Colonel Ramirez and Canó:-

In late January, 1986, an informant told the police that Pablo had issued a contract worth $150,000 on a police colonel, which had gone to the Medellín chapter of the Ricardo Franco Brigade, a guerrilla group that had recently butchered a few hundred of its own members suspected of being police infiltrators. The Brigade had delegated the hit to its chief of executions, Foxy, who'd taken a $12,000 down payment from Pablo, which had been spent on a MAC-10, four pistols and a revolver. The weapons were outside one of Pablo's safe houses in North Bogotá, stashed in a Renault 18, with one hit man overseeing it.

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The informant said that Pablo had accumulated a file of information on the colonel, which he'd shared with Foxy. Pablo had paid $30,000 for the information to a lieutenant trusted by the colonel. They were aware that the colonel was starting a course at generals' school, and they had details of his going-away party. They knew where he lived, his mother's address, the car he owned and that he drove an armoured Mercedes-Benz on loan from the DEA - the informant gave all of the specific

details.

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A hit scheduled for outside of a club had been called off due to the colonel's large escort. A hit at his mother's house had also fallen through as too many relatives had accompanied the colonel, and Pablo wanted a clean kill without numerous casualties. The hit team had picked three potential locations: his mother's house, a highway overpass by a police academy and across the street from a bakery. In regular contact with Foxy, the informant pledged to give further information for the right price.

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Police intelligence pegged Colonel Ramirez as the target and assigned surveillance to the safe house with the weapons in the car out-side. Neighbours spotted the undercover agents taking photos and called the police.

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With Colonel Ramirez on leave - he'd been relieved of duty at the end of 1985 - it was decided not to tell him about the hit until they knew for sure.

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Ramirez returned to work in February in high spirits. He'd survived his tenure as Anti-Narcotics Unit police chief, during which his men had managed to make almost 8,000 arrests and confiscate more than half of the cocaine seized in the world in 1985, as well as countless vehicles, boats and planes. Also in 1985, he'd overseen the destruction of ninety percent of the marijuana crop, which had been poisoned by crop dusters with herbicide provided by the DEA. He'd won awards, was ready for a promotion to general and

his advice on drug eradication was being sought

around the world.

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Ramirez had cost the cartel so much money that other members had bought shares in the hit: Gacha wanted revenge for the Land of Tranquillity; Lehder because the colonel had hounded him for more than a year, almost arrested him twice, had incarcerated the mother of his three-year-old daughter, had decimated his trafficking operation and reduced his stature in the cartel.

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On August 5, 1985, Lehder had only just managed to slip away from Ramirez by fleeing towards a river in his red underwear, carrying a machine gun. The police found a letter from one of his lawyers: "All your problems began when you started with the politics. The trick is to make yourself dead, the phantom - no publicity so the gringos and Colombians forget you. The important thing is not to die rich. The important thing is to live rich - like before."

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In February 1986, Ramirez and his family relocated to the General Santander Police Academy in Bogotá, which offered extra protection He was safe at the base, but he had to drive to the war college daily. He knew the traffickers wanted him dead, but would they dare go after him? No evidence had come about from surveying the safe house with the Renault parked outside.

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Ramirez grew more concerned after questioning the informant, who detailed the two previously planned hits that had been cancelled. The thought of hit men staking out his parents' Christmas Eve party disturbed him. When the interview ended, the informant promised to keep providing information. Ramirez told his family that the informant was truthful.

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The threat had come at an awkward time because Ramirez was no longer in command of an armed force that could retaliate against Pablo. Unable to adhere to his motto of constantly kicking the traffickers in the nuts, he started to worry. For eight months, he only left the base to drive to police headquarters in an armoured Ford LTD provided by the DEA, wearing a bullet-proof vest, armed with a revolver and a MAC-10 and protected by a chauffeur with a revolver. Mindful of the details provided by the informant, the driver always varied the route. Before Ramirez set off, the route was checked by police on motorbikes.

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The threat made his wife ill. His father dreamt that he was dead. He urged his brother to minimise any descriptions of the danger to his father. His two boys travelled to school in an armoured bus. The family rarely went out to eat, and if they did, they wore bullet-proof vests. One of his sons had become proficient in the use of a MAC-10, which accompanied them on family journeys.

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Prior to Easter Sunday, his brother invited him and his family to stay at a cabin. Ramirez was desperate to blow off steam. "I've always been the pursuer, and now they're pursuing me. I'm the one who puts people against the wall, not the other way around."

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The information coming from the informant suddenly stopped after he revealed that the hit team had acquired nine vehicles, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades and launchers. Security around Ramirez was increased. Investigators were unable to find any new leads or the identity of the lieutenant alleged to have been providing information to the cartel.

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Due to his previous successes with traffickers, Captain Ernesto Mora of the Anti-Narcotics Unit was assigned to infiltrate the cartel and issue reports to Ramirez with any updates on the threat. Ernesto ascertained that the contract with Foxy was still active and that other cartel leaders had shares in the contract. New information had come to light that Pablo was considering cancelling the contract, but this needed further confirmation.

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Pablo's overtures to Ramirez - requesting a meeting to talk things over - were declined by Ramirez, who believed that the proposal was a trap. Not necessarily that he would be killed, but secret photos would be taken of him with Pablo, and his career ruined. Ernesto delivered a message from Ramirez: Pablo would be treated fairly if he turned himself in.

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In May 1986, four strangers - who'd arrived in a red Renault- were noticed lurking around the ranch belonging to Ramirez in Granada. Their leader had curly hair and a solid build. For a few days, they walked around, staking out the house. The caretaker took a bus to Ramirez. At the police academy, the caretaker identified the leader of the strangers from a photo.

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