‘Capturing Pablo’ coming to Cedartown

A pair of retired DEA agents who fans of the hit Netflix se-ries 'Narcos' will recognize are set to come to Cedartown later this month, bringing with them a presentation about their investigation into the Medellin cartel and the fight against the Colombian cartels in the 1980's and 1990's.

Stephen Murphy and Javier Peña are the real-life DEA agents who have been dramatically portrayed in the Netflix show over the past two seasons. The third season will be com-ing out just a week after the pair is set to be in Cedartown on Aug. 26.

It's a story that is based on a true story, but that both Murphy and Peña say isn't quite true to life.

Netflix took artistic license with how the pair were por-trayed as well. Murphy pointed out the pair swear much more than they did - and do - in real life, and that though they will admit to skirting a fine line of breaking rules, they never broke the law. Certain scenes in the first two seasons were dramatized to provide additional stakes to the investigation that if those actions had been taken in real life, they would have faced legal troubles of their own.

"Here's another one: I didn't smoke at all when I was in Co-lombia, and neither did Javier," Murphy said. "Yet it seems like every five minutes we're swearing and then lighting up a cigarette."

Otherwise, Murphy said the depictions were somewhat true to life, but dramatized for maximum effect.

So how does this pair of world travelers and former drug in-vestigators end up connected to Cedartown and heading this way to tell their story, "Capturing Pablo," at the Cedartown Performing Arts Center?

It's a story that started back in the late 1980's right here in Polk County, when then-GBI agent J.P. Foster was involved in a case involving a drug-smuggling ring.

Back then, Foster and his wife Sherri were partners involved in the investigation, and during that time the GBI sent him to south Florida where the cocaine he was tracking was coming into the United States via the Miami/ South Florida area, via the jungles of Colombia where it was being grown and processed for sale across the globe.

Foster received assistance on the case from the Drug Enforcement Agency, which is how he met Murphy. The pair collaborated on a variety of investigative tasks.

"We were much younger then, and we got to know each other well," Foster said. "Then a few years later in 1991, he was transferred to work in Colombia, which is how he got involved in the investigation into Pablo Escobar."

Murphy's involvement with the Cedartown case helped lead to 50 indictments on a local level and millions of dollars in drugs and money seized at the time, Foster said. Later, Mur-phy’s work with Peña in Colombia ended with Escobar dead on a rooftop in Medellin in 1993.

Escobar, who was head of the Medellin cartel until his death, was a major distributor of illegal drugs in the 1980s. Amassing a large fortune via his illicit business, he was directly responsible for thousands of deaths during a long and bloody war against the Colombian government, which included terrorist bombings of airliners, the storming of the Supreme Court, and hundreds of assassinations of police officers, journalists, and even presidential candidates.

His life and crimes, along with the investigators Murphy, Peña, and the countless police officers in Colombia who worked alongside American authorities who tracked Escobar down, were dramatized for the Netflix series about to enter its third season.

Foster said that when Murphy and Peña come to give their presentation "Capturing Pablo," they will give a firsthand ac-count of what happened, and "people are going to be amazed and shocked."

"People will be educated about what really happened," Fos- ter said. "Steve and Javier are the wizards who opened the curtain and saw it all."

Cedartown likely wouldn't have the chance to host such an event -which Foster called a "feather in the city's cap" - with-out his family’s longtime friendship with Murphy.

Though they kept in touch over the years, that friendship was rekindled when Sherri Foster was stationed in her role with the DEA at their headquarters in the Washington, D.C. area, where Murphy and Peña were both serving at the time. In previous years, the Fosters were also stationed in Colombia, but not during the same time when Murphy and Pena were working on the Escobar case.

Since then, the Fosters have returned to Cedartown, and Murphy and Peña have both retired and are telling their story of chasing Escobar all over the world.

The pair have also been busy in other ways, lending their time to charities, training with the U.S. Navy Seals via a consulting business, and more recently touring around with their story.

Murphy and Peña said they didn't mind the busy schedule, since it was something they were already used to doing in their past lives.

"It's a great job to have in retirement, because we get to travel around the world and meet great people everyday," Peña said.

Foster said he convinced the pair to bring their presentation to Cedartown, which they have taken all across the globe, most recently to sold-out crowds in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scot-land, and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

And it's a show the pair hope not only tells the real tale of Escobar's life and death as a drug smuggler, but also provides a real life look at the cost of illegal narcotics throughout so-ciety and reminds those who come of why they should say no to drugs.

"It's our way to continue to bring an anti-drug message to the world, one that is important," Murphy said. "We've seen firsthand what illegal drugs can do to a society, and we don't want to see that happen here in the United States."

Foster said the show has already drawn the attention of his friends in law enforcement who have heard about it from promotion on social media, and Foster has heard from those in Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and elsewhere who plan to attend.

A question-and-answer session following their presentation will also be held, Foster said, and he said they are open to answering any question.

Murphy and Peña's presentation "Capturing Pablo" will be held at the Cedartown Performing Arts Center on Aug. 26 starting at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m., with beer, wine, and concessions available for purchase. General admission for the event is $20, and a VIP ticket which includes a meet- and greet-following the show is $25.

Call or text 470-365-1968 for more information, or vis-it www.cedartownshows.com to purchase tickets.

The following birth announcements were sent by Floyd Medical Center on Aug. 17, 2017. Congratulations go out to the following new parents in the Standard Journal reading area.

Jameson Dale Barnes was born on Aug. 10, 2017 to Jessica and David Barnes of Cedartown.

Suesanna Abigail Wheeler was born on Aug. 11, 2017 to Destiny and Jeremy Wheeler of Rockmart.

Henslee Maiden was born on Aug. 14, 2017 to Brigit Clark and Dillon Maiden of Cedartown.