DEA Agents Worked With Vigilante Death Squad Leader Who Became Major Drug Trafficker
"Don Berna protected us from and other would-be sicarios. It's not until after Escobar gets killed that we find out that Don Berna was the leader of Los Pepes and became one of Colombia's most major drug traffickers."
About this episode
In this episode, host Jack Carr interviews former DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Peña, the real-life manhunters who spent 18 months tracking Pablo Escobar in Colombia during the early 1990s. The conversation reveals explosive details about their operation that contradict official narratives and the Netflix series Narcos based on their story. Most significantly, Peña discloses that their Colombian National Police commander explicitly ordered them to kill Escobar rather than arrest him, and that the CIA station chief threatened Peña with treason charges for sharing intelligence with Colombian forces. Murphy states that U.S. special operations forces had precise locations on Escobar within weeks of his 1992 escape but were prevented from acting by Pentagon restrictions and a weak Colombian commander, meaning the manhunt could have ended in three weeks instead of 18 months. The agents describe Escobar's reign of terror, which his top assassin later claimed killed 50,000 people including women and children through car bombs at shopping malls, assassination of a presidential candidate, and systematic targeting of police officers with $100 bounties. They also reveal they were protected by Don Berna, who they later learned led Los Pepes vigilante death squad and became a major trafficker himself after Escobar's death. Throughout, Murphy and Peña emphasize the importance of boots-on-ground intelligence sharing, critique interagency turf wars that hampered operations, and draw parallels to today's fentanyl crisis where 70,000 Americans die annually. The conversation covers their recruitment into DEA, the chaos of 1980s Miami during the cocaine cowboy era, Escobar's negotiated surrender into his own luxury prison, his eventual escape, and the final rooftop shootout where Colombian forces killed him. Both agents express frustration that politicians and CIA wanted credit while special operators who could have ended it quickly were sidelined by bureaucracy.
Key takeaways
- Colombian police commander explicitly ordered Murphy and Peña to kill Pablo Escobar rather than arrest him during the 18-month manhunt.
- CIA station chief threatened Peña with treason charges for sharing an intercepted Escobar audio tape with Colombian forces, exemplifying turf wars.
- Delta Force and Navy SEALs had Escobar's location within three weeks but Pentagon restrictions prevented action, extending manhunt to 18 months.
- Escobar's assassin revealed the cartel killed approximately 50,000 people through terrorism including car bombs at malls targeting civilians.
- Murphy and Peña were protected by Don Berna, later revealed as Los Pepes death squad leader who became major trafficker after Escobar died.
- Escobar negotiated surrender into self-built luxury prison with no government oversight, Jacuzzi, and $3 million Salvador Dalí painting on wall.
- Agents draw parallels to fentanyl crisis today, stating 70,000 annual American deaths equals commercial airliner crashing every day for a year.