After the United States enacted the Bank Secrecy Act, banks were required to report all cash transactions exceeding $10,000. This gave rise to money laundering activities. Drug cartels adopted a series of tactics to "clean" their drug proceeds, but no matter how well they concealed their financial transactions, traces always remained. And the best way to take down the Cali Cartel was to track these monetary clues.
DEA agents Chris and Firestone were ordered to travel to Cali, where they were greeted by Captain Calderón of the Cali Police. Firestone did not fully disclose the purpose of their visit to Calderón, who was not surprised by this. Instead, he reminded them that to get anything done in Cali, they had to go through the police—even if that police officer was not him. Reluctantly, Firestone admitted they had some leads and had come to Cali hoping to connect the dots, adding that this might change if Calderón could tell them where Gilberto and Miguel were hiding. Calderón brushed this off, stating that they might search all of Cali and still never find a trace of the two.
The United States issued the Clinton List, a document specifically designed to penalize companies with ties to drug cartels. With this list in hand, Pena's work became significantly easier, and he soon identified Eurardo as the Cali Cartel's key money launderer. When Pena showed Eurardo's cash records to Carolina, she surprisingly appeared quite familiar with the details.
María received an apartment as a gift from Miguel. Claudito's mother, however, threatened María with her son, forcing her to accept the apartment and sell it. She planned to use the drug money to avenge her own son. Before Jorge's wife left the house with their children, she repeatedly confirmed with him his appointment to meet with investors that evening.
The Cali Cartel's drug lords gathered for a meeting. Jorge was particularly busy, deploying men to stand guard at various locations to prevent sudden police raids. To secure a stable life, the Cali Cartel agreed to the demand for advance payment, and everyone was already figuring out how to recoup the money within the final six months. The cartel's chief accountant, Palomari, stated that he would go back to prepare the funds.
Jorge picked up the lawyer who had been delayed and brought him to the location where Gilberto was holding the meeting. Palomari came out to greet the lawyer and led him inside. To secure drug transportation routes for the final six months, Barcha approached Amado of the Juárez Cartel. Known as the "King of the Skies," Amado readily agreed to Barcha's request but insisted that Barcha accompany him to the city of Juárez.
Chris and Firestone still had no luck in Cali. Pena told them to keep their eyes peeled, explaining that he was keeping a close watch on Eurardo. Soon after, Chris and Firestone discovered that several high-rise buildings belonged to Gilberto. They called Calderón and prepared to go in for an inspection.
Calderón suggested he would assign men to secure the area while Chris and Firestone returned to Bogotá to apply for a search warrant. To his surprise, the two agents already had the warrant in hand. Left with no choice, Calderón dispatched his men to provide support. Jorge intercepted a phone call revealing the police's plan to search the buildings. He urgently contacted Palomari, urging him to evacuate, but Palomari ignored his warnings entirely.
By the time Jorge arrived at the building, Chris and Firestone were already leading their team to move in. Rushing ahead of the agents, Jorge reached the office, quickly hiding all the account books and confidential documents. He then stood behind the door, clutching the stacks of cash he hadn't had time to conceal. As soon as Chris and Firestone entered, they seized all the documents and materials. Firestone located Palomari's office but found nothing suspicious inside.
Back at their base, Chris and Firestone were sorting and categorizing the seized documents when Calderón informed them they could not take the materials away. Meanwhile, Pena, who had been monitoring Eurardo, noticed Eurardo was preparing to travel to Panama. Just as Pena was about to follow him, he was stopped by U.S. Senate officials, who said they wanted to see the real situation in Colombia for themselves.