Madrina's Snow Storm

Madrina's Snow Storm

by Bill Knell

This is a true crime story. 1984 was the year it snowed in L.A. Cocaine was everywhere and no teen girl was more involved with it than Jennifer. She was a natural born addict to just about everything. Tobacco wasn't her thing, but she liked her ludes, pot and alcohol. Her parents smoked pot daily and drank their share of cheap beer and wine. They never bothered with cocaine because they couldn't afford it. Both were managers at a huge, local warehouse. They needed what little they had left of their brains to keep their jobs. That wasn't the case with Jennifer.

Their daughter had barely graduated high school and lost her virginity at fourteen. She traded it for a bunch of pot (which became her drug of choice) and some coke. She ended up selling most of the coke she bought to fund her pot habit. Jennifer discovered that everyone wanted to buy any cocaine she had. Jennifer stayed away from using it because she didn't like the way she lost control when she did. When she ran out of product, she gave head jobs in cars at the mall on weekends to buy more.

Jennifer got caught during a cop stop with a bag of pot in the trunk of a car that she “borrowed” from somebody. Cops didn't bother much with pot because it left their pockets kind of empty and wasn't worth the risk of getting caught trafficking it. Coke was their money maker, but getting it sold without getting caught wasn't always easy. They sensed an opportunity with Jennifer. She looked gaunt and hungry, but still cute and decently dressed. They had been out for days trying to find a ‘cocaine fairy’. In their mind that was a young girl who could move powder fast without drawing attention to or using it herself.

After moving her to a safe space in the back of the cop shop, they brought her a bunch of food and soon after got her a cheap motel room. Staying at her parent's house would no.longer work. At that point they told Jennifer that she was working for them now. They explained their plan to the eighteen year old. She had enough brains left to realize she could make some serious cash if she played their game their way. The only complication was a cop named Tim. He developed a thing for Jennifer. They spent a lot of time in bed (she was on the pill). He didn't have an over-active libido, so this was the real thing. He called her Jenny and became her connection to the other coke cops. He also became her protector.

Tim pretended to be her partner as she moved product. He kept her safe from users and dealers that wanted more from her than just white powder. Together, the two of them began moving immense amounts of product that was taken by the coke cops when they arrested dealers. It was supposed to go into evidence lockers. It never got anywhere near them. No one was ever able to come up with an exact amount, but the best guess was that over three years the coke cops made hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions. Jenny and Tim hid their share in her parent's warehouse. They used a locked storage space in an obscure corner everyone ignored. Neither of them spent their money carelessly. No fancy cars, big houses and so on; not yet anyway. Just a nice apartment the two shared. Then, something happened that no one expected.

Three years into their relationship Tim and Jenny got a visit at their apartment from two serious looking guys in suits. One briefly flashed a badge while the other asked if they could come in. Figuring they were about to be arrested anyway, they invited them in. Both were federal agents. They explained that the purpose of their visit was not to accuse or arrest. The agents told the startled couple that they wanted to talk. Without much of a choice, Jenny and Tim asked them to sit and they listened as the agents laid things out. For about an hour the feds told the sordid tale of a situation that involved all of them and had gotten out of control.

Around the time that the coke cops found Jenny, two federal agents were setting up shop in L.A. They had discovered that a massive amount of coke was moving through Southern California. Although they traced the origin of most of it, they were uncertain how it was being successfully sold without a lot of bloodshed or fanfare. What they didn't count on was the friendly reception the drug received in the world of entertainment. Most dealers were given carte blanche to do as they pleased as long as the product made it to customers who counted. The agents pointed out that feds appeared to be giving them a pass. Everything is good until it's not.

The two feds told Jenny and Tim that coke was quickly taking over the town and the industry that supported it. Overdoses became a regular thing at parties, meetups and even the workplace. Lights and microphones appeared in camera shots. Entertainers and performers couldn't get through their acts without constant nose sniffles and other signs of use. The feds wisely knew that this was a situation that would only get worse as time moved on. Crack joined the party and they were desperate to get a handle on all that. For the longest time their supervisors chose to do nothing, not wanting to try and create a solution to a problem that had none. On a local level, police were fearful of their own officers knowing the snowstorm was a welcome relief to cops that were underpaid for putting their lives on the line. They figured the feds would eventually step in and solve the problem anyway.

The two young fed guys at Jenny and Tim’s house saw that everything was out of control before others did. Apart from the drugs and cash confiscated and kept by the coke cops, hospitals were filled with overdose victims and there were few treatment clinics in those days to deal with the avalanche. Courts didn't help by dumping addicts back out on the street for lack of room in jails. The Judges either didn't know or didn't care that it wasn't just the pushers that kept it snowing. It was the users who alternatively used and sold everything they could get their hands on. Meanwhile, the fed's co-workers in other sections of the government saw the solution as creating an opportunity. They began selling their own stash of coke from South American to fund various south of the border wars against communists fought by nationalists and freedom fighters.

After months of detective work the feds connected Jenny and Tim to distribution. In the meantime they had lined up serious feds, prosecutors and lawmakers willing to take the steps needed to solve the problem. First, they enlisted the help of Jenny and Tim to provide them with a breakdown of everything they did and the cops they worked for on a daily basis. At the same time they enlisted the help of a doctor to get Jenny and Tim clean. Neither were into coke so that was a fast fix. Next they set up light surveillance of the couple to document everything they and the coke cops did. Then the coke wars began.

As the feds started to shut down the coke cops, drug cartels began taking over using their own product and muscle to move it. Just as the young feds were about to place Jenny and Tim into custody for their own safety, both were kidnapped by cartel members who appeared at their house, killed their guards and brought them to Columbia. They treated them well insisting that all they wanted was the plan and contacts they used to move coke. They had to comply. Then one night Tim tried to escape and was accidentally killed by feds who were watching cartel members. This devastated Jenny who immediately blamed the feds and the cops that recruited them in the first place. After that she was all in with the cartel. She soon became a trusted member and excelled at moving coke.

Jenny became known as the Cartel Madrina (godmother). She lived lavishly and was watched 24/7 by cartel muscle to be sure she was safe. She enlisted some family members and cops she could trust, sending them huge amounts of cash. Cartel members were astounded at her ability to move product and make everything work, but they had a big surprise coming. While she worked with the cartel she met a woman called Esmarelda who was ready to do anything to bring her to another cartel that was up and coming and wanted her services.

By that time Jenny was trusted with a pistol for self protection. She made secret plans with Esmarelda to leave the compound late one Sunday night when most everyone was drunk or busy. They successfully sneaked out and disappeared into the bush together. After a while Jenny apologized to Esmarelda and shot her in the leg. She used a cloth to cover her mouth and used the map they had to reach a nearby main road. Once there, Jenny flagged down a cab which took her to a Columbia Federal Police station. After some conversation with the person in charge the American feds were contacted. They showed up early the next day.

Jenny quickly spoke to and cut a deal with the American Department of Justice. Jenny was given immunity and still had all the money that she and Tim had hidden. After that Jenny was safely moved to somewhere in Europe living well while the feds tracked down and shut down the drug empire that she built. The details remain classified. I heard the story from a trusted source in the government. The story explained a lot of things and made overall sense.

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