Max Mermelstein

Max Mermelstein (November 1, 1942 – September 12, 2008) was an American drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s and early 80s, who later became a key informant against the organization.

In the words of James P. Walsh, the U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles CA, Mermelstein "was probably the single most valuable government witness in drug matters that this country has ever known."

He became a "weapon for the government."

Reputed to have smuggled 56 tons of cocaine worth $12.5 billion into the United States, Mermelstein was described by his attorney Tom Johnston as "just a nice Jewish guy who got into the wrong industry."

Trained as a mechanical engineer at the New York Institute of Technology and married to a Puerto Rican, Mermelstein moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico with his wife, where he worked as chief engineer for the Sheraton Hotel.

Mermelstein and his wife separated soon after, as she returned to her ailing mother, but not before Mermelstein learned some "street Spanish."

While working for the Sheraton Mermelstein met a Colombian woman - Cristina Jaramillo -- and the two were soon married.

After accepting a job at the Princess Hotel in Freeport in the Bahamas, Mermelstein began his first limited criminal activity by creating an "underground pipeline" to help smuggle his wife's Colombian relatives and childhood friends into the United States.

One of those "friends" he helped to smuggle into the US was, -- a five-foot three sociopath -- who had a taste for basuco cigarettes which is an amalgamation of tobacco and cocaine byproducts stuffed back into cigarette shells.

In the late 1970s, the Colombian drug trade was still in its infancy but within a just few flights, Mermelstein was a multi-millionaire.

Within six years, he turned a multimillion-dollar-a-year mom-and-pop cocaine industry into a multibillion-dollar-a-year trade.

Because of his unparalleled success, Mermelstein was present at high-council Medellín Cartel meetings and was the only American ever allowed to sit with the cartel leaders.

Other honors bestowed on Mermelstein included a Medellín invitation to the baptism of Cardona's youngest son, which was attended by all the cartel leaders.

After fellow drug trafficker Barry Seal agreed to testify against Jorge Ochoa, the reputed leader of the Medellín cartel, Seal was "marked for death."

Wanting an American to supervise the job, the other members of the cartel turned to Mermelstein, the one American they all trusted.

It was during this time that Mermelstein was offered $1 million to kidnap Seal and $500,000 to kill him.

Mermelstein—who spent just two years and 21 days in jail and received a $250,000 bonus for cooperating with the government on one drug case—acknowledged on the stand that he helped plan the contract murder of Seal in Louisiana.

Mermelstein stalled on the assassination attempt as long as possible, but pressure from both sides became too great.

Federal prosecutors say it was the investigation into automaker John DeLorean's alleged cocaine-dealing activities—charges on which he was ultimately acquitted—that led them to Mermelstein.

As a result of the DeLorean sting and investigation, an American pilot who flew for the cartel in California turned informant and led law enforcement agents directly to Mermelstein.

After Mermelstein returned to Miami with his family to work as chief engineer of the Aventura Country Club, he was awakened by a drug-fueled Cardona on Christmas morning 1978.

Cardona insisted that Mermelstein drive him and his roommate back home after a cocaine-filled afterparty.

Mermelstein agreed, and on the trip, Cardona and the roommate argued after Cardona accused the roommate of stealing.

In a rage, Cardona shot the roommate to death at close range.

Fearing for his own life, Mermelstein continued to drive until they stopped to dispose of the body at a road shoulder.

They then returned to Cardona's apartment where Cardona told Mermelstein, "You work for me now."

In 1979, still fearing for his life and the lives of his family, Mermelstein started working full-time for Cardona, who had become the cartel point man in the United States.

Working mainly for Jorge Luis Ochoa through Cardona, Mermelstein not only became intimate with the operations of the dominant drug smuggling network at the time called the Medellín Cartel, but vastly improved it.

He was responsible for managing the logistics of drug shipments to the United States which included arranging flights, locating drop points, and scheduling deliveries.

Mermelstein traveled extensively to Colombia where he engaged all the leaders of Medellín Cartel including Pablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa, Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha and Carlos Lehder.

He spent most of his time with Cardona and the Ochoas.

Together they worked on transportation routes and developed new packaging technique allowing cocaine to be dropped into the ocean in waterproof packaging.

In 1985 Mermelstein was arrested while driving near his home in Davie, Florida.

In addition to $20,000 in his glove compartment and a .22-caliber Walther, the federal government confiscated $1.2 million in cash and property owned by Mermelstein at the time of his arrest.

Fred Friedman -- a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Mermelstein in Los Angeles -- said "When they arrested him, he was driving his Jaguar, and it was like something out of Miami Vice. The agents surrounded him, and they said it seemed like he had known that he was being surveiled the previous week, and it almost appeared to them like there was a sigh of relief, like he knew it had to happen."

Later, at Mermelstein's home, law enforcement authorities found an assortment of weapons and $250,000 in cash under his bed.

Authorities collected a good deal of incriminating evidence from another drug trafficking informant in California regarding Mermelstein's activities.

With the cartel refusing to provide his million-dollar bail, coupled with facing a long prison sentence, Mermelstein decided to turn informant and make a deal with the US Customs Service the predecessor to Homeland Security Investigations.

Gerald Shur, founder of the Witness Protection Program (WITSEC), agreed to an unprecedented thirty-family-member relocation, making it the highest single relocation cost for one witness in the history of the WITSEC.

Out of an approved thirty members, sixteen elected to enter.