How to... Negotiate with a Narco

Adventurer Aldo Kane has faced deadly volcanoes, deserts and oceans, but perhaps his most treacherous encounter was with the mind of a criminal.

Words: Matt Ray

Photos: Georg Ismar/agefotostock, Aldo Kane

As a security specialist for TV travel shows, Kane is responsible for the safety of the crew – but not all dangers are clear cut. When working on The Real Narcos, a Channel 4 documentary about the drug cartels of Peru and Colombia, Kane had to risk-assess the people they’d be interviewing – hitmen, known as sicario, who had to agree to tell their stories on camera for no fee.

“So I’m sat in a café with Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, aka Popeye, Pablo Escobar’s number-one general,” recalls Kane, “asking him to pass the salt, and chatting about his wife and, occasionally, about the people he disembowelled.”

Explorer and former Royal Marine Aldo Kane provides support to film and TV crews in extreme environments

Don't be too enamoured

“When I was in the Royal Marines, I was taught how to read people, how to gauge reactions, how to respond to violence or step down, and the basics have served me well. But building rapport with a professional hitman is difficult – a sicario’s job is to get close enough to put two rounds in your head. That type of person is very sneaky, manipulative and untrustworthy.”

Leave your opinions at the door

“You’re there as an observer, so you can’t be judgmental. It’s easy for us to sit in comfort and safety in our ivory towers, but then you go there and see what the options are. For some of these assassins, their government is the cartel. Is it right just because a government says it right? If you put the boot on the other foot, what’s right and wrong? It is very difficult to have any empathy with someone who’s personally shot 257 people in the head, but that’s what it is.”

Read the signs

“Unless you’ve been trained, you subconsciously give away what you’re thinking, whether you want to or not. Talk to someone for five minutes and you’ll probably be able to work out when they’re lying, when they’re recalling information, and whether they’re creative or methodical. But hitmen are difficult to read because, by the very nature of what they do, they’re cheating you.”

Be ready for anything

“As soon as you add drugs to the equation, instincts go out of the window, because people act erratically: self-conscious, weird, paranoid. Then bring in money and the fear of death and you can end up in a very horrible situation very quickly if something goes wrong. You can do as much as possible to mitigate the risk, but it’s right on the edge of what’s acceptable. I’d rather be inside an erupting volcano.”

Turn others’ vanity to your advantage

“Egos are usually fuelled by people bowing down: if you don’t give them that quarter in the first place, they usually don’t step up to that role. It’s a different situation here, because they’ve got weapons, but it’s their egos that help us gain access to film them. What people do if they feel valued is amazing. So we got the interview, and Popeye is now world-famous for being Pablo Escobar’s right-hand man. It’s a strange, strange world.”