October 2025

The Nazi Cartel: A Truly International Production

The cocaine trade is one of the largest and most violent criminal enterprises in the world, and in 1980, one of the most powerful Bolivian drug lords joined forces with one of the 20th century's most brutal war criminals to orchestrate the overthrow of the Bolivian government and establish the world's first “cocaine state.” This is the story of The Nazi Cartel. Photographed by cinematographers Alexander Gheorghiu and Jenny Lou Ziegel and directed by Justin Webster for Sky TV, Das Nazi-Kartell (its German title) is a three-part documentary series that centers on three men: the notorious Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon"), posing as Klaus Altmann; Roberto Suarez, a Bolivian businessman who controlled 90 percent of...more