THE RUNNER/SCREENPLAY, BRIAN R. LUNDIN [best classic books to read .txt] 📗

fire and listened to the sign-song language of the people who were laughing as they talked in their native language. Pops felt a presence and turned to see Marque standing behind him.

MARQUE
After breakfast and a tour of the village we will go into the mountains to meet ZUBA MONTOYO.

Although the morning was young, the mist over the village was starting to dissipate and the old cart driver was Pops and Cinque’s guide as they toured the village. When they passed an estuary a young couple was sliding a canoe into the blue green water. The muscular man pushed the canoe from the stern and waded beside it as the boat floated lightly and shook on a breaking wave as the woman climbed in. In a coordinated effort the man and woman drove their double bladed paddles into the sea and headed out. Just outside the village were well maintained fields that contained rows upon rows of large, long-stalked red and white flowers.

CART DRIVER
(pointing to the flowers) These are God’s Plants.
Margue joined them in the fields.

MARQUE
These are poppy plants that can be used to make opium. The villagers are very poor and lived under primitive conditions; there is no running water, electricity or plumbing. The opium, which come from the flowers is their currency and is sold or traded for necessities like food, clothing or utensils. The land is harsh and dry and conventional crops like corn or wheat will not grow, but Gods Plant strived in these climatic conditions. The people used the opium for its healing properties and as a substitute for modern medicine because few medical supplies are available in this remote area.

POPS
How are the plants planted? I don’t see any kind of farming equipment.

MARQUE
The farmers use a technique called slash and burn, a technique that is centuries old. They first cut down all the trees, clear away any vegetation, and burn it. The burnt vegetation deposit nitrogen which enrich the soil. The farmer’s takes handfuls of the poppy seeds and spread them into rows, after about three months the poppy seeds mature and produce the flowers. After the flower petals fall off the raw opium gum is contained in the seedpod. The surface of the capsule is cut or “scored” using a knife that contains three or four blades. The opium gum oozes out through these cuts and is scraped. Once the gum is collected, it is wrapped in bamboo leaves and dried in the sun for several days, it is now ready to be sold or traded. After harvesting, the capsules are allowed to dry and the seed are used for the next crop, it is very hard work, but it provides a living for the villagers. After completing their tour of the fields, they returned to the village for a meal of steamed rice and vegetables with the village elder. I’ve sent a runner to the mountain and requested a meeting for you with ZUBA Montoyo, who buy our crops and is very good to us; he will send a guide for you this afternoon.


EXT. MOUNTAIN VILLAGE-LATE AFTERNOON

A young villager took Marque, Cinque and Pops by mule cart up a steep mountain and they arrived in another village. Outside the village the cart was discarded and the rode mules inside a large mountain and introduced to ZUBA Montoyo. ZUBA was a little man who appeared to be in his early fifties; he wore a turban and had a long white beard. Torches provided the light inside the mountain and men were pouring a white gum-like substance into large drums filled with boiling water while other men were stirring the contents of the big water filled drums, which were boiling over an intense fire. ZUBA greeted them warmly and through Marque explained to Pops that Bangladesh was a poor country and the only way for the people to feed their families was through the cultivating of the poppy plant. Their South American partners bought their raw opium and processed it into heroin, which was sold mainly in the European countries, France, Germany and England, but they were seeking a United States connection.

ZUBA
I was told to help you get our product. Are you interested?

POPS
Yes, we are, but how will we get it to my country?”

ZUBA
I have recently formed an alliance with a group of Colombians who is looking for an outlet in your country. This group has a lot of experience smuggling drugs into your country and they have cargo ships, aircraft and couriers, and even submarines, but most importantly they have allied themselves with official who are a great asset to them. I’m sure they will have no trouble getting the drugs to you.

CINQUE
What is the purity of your product?

ZUBA
Ninety percent, but you must remember as my heroin makes its way from here it goes through many hands and each hand wants to make a profit. It will probably be diluted with some type of substance, but I will inform my Colombian friends that you are a special customer and comes highly recommended by one of our most sacred saviors and not to dilute your drugs, when it gets to you it will be as it was shipped, ninety percent pure, agreed?


POPS
Agreed!

ZUBA Montoyo told Pops and Cinque that twenty kilos of ninety percent pure heroin would be shipped to Chicago through Colombia every month and the first months would be his gift to them in honor of Marque and their new business agreement.

The village in Chalna, Bangladesh planted, harvested and sold the raw opium to ZUBA for $300 a kilo, where it was converted into heroin. The over-ninety percent heroin was then sold to the Colombians for $15,000 and sold to the State Street Boy’s for $100,000 a kilo. The State Street Boy has sold the heroin to the 26th Street boys for a half million dollars a kilo. Heroin that started out as a red, flower and original sold for $300 now had a street value of over a million dollars. The Colombian cocaine trade consisted of two rivals, the Medellin and the Cali Cartel’s, which were located on the west coast of Colombia. The Medellin cartel was composed of violent young men who operated their business through intimidation, bribery and murder. They started out smuggling small quantities of cocaine in suitcases, but as their profits grew, they purchased a single engine Cessna that they flew directly into the United States and fast Cigarette boats, avoiding the need for countless suitcase trips. With the large quantities of cocaine they were smuggling into the country they re-invested their illegal gains into more sophisticated drug labs, better airplanes and they even purchased an island in the Caribbean where their planes could be refuel. The Cali cartel was subtler; they ran their smuggling operation like a sophisticated business, quietly investing their money into legitimate businesses. As their competition became more violent, the Cali cartel had the support of the Colombian government because the Medellin had killed many government officials and consequently most of the Medellin cartel members either were in jail or killed. The Cali cartel was Zuba Montoyo partners.

Felik Lehder was born in Caborca, Mexico a fishing village on the Magdalena River. His family was very poor and they made a living farming and fishing until they discovered they could make better living growing marijuana. Felix and his five brothers and sisters worked the fields and harvesting their marijuana crop. When he was fifteen years old, Roberto Hernadez and ten of his men raided their farm and killed his father and brothers, and raped his mother and sisters Felix escaped by hiding in the fields and eventually walked the hundred miles to his uncle Jose house in Nogales, Mexico. When he was eighteen year old, Felix and his uncle moved to Cali and Felik joined the Cali Cocaine Cartel. Phillippe Calfinoez the boss of the cartel liked him and he quickly rose into one of his best workers and became a supplier for the Cali cartel. Felix Lehder was a frail looking dark brown skinned young man, who looked anything but a person involved in drugs. For years, the Mexican marijuana and heroin dealers were at war over the marijuana and the opium fields. They would hijack each other trucks, kill rival dealers and spread terror among the farmers. Roberto Hernadez was one of the leading drug dealers and he operated out of Mexico City. Roberto’s idol was Lucky Luciano an old time New York gangster who had organized the various gangs in New York and around the country that was controlled by a Commission. Like Lucky, Roberto knew that the constant killings and wars were bad for business and he knew that if an almost illiterate person like Lucky could organize crime in America, he knew he could. Through bribery, assassinations and intimidations he formed a Mexican Commission. The Commission consisted of the five largest drug dealers in Mexico and the United States was divided into five areas; the west coast, the east coast, the north coast, the south coast and the Midwest coast. Felix never forgot what Roberto had done to his family and vowed revenge. The Cali Cartel had started supplying heroin and cocaine into the areas controlled by the Commission and a drug war had broken out, Phillippe sent Felix to infiltrate the Commission. The State Street Boy’s were special customers of the Cali Cartel, they were purchasing over twenty kilos of heroin a month and there were strict orders not to dilute their drugs.

Cinque and five heavily armed Simbas would meet with Felix, the cartel’s supplier once a month. The exchange of money and drugs was made after midnight in one of the parking lots on South Federal Street in the Robert Taylor Homes, the area was dark and had very little vehicular or foot traffic. Cinque gave the large suitcase containing the money; over $5 million dollars to Felix and Felix placed two large suitcases containing the drugs in the trunk of the large van. Cinque noticed a black vehicle with its lights out back into one of the parking lots near 51st South Federal although he was a little suspicious of the vehicle he knew that prostitutes and young lovers often used the dark parking lots for sex. A black man in the black vehicle noted the time and location of the meeting between Cinque and Felix.
Felix left first and headed north on Federal Street, Cinque went south. As Felix passed the black vehicle, he saw a black man and a black woman embracing in the front seat. Felix vehicle turned left onto 47th Street and entered the Dan Ryan Expressway. Parked across 47th Street was another black car that followed Felik and the black vehicle with the lovers followed them. Felix headed north on the expressway and merged into the Kennedy Expressway and exited at Harlem Avenue. Felix turned left on Harlem and turned right on Foster Avenue. After a couple of blocks, Felix pulled into the alley and entered the garage of the Medova Brothers Warehouse at 5455 west Foster. The two vehicles parked a couple of doors away and one of the men got out of his vehicle and watched as the garage door closed. He peeped in the window and saw Felix being greeted by two other men. He returned to the first black vehicle and told Jimmy what he had seen. Jimmy pushed his way into the front seat of the vehicle with the black man and woman. The black man who was behind the driver’s seat was pushed into the lap of the black woman. Jimmy reached into his wallet, gave the man two one hundred