RE: The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc.

Leif,

I was still getting (might still be, behind on the ole mail <BG>) Business
2.0 when that came out - pretty wild, eh ? :-)

Not to glamorous the drug trade, but they were doing some AMAZING data
mining, etc. Guess that goes to show how good IT can be with unlimited
funding :-)

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-nontech-admin@midrange.com
[mailto:midrange-nontech-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Leif Svalgaard
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 7:20 PM
To: Midrange List Non-tech
Subject: The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc.



http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,41206,00.html

The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc.

Colombian cartels have spent billions of dollars to build one of the
world's most sophisticated IT infrastructures. It's helping them smuggle
more dope than ever before. On a rainy night eight years ago in the
Colombian city of Cali, crack counter-narcotics troops swarmed over
the first floor of a low-rise condominium complex in an upscale
neighborhood. They found no drugs or guns. But what they did find
sent shudders through law enforcement and intelligence circles
around the world.

The building was owned by a front man for Cali cocaine cartel leader
José Santacruz Londono. Inside was a computer center, manned in shifts
around the clock by four to six technicians. The central feature of the
facility was a $1.5 million IBM AS400 mainframe, the kind once used by
banks, networked with half a dozen terminals and monitors. The next day,
Colombia's attorney general secretly granted permission for U.S. agents
to fly the mainframe immediately back to the United States, where it was
subjected to an exhaustive analysis by experts from the Drug Enforcement
Administration and various intelligence agencies. The so-called
Santacruz computer was never returned to Colombian authorities, and the
DEA's report about it is highly classified. But Business 2.0 has
ferreted out many of its details. They make it clear why the U.S.
government wants the Santacruz case kept quiet.


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