In the novel Carlito's Way from '75 there's a character Rolando Rivas, who seems to be very obviously based on one or more people. Book came out in 1979.

Rolando had taken part in the Bay of Pigs and worked for the CIA before becoming a heroin guy in the 60s, and then by the time of After Hours (set in 1975) is setting up a network for cocaine in Colombia. Says heroin is dead, the French killed it.

Rolando has a Miami mansion described as akin to Al Capone's, private airfield, degenerate older guy who likes lesbian orgies and coke.

Rolando wants to take on the Mob and Corsicans who have allied for control of the coke trade. Rolando has a set up a network in Bogota, Cali, Medellin, and Cartagena as of 1975, services Baltimore, Philly, Detroit, NYC. He's got generals and newspapers in his pocket in South America.

He wants Carlito down in Colombia as his point man, as a street guy to train his troops in the upcoming fight for South America's coke trade. Carlito only sees rows of "crosses", death, in taking on an alliance of the Mafia and Corsicans, so he politely turns Rolando down.

"'El Commandante'was waiting. That's what Rolando was called in the old days with Batista. Had himself a private army through a couple of presidents....Rolando had been a chief of police, so you know he had a ticket for 'paredon', but he survived. Survived in the Belgian Congo and in the Bay of Pigs. Survived in the knock-around streets of New York. And made it down here (Miami) to live better than King Farouk (who he favored with his dark glasses and porno hang-up, only not so fat) and with hardly no English. Nobody's fool was Rolando Rivas-Barcelo, always liked me."


So question, who would Rolando most closely resemble in real life? Did a coke alliance of the Mob and Corsicans for South America actually happen in the 70s or 80s and who came out on top if so?

I thought this was an intriguing thread and invested more time doing research on it than I should have but it's hard to leave a stone unturned in pursuit of a good story. I was able to find several candidates who were able to fulfill some the criteria you laid out above however, there wasn't any single person who could meet all the requirements of being at Bay of Pigs, The Congo, be around Carlito Brigante prior to 1975, have a Corsican connection and worked for the CIA. The best possible candidates I found were; Arnaldo Ochoa, Eulalio Francisco (Frank Castro), Sal Magluta and Barry Seal, Rolando could be an amalgamation of all four persons.

If you go back further, I believe it all can be traced to Pope Pius 12 and the ‘Rat Lines’ it was part of ‘Paper Clip’ in which the top Nazi Scientists were split between American 🇺🇸 and the USSR.

Claus Barbie was a Nazi involved in France 🇫🇷, he was moved to South American and helped create the cocaine market, I don’t believe he is your character in the book. However, whoever the character is in actuality, more than likely encountered Klaus Barbie.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/how-nazi-butcher-klaus-barbie-6828080

https://www.dw.com/en/the-ratlines-what-did-the-vatican-know-about-nazi-escape-routes/a-52555068