The Cali Cartel: Drug Cartel Profile

A cartel is described as a criminal organization dedicated to the promotion and control of drug trafficking. The Cali Cartel was one such organization named for the geographical region of Colombia which it controlled. The Cali Cartel was founded by brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejeula and Jose Santacruz. When the Cali Cartel was originally formed, it was solely dedicated to the trafficking of marijuana, but due to the cost of resources and the low profile of the drug, the three co-founders decided to shift their focus to a drug with more money making potential, cocaine.

The Cali Cartel was organized among a group of independently operating cells. Each member of a cell reported to a cell manager, who reported back to the Cali Cartel. The Cartel was divided into five functional groups each holding a responsibility over a certain attribute of the Cartel. Those groups were trafficking (responsible for moving the cocaine), military (responsible for security of movement and internal discipline), political (responsible for gaining connections and favors from the Colombian government, financial (responsible for washing the illegal earnings of the cartel), and legal (responsible for representing the cartel and its members in court).

The Cali Cartel was able to earn such large amounts of money through investments into legitimate businesses. The Cartel was allowed to continue so successfully for so long by bribing everyone from taxi drivers to judges and at least one presidential candidate. Bribery was by far not the only means which the Cartel used to survive or gain power, violence and the threat of violence was often used to ensure that Cartel members did not error in their operations and to keep non-Cartel members from speaking out against the organization.

A major break for law enforcement came between June and July of 1995, when six of the seven bosses of the Cali Cartel were arrested. In 2006 the Rodriguez brothers, two of the original co-founders of the Cartel, pleaded guilty to drug charges in Miami, Florida. The brothers were later extradited and agreed to forfeit $2.1 billion in assets earned from the drug trade.

Since the fall of the Cali Cartel due to legal pressure from the United States and Colombian governments, smaller and more manageable factions of the larger organizations began to splinter to continue trafficking operations. These smaller groups specialize in a specific portion of the trafficking operations, such as harvesting, transporting, or selling the drug. These smaller independent factions make infiltration by authorities all the more difficult.
Sources:

The Colombian Cartels. PBS Frontline.

Ron Chepesiuk. The Fall of the Cali Cartel. Crime Magazine.