as he talks in detail about their families, providing chilling evidence of his long reach.
More:
http://variety.com/2015/tv/reviews/narcos-review-pablo-escobar-drama-netflix-1201570440/
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Article on a truly dirty narcotrafficker in Miami, close to Jeb Bush:
Dirty Money
By Jefferson Morley
Wednesday, February 27, 1991 | 25 years ago
I want to be very wealthy, and I'll be glad to tell you when I've accomplished that goal
John Ellis Bush, son of the president
The photograph is unexceptional, according to those who have inspected it, similar to pictures seen in the homes and offices of self-important people everywhere. An ambitious businessman is shown grasping the hand of a prominent political figure. The businessman is Leonel Martinez, well-known Miami home builder, convicted drug trafficker, and murder suspect. He is shaking hands with George Herbert Walker Bush, at the time vice president of the United States.
The picture of the vice president and the cocaine kingpin was discovered in one of twelve filing cabinets seized from Martinez's construction business in June 1989, when Martinez was arrested on drug charges by Metro-Dade police and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration. Investigators also found other photographs of Martinez with notable local figures, including one of Martinez with Metro Mayor Steve Clark, and another with State Attorney Janet Reno.
This past March Martinez pleaded guilty to federal narcotics charges. In a statement submitted to the court, he acknowledged his role in drug trafficking, admitting he'd imported more than 5500 pounds of cocaine and hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana into the United States between 1977 and 1987. Now serving a 23-year prison sentence, Martinez is cooperating with federal authorities in an ongoing narcotics investigation.
More a cultural artifact than a legal document, the photograph of George Bush and Leonel Martinez is a snapshot of America in the Eighties. The nouveau riche lawbreaker with diamond-encrusted Rolex shakes hands with the paragon of establishment American politics, the very man once charged with leading the fight against drugs in South Florida. The key to understanding that picture lies not in the sweeping tides of national affairs but rather in the backwaters of local politics. For Miami Republicans in the 1980s, those waters were dominated by a tall, boyishly handsome young man named John Ellis Bush. Jeb, as he is commonly known, is the second-oldest son of George Bush and likely a future candidate for national political office. If it weren't for Jeb, it's unlikely that Leonel Martinez would ever have found himself shaking hands with the vice president of the United States.
There is no evidence that George Bush or his son Jeb knew Leonel Martinez dealt in illegal drugs, according to senior law enforcement officials familiar with the Martinez case, and the photographs of Martinez with various political figures are not part of any ongoing investigation. It is not known whether George, Jeb, and Leonel were anything more than passing acquaintances. It is certain, however, that at the time the picture was taken, probably between 1984 and 1987, Leonel Martinez was known to the Bushes' political fund-raising organizations as an important source of support.
Between 1984 and 1987, Martinez and his wife Margarita donated at least $14,200 to political organizations controlled by the Bush family. Martinez gave to other political causes, too, though not as generously as to the Bushes. In 1986, for example, his Miami construction companies contributed $6000 to the successful gubernatorial campaign of Bob Martinez. After losing the governorship to Lawton Chiles this past November, Bob Martinez was appointed to a new job. President Bush, after consulting with his son Jeb, tapped the ex-governor to lead the National Office of Drug Control Policy. Bob Martinez did not respond to inquiries about the donations from Leonel Martinez, but if approved by the Senate during confirmation hearings that begin this week, he will be the first drug czar known to have enjoyed the financial support of a major drug trafficker.
More:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/dirty-money-6365153
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Interesting article, also from the Miami New Times:
Miami: See It Like a Drug Dealer
By Francisco Alvarado
Thursday, October 13, 2005 | 10 years ago
1. Harold Ackerman Cali cartel's man in Miami. Busted in 1992 along with seven subordinates and 6000 keys of cocaine. Seized ledgers indicated Ackerman's outfit did $56 million in business in Miami in the ten months before his arrest. He kept a low profile at his North Miami Beach home.
2. Juan Acosta A Colombian hit squad in 1989 gunned down the attorney in his Miami office. He had just received a subpoena to testify before a grand jury about some of his clients, including Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta.
3. Brickell Avenue A banking bonanza accompanied Miami's cocaine boom, and it was concentrated along Brickell. In 1982 a reported 44 American banks were licensed to make international transactions and 36 foreign banks opened local branches.
4. Cigarette Racing Team In 1987 Don Aronow was murdered on NE 188th Street in North Miami Beach, near his Cigarette Racing Team manufacturing plant, which produced the famed Cigarette go-fast boats favored by drug runners everywhere.
5. Cocoplum This posh bayside Coral Gables neighborhood has been home to a number of high-profile traffickers (FBI agents called it Cocaineplum), including Colombian kingpin Hernan Arboleda, who in May 1996 fled his waterfront mansion at 286 Costa Nera Rd., leaving behind more than three million dollars in art, jewelry, and furnishings. His abrupt departure came just hours after federal drug agents searched his opulent home.
6. The Collection In 1993 federal agents seized Armando "Mandy" Fernandez's prized luxury-car dealerships in Coral Gables after they indicted the former speedboat champ on drug-trafficking charges. Fernandez was sentenced to eighteen years in prison after pleading guilty. Thanks to his ex-business partner, developer Ugo Colombo, The Collection lives on at 200 Bird Rd. in Coral Gables.
7. Rafael and Ray Corona Father and son were convicted in 1987 of racketeering. The feds busted them using a marijuana smuggler's money to buy Sunshine State Bank, based in South Miami. In a 1991 sworn affidavit, Ray Corona admitted to laundering tens of millions of dollars for Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta.
8. Sonny Crockett He drove a Ferrari, wore Versace suits, and lived on a sailboat with his pet alligator Elvis. During Miami Vice's run, Crockett's vessel was docked at the Miami Beach Marina (300 Alton Rd.) and the Bayside Marina (401 Biscayne Blvd.).
9. Dadeland Mall On July 11, 1979, two men emerged from a party supplies panel truck that was really an armored "war wagon" stuffed with weapons. They casually walked over to the Crown Liquors store, removed two submachine guns from a paper bag, and sprayed the place with bullets, killing a Colombian drug trafficker and his bodyguard. Two store employees were wounded. Thus was launched the era of the cocaine cowboys.
10. Dean Investments International FBI and DEA agents set up this fake corporation in a Miami Lakes shopping center as part of Operation Swordfish. Their dummy investment firm washed about $19 million for various drug dealers. The money-laundering probe led to the indictment of 61 people, of which only half were apprehended.
11. Drug Enforcement Administration Last year the DEA confiscated 14,329 kilos of cocaine in Florida (the agency will not release figures for Miami-Dade County alone). Local investigations are run out of the Miami field office (8400 NW 53rd St.), largest in the nation.
12. 843 Auto Sales This car dealership at 843 NW 27th Ave. provided Miami River Cops with vehicles.
13. Severo Escobar A local operative for Colombian trafficker José "Pepe" Cabrera Sarmiento, he was charged in 1992 with distributing some 15,000 pounds of cocaine. Feds grabbed his $200,000 Brickell condo, along with his condo in Key Biscayne, a home in Miami, and property in Hialeah.
14. Federal Bureau of Investigation The FBI's North Miami Beach office (16320 NW Second Ave.) employs more than 700 special agents and support personnel to combat federal violators from Vero Beach to Antarctica.
More:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-see-it-like-a-drug-dealer-6338889
Just wishing that "Narcos" would continue the series to Miami with all these great characters. Plus, it might be helpful if Jebbie runs. 
After seeing parts 4-6 last night I want to research the connections between Escobar, the M-19, Farc, and the ETA. I remember when the M-19 took over the Justice Department but don't remember anything about Escobar. Also wondering about the photo shown that purports to be a Sandinista leader helping Escobar load drugs into a plane in Nicaragua. Reagan used that to justify funds for the Contras. I don't remember anything about that photo or its veracity.
I hope you get a chance to see the show, I would be interested in your take on it.
