Guillermo Pallomari was the chief accountant of the Cali Cartel. Born in Chile, Pallomari moved to Colombia to manage the Cali Cartel's finances, and he ensured that nobody except for Franklin Jurado and himself could decode the ledger containing information on all of the cartel's shady business dealings. He later turned to the United States' Witness Protection Program to avoid being murdered by his own cartel during the 1990s, and his 1997 testimony ensured that the Cali leaders remained incarcerated.
Biography[]
Guillermo Pallomari was from Chile, and he became the chief accountant for the Colombian Cali Cartel; he kept track of the cartel's payments to key government officials and managed its financial connections. He was one of the most trusted men in the cartel, and he supported Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela's decision to legitimize the cartel within six months in 1994, as it would protect the cartel's members from being taken down like Pablo Escobar. He evaded capture during a police raid on his penthouse, with Agent Daniel Van Ness not finding any US dollars in his penthouse due to them being hidden by Jorge Salcedo. However, Agent Van Ness recognized Pallomari's Chilean accent from his previous rotation in Chile, and he hatched a plan to extradite him. Pallomari later went into hiding after finding out that his cartel wanted to assassinate him, as he knew too much about their operations and therefore posed a threat to Gilbero Rodriguez's surrender deal with the government. Pallomari was kept at a safehouse by Salcedo (who came to work as a double agent with the DEA), and he was repeatedly relocated in order to save his life. Eventually, the DEA managed to locate him and rescue him, and David Rodriguez - who led the search for Pallomari - was killed by the Norte del Valle Cartel before he could take Pallomari down, while his assassin Jorge Velasquez was killed by Salcedo. Pallomari was brought to the United States with his family, and he decoded a captured ledger from the Cali Cartel, revealing their influence on Colombian politics. His July 1997 testimony ensured that the Cali leaders remained locked up, and he served a few years in prison before being released.