"ColombiaisaCatholiccountry, so Christmas is a big deal." "But the people of Medellín always take it to the next level." "And despite the manhunt for Pablo going on around them, this year was no different." "Call it faith, optimism, or stubbornness, the people of Medellín thought they'd seen it all, but they hadn't." "In fact, they hadn't seen anything yet." "PABLO MERRY CHRISTMAS LOS PEPES" "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" "Medellín was about to get a show they would never forget." "So Los Pepes is an interesting new wrinkle." "Well, are you surprised?" "Escobar's got a lot of enemies." "I heard from Messina this morning." "There's a lot of eyes on them and us, so she wants us to steer clear." " Are you working for Los Pepes, Murphy?" " No, I'm not." "Then I guess we're good." "For Los Pepes, it was easy." "They had all the man-on-the-street intelligence they needed." "If they'd heard a guy, take Jairo for example, was in a certain vicinity, they just asked around and they'd find him." "But for us, well, we had to go door-to-door, asking for help from people who don't tell cops shit." "LosPepes,on theotherhand , had no problems." "They were quite persuasive." "Sure, once in a while, we got lucky and picked somebody up." "But it was rarely the guy we were looking for." "It was slow-going." "We're too late." "Says they already got him." "We finally get corroboration on Jairo, Martinez orders the raid..." "So?" "Well, so, how does Los Pepes get here first?" "Maybe he got followed." "Or the dumb fuck shot his mouth off and somebody else got lucky." "Mmm." "That's it?" "That's all you got to say on that?" "Yeah." "If it worries you, look into it." ""Look into it"?" "Right." "Nobody was looking into it." "Why would they?" "Pablo's crew was turning up dead all over Medellín, and Jairo became the latest victim." "The terror that Pablo had spread across the country was finally back on him tenfold." "Los Pepes' method was working." "And you better believe it was getting to Escobar." "IN DEFENSE OF THE COLOMBIAN PEOPLE" "Pablo." " Thank you." " Oh!" "As gratifying as these displays may feel," "Centra Spike give us anything good for Christmas?" "Well, Blackie's been getting calls from Envigado." "The son of a bitch has got a girlfriend." "Here, I'll give that to Martinez." "I'm sure it's gotta get vetted." "Yeah, sure." "Whatever." "Ididn'tknowhow Los Pepes was beating us to the punch." "Not yet anyway." "What I did know was that if Search Bloc was gonna have any kind of impact on the hunt for Pablo, we'd have to play the game better and faster." "All right, Blackie's had a girlfriend in Envigado for a while." "According to Centra Spike, the last known intercept places her somewhere in this vicinity." "Yeah." "And how's that relevant?" "Intel says she's pregnant." "I know protocol is to vet intel, wait for corroboration, but I feel this one in my gut, sir." "Blackie's gonna show." "Los Pepes keeps getting the jump on us, sicarios are gonna keep winding up dead." "This way, we get to Blackie first, bring that son of a bitch in and get something out of him." "Well, we could set up a perimeter." "No one walks in or out." "Collapse that perimeter house by house." " Yeah." " Sounds good to me." " Hey!" " Hey." "What's going on?" "Martinez gave the green light to go after Blackie." " It's a good thing, right?" " Yeah." "Right." "Goddamn Christmas miracle." "We're moving in." "Let's go." " What's going on?" " Some shit's going down at checkpoint." "What the fuck is this?" "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" " Put the fucking gun down!" " Easy!" "Easy!" " Let them pass." " Okay." "Well then, thank you." "Trying to avoid a bloodbath, brother." "When were you gonna tell me about your new friend Carlos Castaño?" "He's not a friend, he's a... he's a man with a shared interest." "Jesus Christ." "I hope you know what you're doing." "Don't worry." "It's not gonna blow back on you." " No, it's not me I'm worried about." " I can handle it." "These aren't the guys you wanna be messing with." "They're gonna do what they're gonna do with or without me, right?" "At least this way..." "I'm on the inside and I can control it." " Make sure it doesn't go too far." " So that doesn't go too far?" "The good guys, they got guns pointing at their fucking head" " and the bad guys get away with it?" " Who are the good guys, Steve?" "That's us?" "LosPepesmayhave seemed to be running the board, but Escobar still had a trick or two up his sleeve." "Remember I told you Ricardo Prisco was a licensed doctor?" "Well, he was." "And as such, he had privileges at just about every hospital in Medellín." "Including the one where the Los Pepes gunman he shot was recovering." "Unfortunately for that guy, Dr. Prisco paid him a visit." "Cheers!" "Right?" "Did you see this?" "Reports of a massive bombing in Cali last night." "Gilberto Rodríguez's daughter's wedding?" "I know of only one person in Colombia with the balls big enough to go after that guy." "Yeah, Pablo Escobar." "He had to have had a damn good reason." "I'd like to shift some of our resources from Medellín to Cali." "Now's a bad time to deviate from Medellín." "Cali is trafficking in the billions right now." " If they get a free head start..." " You're not wrong." "But you're thinking about this too logically." "The best thing for you right now is to keep your head in the game." "Because right now, the game is Pablo Escobar." "Right." "Escobar." "I'll see you at the party tonight." "We could all use a few hours' break from this shit." "I'll see you there." "Manuel." "Welcome, Mr. President." "Welcome, Ma'am." "Yeah, Bogotá is beautiful." "It's a lot more like an American city than I thought." "I didn't know it'd be so cold." " Good to see you." " Thank you." "MERRY CHRISTMAS" "Mr. President." "Lovely party, Ambassador." "It's nice we can pretend we're all friends." "Believe it or not, the State Department does the guest list, not me." "I can't wait to tell them that he wants us to legalize drugs." "He thinks I should publicly condemn Los Pepes." "They're criminals." "Their activities cannot be condoned." "Even if one does approve of the results." "Mr. President, I'm no one to bullshit." "Maybe that's hurt me in my career." "Yes, Los Pepes are an ugly business." "They're getting to Escobar." "That's all that matters at the present." "If I condemn them," "I have to police them." "With politics and war... the trick is in the timing." "Watch how they evolve, how their actions are received." "And, uh, up till then, pretend they don't exist." "Well, we can if you can." "What are you up to in here?" "Have a drink." "Thanks." "Saved me a trip to the bar." "Call it inter-agency cooperation." "Hmm." "That's a joke." "And it's funny." "Cheers." "So where are you from, Bill?" "Originally, Oregon." "You were in Afghanistan, right?" "Well, I could tell you that but then I'd have to..." "Funny." "I know Bill Haler." "He was our guy in Afghanistan." "Oh, yeah." "DEA Bill, we used to call him." "I liked him." "Stayed in his lane." "So, as I'm sure you know," "I recently asked for a resource redirect into some emerging players in the trafficking world." "A group based in Cali." "Ring a bell?" "We're not gonna talk about work, are we?" "My request was denied, Bill." " We were just getting to know each other." " So I spoke to DEA Bill." " He's in Washington now." " You don't say." "And he told me the roadblock was caused by the agency." "Something about an ongoing operation." "He actually said, "That sounds like CIA Bill."" "Look, I don't care what you do with the commies and the paramilitaries." "But as soon as your ongoing operations involve narcos... you're in my backyard." "Quickly!" "Carlos!" " Pablo!" " Carlos!" "No!" "Carlos!" "No!"