KINGPIN CHECKMATE

By ELIZABETH GLEICK

The Rodriguez brothers are a study in opposites. Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, the younger one, has a driven, type-A personality, so obsessive about the family's multibillion-dollar empire that he monitors the electric bills and company magazine subscriptions. Gilberto, 56, is the smooth chairman of the board, more cerebral, with a fondness for the Colombian poets, a passion for soccer, and friends in high and public places. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have long felt, however, that Gilberto's intelligence has been overrated. Believed to be the leader of the powerful Cali cocaine cartel, Gilberto, who says he is merely an honest drugstore magnate, has never been able to explain why the Medell'n drug lord Pablo Escobar-now deceased-was always trying to kill him. In any case, "the Chess Player," as Gilberto is known, miscalculated on his final move, failing to negotiate the terms of his surrender with the Colombian government. Last Friday he was arrested in a surprise raid on a Cali house. "Don't kill me," Gilberto pleaded when police plucked him out of a secret compartment. "I'm a man of peace."

Not to mention prosperity. DEA officials estimate that the Rodriguez brothers oversee 80% of the cocaine trafficking in the world, with profits of about $7 billion last year, and say that they have also begun to make deep inroads into the heroin market, previously dominated by Southeast Asian drug lords. Although Miguel remains at large, the Colombian government crowed over Gilberto's arrest. "This is the beginning of the end of the Cali cartel," announced President Ernesto Samper Pizano. A press conference at police headquarters in Bogota, where Rodriguez was paraded about like war booty, had the air of a New Year's Eve party, with confetti and streamers floating through the air. "Rodr'guez was arrested in his stronghold," says a pleased DEA official. "It shows that the Colombian government is serious about this."

The arrest of Rodriguez comes four days after federal attorneys in Miami unsealed a sweeping 161-page indictment against the Rodriguez brothers' vast operation in the U.S. The brothers are among 62 defendants, including six prominent defense attorneys, accused of varying charges, including racketeering and conspiracy. TIME has learned that the Justice Department is still probing the conduct of at least half a dozen more U.S. defense lawyers who work on drug cases.

Since the demise of the Medellin cartel in 1993 with the death of Escobar, Cali has had a stranglehold on the cocaine market. Unlike the Medellin operatives, the Cali drug lords preferred bribery to violence for controlling state officials. The Rodriguezes' counterintelligence operations have been impressively sophisticated as well. In 1991 DEA and U.S. Customs Service agents watching fence posts filled with cocaine being off-loaded in Miami were stunned to discover that Cali agents were watching them watch the fence posts. Last year Colombia seized a cartel computer with an unbreakable code encrypting its files. The computer was being used to analyze Cali phone records, determining which of the cartel's lines were tapped.

This is not to say the Rodriguez brothers never resorted to thuggery. They were plainly behind a hit squad called PEPES (People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar), which killed more than 60 of the rival drug lord's relatives and associates. Traffickers who work for the brothers are required to fill out lengthy personnel forms, enumerating every known relative-a kind of hostage list for the cartel to target or kill if the employee betrays them.

Over the past two years, however, the brothers have shown signs of burnout. They have had little time to enjoy their wealth, and are too cautious to leave Cali. The DEA suspects that Miguel has a blood disorder; Gilberto, after his arrest, asked to have his blood pressure checked. For nearly two years they tried to negotiate a surrender in return for leniency. At this point "they realize they have enough," says a senior DEA official, "so now they want to leave a legacy." Their children are being groomed for lawful pursuits, perhaps even as part of Colombia's next generation of political leaders. But first it remains to be seen if the current generation can get serious -- with Gilberto, and with the new kingpins ready to carry on the ugly business of drugs and corruption.

--Reported by Mary Matheson/Bogota, Elaine Shannon and Douglas Waller/Washington

With reporting by MARY MATHESON/BOGOTA, ELAINE SHANNON AND DOUGLAS WALLER/WASHINGTON