Narcos

[first lines]

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Nowadays, the US government can listen to anything you say. They know where you are, they know who you're talking to, and trust me, they know who you're f***ing. You turn on a cell phone or a computer, and you're doomed. But in Colombia in 1989, it wasn't that easy. First off, there was no Internet. No cells. The best they had were satellite phones, and in order to capture a satellite phone, you had to fly directly over it. On top of that, the only people who had sat phones were filthy rich... the landowners, the politicians... And lucky for us, the narcos were richer than them all.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Take Richard Nixon, for instance. People forget, but 47 million Americans voted for Nixon. We thought he was one of the good guys. And Nixon thought Chilean General Pinochet was a good guy because he hated the commies. So we helped Pinochet seize power. The Pinochet turned around and killed thousands of people. Maybe not such a good guy after all.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Back then, we were just finding out about the effects of cocaine on the human brain. We didn't know much, but we knew it was some pretty powerful sh*t. Cocaine hijacks the pleasure centers in the brain. A rat will choose cocaine over food and water. It would choose cocaine over sleep, over sex... over life itself. The human brain isn't quite the same as a rodent's... unless we're talking about cocaine.

Steve Murphy:
If you make it to the top... it means you've killed your enemies. And sometimes, your partners.

La Cucaracha:
[to Escobar, while explaining the making of cocaine] It's like the kitchen in your house. Like baking a cake. Only a much better cake than you've ever had.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] When I started, a one-kilo grass bust was cause for celebration. And before long, we were seizing 60 kilos of coke a day. We thought we were making a huge difference. Truth is, we weren't even making a dent. They let us have 60 so they could bring in 600.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] And with the money... came the violence. The hippies had been replaced by Colombians, and these guys didn't wear flip-flops.

Pablo Escobar:
I'll give you one million dollars. Under one condition.

Herrera DAS Agent:
What is it?

Pablo Escobar:
Someone in my organization gave you the street value of my cocaine. Otherwise, how would you know? [pauses] Give me a name. And you won't have to split the cash with him.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] From '79 to '84, there were 3,245 murders in Miami. And outside the Tourist Bureau and the cops, no one much cared about that. What got the US Government to take notice was the money. Billions of dollars a year all flowing from the US to Colombia. And that... America couldn't take. A group of powerful businessmen went and met with President Reagan. They were terrified the narco economy would sink the real economy of Miami. Or... maybe they were pissed off that they weren't getting a cut.

Pablo Escobar:
You decide... silver or lead?

Pablo Escobar:
I am Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria.

Pablo Escobar:
[about Sandoval] I turned myself in to that punk... the vice minister of justice. But since there is no justice in this country, he is the vice minister of nothing.

Eduardo Sandoval:
How long will I be here as a hostage?

Pablo Escobar:
You are not my hostage. You are my guest.

Connie Murphy:
Steve... I just wanna go home.

Steve Murphy:
This is home.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] At the time, the only thing more dangerous than being a Colombian cop was being a Colombian presidential candidate.

Jos? Rodr?guez Gacha:
Everyone in the world has a price.

Javier Pe?a:
He's out of bullets. We can take him alive.

Horatio Carrillo:
It's your call.

Javier Pe?a:
[to shooter] Give him lead.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Escobar hadn't built himself a prison at all. He'd built himself a fortress. But no matter how you decorate it... a cage is still a cage.

Pablo Escobar:
The purpose of war... is peace.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator, about Presidente Gaviria] Bowing to Pablo's demands was political suicide. So, he did what politicians do best: he stalled. He kept our planes in the air and prayed to God we got a hit.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Who would have thought a failed raid would result in Escobar's biggest victory? Pablo didn't even have to pull the trigger. We did it for him.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] As soon as he walked inside, Pablo would be safe. And everyone on the outside wouldn't.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] In this war, the innocent always seemed to be the ones who got hurt.

Horatio Carrillo:
[to Gustavo] If you support evil, you are evil.

Pablo Escobar:
Lies are necessary... when the truth is too difficult to believe.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] There's one thing I've learned down here in Colombia, good and bad are relative concepts.

C?sar Gaviria:
This is a deal with the devil.

Julio Turbay:
You are the president of a country that became a living hell some time ago. With whom else did you expect to be making a deal?

Pablo Escobar:
I don't want to be good. I am going to be great.

Pablo Escobar:
I am not a rich person. I am poor person with money.

Javier Pe?a:
With enough money you can get anything done.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator, about Escobar running for Congress] And just like any politician, he made plenty of promises. Only difference was Pablo had the men and the money to back them up.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator, about Escobar] Imagine you were born in a poor family, in a poor city, in a poor country, and by the time you were 28 years old, you have so much money you can't even count it. What do you do? You make your dreams come true.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] It's true, the hundred grand wasn't that much. But delivered into the right hands, it could make a difference.

Elisa:
Are you another... janitor at the embassy, like Steve?

Javier Pe?a:
No, actually, I'm CIA. But that's classified so don't tell anybody. I'm here to hunt communists and prevent a Marxist invasion from Cuba. The janitor thing, what, that was you?

Steve Murphy:
Mm.

Javier Pe?a:
No, it's just a cover.

Elisa:
Thank you for being so honest.

Javier Pe?a:
Mm-hm.

Elisa:
Just so you know, I'm a communist guerrillera.

Javier Pe?a:
[all laughing] Perfect.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator, about Escobar] And at the time, he owned over 800 homes and fincas, surrounded by dozens of sicarios willing to die for him. And cops... he owned a lot of them, too. [raises his voice] But not all of them.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator, about Escobar] You may have 800 houses, my friend, but none of them is home. We will keep you on the run for the rest of your life, or until we catch you... or kill you. From now on, nowhere is safe.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] There's an old saying in law enforcement: "The bad guys need to get lucky every time. The good guys just need to get lucky once."

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Blackbeard. Pablo's number one accountant and keeper of all secrets. In custody, he would describe a cocaine empire that was bringing in $60 million a day. Pablo was bigger than General Motors.

Javier Pe?a:
Sometimes you gotta do bad things to catch bad people.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] And sometimes, bad people... help you do good things.

Pablo Escobar:
Well... in my opinion, a jail in the United States is worse than death.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Financed by Escobar, the M-19 guerrillas stormed the Palace of Justice and occupied the supreme court. They took over 100 hostages and made a bunch of demands about the redistribution of wealth and an end to injustice and tyranny... but it was all bullshit. The military attacked. Dozens of lives were lost in the carnage, including half of Colombia's supreme court justices. Most of the M-19 were killed. Some escaped... but not before accomplishing their true goal: setting fire to the room that contained 600,000 pages of evidence against Escobar. The entire case against him turned to ash. In the United States, the Mafia makes witnesses disappear so they can't testify in court. In Columbia, Pablo Escobar made the whole court disappear.

Steve Murphy:
Berry Seal, a good ol' southern boy who loved college football, mind-altering chemicals and p*ssy - which made him perfect CIA material.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Pablo's cousin Gustavo flew chemists in from Germany to liquefy the cocaine. They added it to liquor, to coffee, and just to be funny... they put it back in Coca-Cola.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] From 10,000 feet, Colombia was a paradise of untouched rainforest. But things were different on the ground. Pablo and his partners built superlabs the size of small cities. From leaf to paste to powder, they produced 10,000 kilos a week. At 50 grand a kilo, that's five billion dollars a year.

Pablo Escobar:
[looking at piles of cash] This is the problem?

Gustavo Gaviria:
People are watching us, Pablo. They're asking themselves how two small businessmen suddenly came up with so much cash.

Pablo Escobar:
Gustavo, brother... just launder the money. Make it look legitimate, that's all. Isn't that what Al Capone did?

Gustavo Gaviria:
Al Capone?

Pablo Escobar:
Al Capone.

Gustavo Gaviria:
You're a dumbass, Pablo. Al Capone is a terrible example.

Pablo Escobar:
Why?

Gustavo Gaviria:
Because Al Capone never had this much cash.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator, about Pablo Escobar] When you've run out of ways to hide your money, that's when you give it to the poor.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] Sending the photos of the hanging M-19 to the newspapers gave Pablo an image of invincibility. If he could do this to the feared communists, he could do it to anyone.

Pablo Escobar:
[looking at the sword of Sim?n Bolivar] I want you to run my day-to-day operations.

Gustavo Gaviria:
And you'll do what?

Pablo Escobar:
Liberate Columbia.

Pablo Escobar:
We can go someplace else. I hear Switzerland is very beautiful.

Tata Escobar:
In Switzerland, we are nobody, Pablo. What good is having all the money in the world if you can't go home?

Steve Murphy:
Are you f***ing her?

Javier Pe?a:
Sleep with a communist? That would be downright un-American.

Pablo Escobar:
[to his son] Your dad did nothing wrong.

Presidente Cesar Gaviria:
Well... your government's research says... 660 tons of cocaine were consumed in the United States last year. Perhaps if your resources were focused at home, we'd all be better off.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] The thing about war is... it's just bad for business.

Steve Murphy:
[as narrator] When you kill someone, you lose all your leverage the moment they're dead. Now, you take someone's children away from them, you'd be amazed what they'd do to get them back.

Pablo Escobar:
I know every centimeter of these mountains. From here, we can see anything coming. And we have enough space to build whatever we want. We're going to design it... we're going to build it... and we will be protected from all our enemies.

Gustavo Gaviria:
You want to build a jail?

Pablo Escobar:
Not a jail, cousin. A castle.