“What’s that?”
“I found a draft of a leaked memo written by a Justice Department attorney named Ken Thomas. In the memo, Thomas alleges that DEA agents in Peru are in league with traffickers and are implicated in money laundering and murder. Thomas’s allegations centered on an undercover operation called Peru-Man, which targeted traffickers in Peru and was overseen by DeFrancisco. At the time he was a DEA group supervisor in Miami. As part of that operation, DeFrancisco and the agents working under him, one of which was Vinnelli, had uncovered evidence that DEA agents in Peru appeared to be assisting traffickers in Peru.”
“How does that relate to Marshall and how does it work for us?”
“I’m getting to that. But later that same year there were charges raised that led to DeFrancisco’s operation being shut down.”
“What was that?”
“There was an operation called white-light that was setup to specifically target Diego Estaban and a Peruvian National Police colonel named Gonzalez.”
“Diego, my old friend,” I laughed.
“Estaban and Gonzalez were widely recognized to be involved in trafficking and arms dealing at the highest levels. Working with various sectors of the Peruvian military, they have fielded death squads responsible for murdering thousands of Peruvians.”
“Now were gettin’ somewhere.”
“See, I told you. It all comes down to a meeting in Panama between Gonzalez and Vinnelli that was not coordinated properly with the Peru office. Vinnelli was instructed to contact the Peru office before finalizing a meeting with Gonzalez. Vinnelli had met with Gonzalez for two days in Panama without notifying the Peru office. DeFrancisco and Vinnelli offered different accounts of the meeting in Panama with Gonzalez.”
“How so?”
“Vinnelli claims the meeting was unplanned. DeFrancisco told investigators that the meeting was not planned in advanced. DeFrancisco said he recalled Vinnelli calling from Panama to report his interview of a big player; however, DeFrancisco could not remember if Vinnelli identified the player as Gonzalez. That put in motion a major criminal investigation targeting DeFrancisco and Vinnelli. DeFrancisco and Estaban were involved in a scheme with an informant named Isabelle Vega. She was going to testify about Diego’s operation and that DeFrancisco and Vinnelli were extorting money from traffickers in exchange for promises of lenient jail sentences. But the report disappeared and Vega turned up dead. Vinnelli got a reprimand for the meeting and that squashed it.”
“What does that have to do with Marshall?”
“It doesn’t necessarily link Marshall to them, but it does link the two of them to Diego.”
“Marshall and Diego were partners. So you would have to connect Marshall to Diego to link it to DeFrancisco and Vinnelli.”
“Exactly. Then you add this conversation between Marshall and Diego.” Monika made a few clicks on her laptop that I couldn’t follow if I had to. “Listen to this.”
The first voice I heard was Martin Marshall’s. “I don’t want there to be any way this can come back and bite me.”
“You worry too much, my friend.” That was Diego Estaban. “Once the word begins to spread about his involvement in this business, his political allies will run for cover and you will have no need to fear him.”
“But if you can’t find that package or it becomes public, it will put me and a lot of our friends in an extremely compromised position.”
“If that happens, which it won’t, because I assure you that the package will be recovered, we have set these things in motion so the spotlight will be on Mike Black and-” Diego laughed. I hated the way he laughed. I’m glad I killed him. “-others, who I will make known to you when the time is right.”
“There is one other thing that concerns me.”
“What is that, my friend?”
“DeFrancisco. He’s shaky. I am not sure we can trust him to keep his mouth shut if anything goes wrong.”
“How much does he really know? What have you told him?”
“I only told him what he needed to know to put the operation in motion. Still, he has me, and I don’t need any more heat.” That’s Martin, always looking out for himself. “I just got somebody else’s stink off me.”
“He is your man. When he has outlived his usefulness you will have to insure his silence.” I took care of that for him.
When the recording was over I smiled at Monika. “Where did you get that?”
“Travis recorded it while we were running surveillance on Marshall.”
“I knew I liked that kid.”
“He does impress sometimes.”