Colombia, during the period in which the Medellin Cartel was at the height of its power, was the sole supplier of cocaine to my clients.  Three of their groups had met with cartel members in Colombia, and cemented a working relationship. Once, George the Parisian had returned from a meeting in "neutral" Panama, with passport photographs of individuals who wished to obtain economic citizenships in the Caribbean tax haven of St. Christopher, more commonly as St. Kitts.

An economic passport, or citizenship, could be obtained in certain tax havens like St. Kitts, by purchasing a residence and also paying fees to the local government. Such passports, to a Commonwealth country, could be very valuable, as there are no visa requirements between Commonwealth of Nations states. A  smart narcotrafficker wanted in the US could fly to Canada, where he easily gained entry, and quietly cross the border if he needed to transact business, only to reverse the process. Some criminals even obtained economic passports under aliases, allowing them to freely travel abroad. The practise continues today.

If you are wondering whether Russian organised crime operatives possess economic passports, you are correct. Some even live in high-security gated communities in the Caribbean, transact all their financial business through private banking, and effectively fly below the radar, making their identification by law enforcement difficult or impossible.

Anyway, when I looked at the photos George had handed to me for passports, I immediately noticed that amongst the pictures was a member of the Ochoa family, and a highly-placed leftenant in their organisation. I deposited the necessary fees in trust in the tax havens for this purpose, but before I could finish processing the citizenship requests, George was indicted, and the operation ground to a halt. In retrospect, it was a blessing, as I really didn't need to be identified with one of the Medellin Cartel's major families.

When I traveled in the Caribbean on illicit business, I used a birth certificate for proof of nationality, as I could risk having literally hundred of entry & exit stamps on my passport. I did carry the passport for emergencies, but didn't present it at Western Hemisphere immigration venues. Once, returning from France, US Customs photocopied every page of my entire passport. Do you think perhaps law enforcement was interested in my international movements ?

Compliance please note; Come January 23,2007, passports will be required for all US citizens returning by air from any Western Hemisphere destination, and a year later, via land or sea. Will compliance officers then decide to follow suit, and upgrade  their identity requirements from asking only for easily-counterfeited driver licenses to demanding passports ? We hope so. Most cities have thriving underground driving license counterfeiting industries, some even engaging governmental employees to assist them.

On to diversions; each year, members of one criminal organisation, together with their friends and close associates, would travel to Cartagena, the third oldest city in the Western Hemisphere,(after Havana & Santo Domingo), for the annual Caribbean music festival. The city is officially called "Cartagena de las Indias", or Cartagena of the Indies, to distinguish it from Carthage.  The programmes, involving native South American musicians, Jamaican reggae performers, and sundry other regional dancers and singers, took place at both the old and new plazas de toros, or bullfighting arenas.

One year, as I was at that time living in the upscale Miami suburb of Coral Gables, which was Cartagena's sister city in the US, I succeeded in convincing city staff to let us go as the official representatives, complete with proclamation, city flag, and the blessings of my hometown. Whilst in Cartagena, we presented our credentials to their mayor, in our capacity as goodwill ambassadors; Drug traffickers masquerading as diplomats.

When we were at the airport in Colombia, I passed to one of the group a couple of bottles of Tres Esquinas, an interesting liquor that was not exported to the US, and which I was bringing home in quantity. It came in an unusual triangular bottle, hence its name, " three corners" in Spanish.

My friend forgot all about the alcohol inside, and checked the bag. When we arrived at Miami, and Customs opened it up, the aroma was quite strong. The officer asked, " what was the purpose of your trip to Colombia, sir?" He had been up all night partying, and replied, " fun and sun. "

Twelve hours later, he made it home. It seems that the good people at US Customs had elected to detain him for questioning, and to let him sober up. He'd been in worse places before; a tour in Vietnam with the US Marines, seconded to the CIA, commanding a group of indigenous mercenaries, operating in northern South Vietnam. He almost missed our port-trip party that night. Why was this important ?

Every time that there was a Friday the thirteenth, we threw a massive outdoor party, buying large quantities of beer from all over the world, and filling up childrens' swimming pools with ice and suds. We had, of course, copious amounts of food as well as cocaine, so a good time was usually had by all, though the hangovers were pretty bad. One year, Friday the 13th occurred four times. It was a good year for entertaining, as you can imagine.

NEXT WEEK: More fun, travel and adventure.