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    At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel
    Unavailable
    At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel
    Unavailable
    At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel
    Audiobook11 hours

    At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel

    Written by William C. Rempel

    Narrated by Fred Sanders

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In this riveting and relentless nonfiction thriller, award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel tells the harrowing story of former Cali cartel insider Jorge Salcedo, an ordinary man facing an extraordinary dilemma-a man forced to risk everything to escape the powerful and treacherous Cali crime syndicate.

    Colombia in the 1990s is a country in chaos, as a weak government battles guerrilla movements and narco-traffickers, including the notorious Pablo Escobar and his rivals in the Cali cartel. Enter Jorge Salcedo, a part-time soldier, a gifted engineer, a respected businessman and family man-and a man who despises Pablo Escobar for patriotic and deeply personal reasons. He is introduced to the godfathers of the Cali cartel, who are at war with Escobar and desperately want their foe dead. With mixed feelings, Jorge agrees to help them.

    Once inside, Jorge rises to become head of security for Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, principal godfather of the $7-billion-a-year Cali drug cartel. Jorge tries to turn a blind eye to the violence, corruption, and brutality that surround him, and he struggles privately to preserve his integrity even as he is drawn deeper into the web of cartel operations. Then comes an order from the godfathers that he can't obey-but can't refuse. Jorge realizes that his only way out is to bring down the biggest, richest crime syndicate of all time.

    Thus begins a heart-pumping roller-coaster ride of intensifying peril. Secretly aided by a pair of young American DEA agents, Jorge races time and cartel assassins to extract damaging evidence, help capture the fugitive godfather, and save the life of a witness targeted for murder. Through it all, death lurks a single misstep away.

    William C. Rempel is the only reporter with access to this story and to Jorge, who remains in hiding somewhere in the United States-even the author doesn't know where-but has revealed his experience in gripping detail. Salcedo's is the story of one extraordinary ordinary man forced to risk everything to end a nightmare of his own making.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 21, 2011
    ISBN9780307932365
    Unavailable
    At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel
    Author

    William C. Rempel

    William C. Rempel is a veteran investigative reporter and editor who specialized in foreign and national projects. During a thirty-six-year career at the Los Angeles Times, he produced groundbreaking reports on subjects ranging from oil tanker safety prior to the Exxon Valdez disaster to the menace of al-Qaeda prior to September 11, 2001. He has received numerous journalism honors, including a shared Overseas Press Club Award for international terrorism reports and a Gerald Loeb Award for financial writing. He was also a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.

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    Reviews for At the Devil's Table

    4.5/5

    48 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Jorge Salcedo has big brass balls. Salcedo became the head of security for the Cali cocaine cartel and gradually was drawn deeper and deeper into the dark, violent side of the cartel. His only possible escape was to bargain with the DEA and betray his cartel bosses. William C. Rempel does a remarkable job in telling this story. He doesn't make Salcedo out to be a hero, but a person who bargained with the devil and lost. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to understand the turmoil in Columbia over the past several decades due to the drug trade.

      Thanks to Good Reads First Reads program for an early chance to read this book.
    • 4/5
      I spent 10 years in Colombia working for the DEA and am quite knowledgeable about all that took place in the book. I have read many "tell alls" and from an insider's point of view they are usually written to glorify the protagonist(s) and not exactly true tales. This book is. I often read this and wonder why the average Joe would be interested but I found it fascinating reading. It is worthwhile to see the power that cartels (not just drug) have and the influence they have on our ordinary lives. And that is why drug trafficking will never be conquered.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      This should have been a fast-paced popular history book on the Cali Cartel side of the Colombian drug wars and I suppose it must have been, although it wasn't fast-paced enough to keep my attention. It's decent narrative, but it sort of plods along and definitely suffers from being nowhere near as good as News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's probably not fair to compare the two, but I've decided that for me, News of a Kidnapping is the definitive word on the predations and destructiveness of the Colombian drug war. Just not the book for me.
    • 5/5
      Over almost a decade investigative reporter William Rempel compiled the information needed too write this book. A book that gives us a peak inside the violent world of the Cali Drug Cartel. The center of the story and the author's main source was a cartel insider named Jorge Salcedo. A man who became close too the head of the cartel and their head of security.Jorge Salcedo is the son of a retired General of the Colombian army. He was at age forty-one an engineer, businessman, and entrepreneur who was a member of the Colombian army reserved where he had fought the FARC. This story starts in 1989 when Mr. Salcedo working on a new business venture was summoned too a meeting in Cali and escorted by a life long friend. From what we read he agreed to work for the Cali Cartel bosses as security in order too protect them and their family from Pablo Escobar the head of the Medellin Cartel.Mr. Salcedo became head of security, very close too the bosses of bosses, and involved in hiring mercenaries to assassinate Pablo Escobar. His innovation in secured electronic communications with off the shelf items is amazing. As is the thought that he thought he could actually resign from the organization. He tries too justify his actions by helping his country; first by eliminating the man responsible for much violence against the population and government. But as he continues to work and aid in the facilitation of international and national crime. He tries to avoid any knowledge of the drug business or any violence. Yet he becomes informed and involved with the Cartel's assassins.From 1989 through 1995 he worked for this very violent and large drug cartel. It is safe too say that his security measures allowed the Cartel to survive as a large organization as long as it did. Of course he is also the sole cause of its abrupt demise. When he realized that he was being brought further into the Cartels violent business he decided he had too get out and eventually was in contact with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Mr. Salcedo saw his only way out of the organization, and the only way to keep himself and his family alive, was too destroy the organization. The book reads as if its a well written crime novel. Mr. Rempel corroborates Jorge Salcedo's story based on interviews with Jorge Salcedo with cooperation of the involved agents from the DEA, prosecutors, U.S. Customs Service and various archives in the united States and Columbia. The book has an epilogue which summarizes what happened to those involved in the Cartel on both sides after the arrest of the head Godfather. Mr. Salcedo is presently under the protection of the Witness Protection program. The book is worth reading with the proviso that you know the book contains violence.
    • 4/5
      Jorge Salcedo, was an engineer, businessman, ex-Colombian soldier and tinkerer who was sucked into working for the Cali Cocaine Cartel because of dislike of Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellin Cartel. An ex-military friend of Salcedo's set up a meeting with him and the Cali Cartel. They wanted a security chief to guard them from the actions of Escobar and his ultra violent cartel. Salcedo rationalized his decision telling by himself that he was protecting women and children from Escobar's actions. He completely reorganized the security arrangments of the Cali Cartel and then actively took part in the hunt to bring Escobar down. Cali actually cooperated with the Colombian government to help hunt down Escobar. Where Escobar was extremely violent, the Cali crowd got their way by bribery and the spreading around of large sums of money. They had many informants in the Colombian police, military, the judiciary, and in the office of the Colombian president. After Escobar was killed the Cali Cartel showed its violent side as the government turned its attention from Medellin to Cali. It was after Escobar's demise that Salcedo realized he was truly caught in the web of the Cali Cartel. He did not want to work for the cartel in its normal business, the exporting of drugs, laundering of money, and bribery of government officials. He attempted to quit the cartel and was told that it couldn't be done. At this point he attempted to reach the CIA in Miami through a phone call. He could not get past the operator who more or less treated it as a prank phone call. The cartel had phones tapped and informants at the Colombian national phone company and at the special branch of the police that was charged with enforcing drug laws. Salcedo could never call the Colombian Police without risk to he and his family. He eventually got in touch with two DEA agents based in Bogota and started the process that led to the capture of one of the godfather's of the Cali Cartel. Salcedo and his family then had to leave Colombia and go to the United States and enter the witness protection program. He has been in it for over 15 years. The author has met Salcedo in a courtroom but has no idea of where he lives or his new name. This is a very good true crime book that reads like fiction. The extent of cartel influence in Colombia in the mid-1990s was so great that it is a wonder that Salcedo succeeded.
    • 4/5
      This was an Early Review book. When I heard from Jeremy that I had it, I thought "really, I requested this?" But after receiving it I remembered hearing an interview by the author and how interesting and fascinating it sounded. I must admit that my knowledge of the Columbia drug cartels was pretty much limited to Tom Clancy novels. I had heard of Pable Escobar but new nothing about the Cali Cartel. This is as compelling a read as a Clancy novel, but it is true!. The writing was straight forward because the story itself provides the intrigue and suspense. I did have difficulty sometimes keeping all of the characters straight and maybe a chart of who was working and siding with who would have been helpful. Because I have the unedited copy perhaps there are more pictures or maps or visual explanations it the final publication.The opening chapter is certainly an attention getter and the rest of the story does not disappoint. I hope that the CIA has a better vetting process in place so that persons with valid information can at least be directed to someone with knowledge of various situations. The amounts of money involved, the arrogance of the drug lords and the actions of killing with no remorse was astounding. Interesting also was the part played by the FBI and embassy officials. I think if this book were to become a movie (and that may already be in the works) viewers will say this is just Hollywood interfing with the truth because the close calls and ineptness of some of participants just seems too good to be true. The events in the book took place over 15 years ago and I wonder how much the drug trafficking has really stopped and if the new technology of this day has made things easier or has allowed law enforcement better ways to monitor.I would recommend this book. The writing was easy to follow and if you know little about what was going on in Columbia and the drug wars, this gives a real insider's view.
    • 5/5
      I was prepared not to like this book but felt I had to read it since I received it through the Early Reviewers program. I was so wrong. I loved this book. Although the story was at times hard to stomach, I also agree that it read like a novel. I found myself stealing minutes to read just a few pages to see what would happen to Jorge next. I will be looking for more from this author in the future.
    • 5/5
      My husband actually read this, and in two days. He shared excerpts with me from time to time because the facts were so amazing, yet true. He enjoyed it immensely. He researched some of the information on-line because his interest was piqued and wanted more..
    • 4/5
      This is a fantastic book! I am a biography and nonfiction person so this was right up my alley. This is the story of how an honest person can become involved in a very dishonest business. The main character was very sympathetic and believable. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the Columbian drug trade or true crime.
    • 3/5
      AT THE DEVIL’S TABLE, nonfiction by William Rempel, reminded me of a book I read a few years ago, KILLING PABLO by Mark Bowden. That book described Pablo Escobar’s control of, literally, everyone in Columbia. His control of the country came as a result of his control of the country’s illegal drug business.When Escobar encountered opposition, he simply had them killed. Likewise, when he found competition, he had them killed. AT THE DEVIL’S TABLE describes one of those competing cartels, the Cali cartel. Its “godfathers” aimed to kill Escobar because, they claimed, they wanted to stop all his killing. This was seen as a public service by many. But left unsaid was the Cali cartel’s desire for control of Columbia’s drug business and for the elimination of their competition.One man, Jorge Salcedo, dealt with the Cali cartel’s security issues. And killing Escobar was considered to be a security issue. Salcedo made the arrangements. He rationalized to himself that taking care of security was keeping him apart from the drug trade. He kept telling himself that. And he kept thinking of himself as a short timer.Then Salcedo almost watched someone get his eyes gouged out with a fork. That was a tough one for him. But it was just the beginning of his realization that the Cali cartel was no better than Escobar’s gang. More and more he was seeing things he could no longer rationalize even after the Escobar issue had been taken care of. For this reason, Salcedo wanted out. He also could see that the United States was getting closer to exposing members of the Cali cartel and having them extradited. But he couldn’t get out.I found the story up to this point tedious: the Cali cartel kept arranging and failing to have Escobar killed; he kept trying to kill them. Too much shoot-em-up or blow-em-up for me.Once, Salcedo attempted to contact a United States official. In a scene that introduced this story, he called but couldn’t get past the switchboard. He didn’t know the name of the specific person he needed to speak with.But when he finally did get the ball rolling with the United States, I no longer found the story tedious. It became exciting. And everything moved so fast.Rempel is an investigative reporter, and he writes like one. He gives the facts and doesn’t waste words by trying to pretty up his sentences. He tells a story we should all be aware of.What I found tedious really is how it was. Rempel couldn’t say otherwise, or this would be fiction.This review is of an advanced reader’s copy of AT THE DEVIL’S TABLE that I received from Random House through the goodreads.com “first reads” giveaway program.
    • 5/5
      Excellent insider's story of the Cali cartel. The first part tells how Jorge Salcedo joined the cartel in hopes of taking down their rival, Pablo Escobar, which he felt would be a huge duty to Columbia. It covers the inner workings of the cartel and Columbia corruption as he soon gets in too deep, realizing even the "good" cartel is putting him in legal and moral jeopardy. The 2nd half turns into a tense thriller as he tries to get out alive. A fascinating story of a world where money and power are nearly unlimited and how difficult it is to stay clean. From the title you know how the book ends, but it makes it no less intense. Great read!
    • 5/5
      William Rempel writes an excellent book on Jorge Salcedo, a man who becomes involved in the Cali Cartel during the 1990's. Salcedo becomes more and more involved until he can no longer look the other way from the violence and corruption and makes the decision to bring down the largest Columbian Cartel, with the help of 2 American DEA agents. This book is hard to put down, gets more and more exciting all the way to the very end!
    • 5/5
      This was a wonderfully written true story about Jorge and the Cali Cartel. I have to admit I knew nothing of the Cali Cartel prior to reading this book and when I received the book through Early Reviewers I thought, why did I request this book? As it is not typical of what I like to read. Wow, was I surprised and very glad I received this book. I think Jorge is an amazing person and had a lot of courage to do what he did. It also makes you understand more how someone can be put in a position like Jorge was. Now, I am not saying that everything he did was acceptable but it really makes you think what would you have done if you were him? I will recommend this book to anyone who loves a good suspense book or the mafia and cartel.
    • 5/5
      A phenomenal real life thriller. At The Devil's table is about Jorge, a security expert for the Cali cartel. Jorge originally says he decided to join the cartel to help get Pablo Escobar (Jorge hired a team of British mercenaries that ended up not even getting to Pablo Escobar) From there he found himself deeper and deeper in Cali business until he realized the only way out is to destroy the entire cartel. While the title is a little misleading (the Cali Cartel was already being hunted by the time Jorge decided to get out) this book is a great read. I ignored everything else I had to do while reading this book. It gives a great look inside a cartel, as well as inside a country that at the time was considered one of the most corrupt in the western hemisphere.
    • 5/5
      At The Devil’s Table by William C. RempelThis is an exciting, suspenseful story about the Cali Drug Cartel in Columbia in the early 1990’s.The godfathers in Cali having first helped to take out their competitor Pablo Escobar of the Medellin Cartel (well documented in Mark Bowden’s Killing Pablo) now had a firm hold on the cocaine trade. In going after the hated Pablo Escobar the Cali godfathers were able to recruit the unique skills of Jorge Salcedo.Salcedo was a Columbian patriot, son of a top General, who hated how Escobar had turned his beloved country into a corrupt violent place to live. With his ingenious engineering skills Jorge Salcedo turned himself into a communications and security exert. Hoping to both bring down Escobar who had killed one of Jorge’s childhood friends and promote his own entrepreneurial plans Salcedo becomes an integral member of the Cali cartel ending up with chief responsibilities for the safety of its major godfather, Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela.William Rempel, an experienced journalist for the LA Times has written a masterful tale of what many have considered the largest criminal organization that ever existed; a worldwide operation with billions of dollars of income. With all their resources and ruthless capabilities they eventually helped to elect President Samper with 6 million dollars of secret donations and bribes and had become seemingly untouchable.If not for Salcedo and the eventual help he received from 2 young US DEA undercover agents the Cali Cartel would very likely still be in business. Rempel has unlimited access to Salcedo and the story is built on hundreds of hours of interviews with he and many of the other parties involved. The reader becomes closely identified with Salcedo, the moral complications of his choices, and the great dangers he brings about to himself, family and friends to bring down a gigantic criminal enterprise. This is a story about how 1 man going against vast odds can make a great difference.There are dozens of vignettes told that illustrate the violence and corruption that occurred in Columbia during the 1980’s and 1990’s. There are politicians, generals, police, businessmen, British mercenaries, US defense attorneys, Mexican drug lords, paid hit men (sicarios) DEA, CIA, FBI agents all who come face to face with one another. Rempel is able to weave a vast array of characters and events into a fast paced suspenseful experience for the reader. This story will likely end up on the big screen.this is a real page turner, hard to put down and should be a major best seller.