U.S. Attorneys On Trial In Case Against Cali Cocaine Cartel

MIAMI - Whenever a Cali cartel trafficker successfully smuggled a drug shipment to the United States, he would send a fax to Room 601 in the 21st Century Building in Cali, announcing that everything had turned out as planned.

"The children are well. Regards," the messages read.

When a Colombian politician or U.S. lawyer hired by the cartel needed large sums of money, the check was issued, audited and signed in the same place, Room 601 of the building at 6-67 Fourth Avenue.

And if a police officer performed a security or intelligence job for the Cali cartel, his reward came from Room 601, where a sign read: "Accounting and Financial Advisers."

Room 601 was the war room and nerve center of the world's most prosperous illicit enterprise. Within its 344 square feet, Guillermo Alejandro Pallomari carefully recorded hundreds of legal and illegal accounts set up by the Cali cartel - from payments to gardeners working at large mansions to bribes for politicians, military men and police officers.

Few know the cartel's inner secrets as intimately as Pallomari, an unassuming, Chilean-born systems engineer.

Those secrets are about to come out in a Miami courtroom, where Pallomari is scheduled to testify as one of the U.S. government's chief witnesses in Operation Cornerstone, one of the most significant criminal cases brought against the Cali cartel in this country.

Among the defendants are William Moran, a Miami criminal defense

attorney, and Michael Abbell, a former Justice Department official in private practice in Washington. They are accused of falsifying affidavits and obstructing the prosecution of Cali bosses Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela.

The Cali cartel shipped 250 tons of cocaine into the United States over 13 years, bringing in billions of dollars, and spent millions to influence Colombian politicians - including President Ernesto Samper, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Ryan said in opening arguments yesterday.

The goal of the money, he said, was to ensure protection from extradition and the possibility of ever facing charges.

Cartel leaders hired some of the top attorneys in the United States, including a former Justice Department extradition expert, to cover their tracks, Ryan said.

He accused the lawyers of playing key roles in keeping the cocaine flowing.

Abbell, 56, and Moran, 58, face racketeering and drug-conspiracy charges that open them to possible life sentences; Moran is accused of alerting the cartel to a government informant who was later killed.

Ryan said the lawyers prepared false affidavits to clear the cartel's Colombian chiefs and delivered payments to drug defendants' relatives and lawyers.

But attorney Albert Krieger, who represents Moran, began to lay out the defense in a case that has drawn intense scrutiny from the national criminal defense bar.

Krieger said his client was only doing his job, representing accused drug dealers and providing a service required under the U.S. Constitution.

Samper has denied wrongdoing and a loyalist Congress last year cleared him of charges he solicited the cartel cash.

The cocaine was smuggled through Florida ports in hollowed-out lumber, concrete posts, frozen broccoli and coffee shipments, Ryan said. Later, the cartel funneled the drugs through other countries to avoid scrutiny.

Information from Associated Press is included in this report.