Rather, payment is made after the drug is resold to middlemen. However, wholesale buyers must put up collateral in the form of cash or deeds to real estate as insurance in the event off an arrest. Cali Cartel trafficking operations are extremely complicated but highly effective. When a shipment of drugs arrives in the United States, the home office faxes a list to the cell of the prospective buyers, detailing the amount of their purchases and their pager numbers. The cell contacts the buyers via pager to arrange the delivery - typically in a parking lot or on a street corner.
Deals usually take less than two minutes to consummate.
Arrangements are made for s a second meeting to make payment. After each meeting the driver alerts the head cell via cellular phone or fax, and detailed ledgers are maintained in both countries. In the event anyone in the transaction fails to call in or suspects that the police are aware of the transaction, the cell is shut down. The cartel's need for goods and services has produced thriving ancillary industries. Traffickers are aware that it takes law enforcement four or five days to acquire a court-ordered wire tap for the phones, and by that time the phone has been discarded.