This sparked debate about whether he killed himself or whether he was shot dead. "Ruthless and immensely powerful", several political leaders, such as President Virgilio Barco Vargas, became convinced that the drug lords were becoming so powerful that they could oust the formal government and run the country.[1]. [2023 Business Model]. Otoniel is a household name and has been hugely powerful, especially in the north west of the country. [17], Soon, the demand for cocaine greatly increased in the United States, which led to Escobar organizing more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the country. Dubbed "The King of Cocaine", he left behind a controversial legacy upon his death at the age of 44. [citation needed], Escobar's widow (Mara Henao, now Mara Isabel Santos Caballero), son (Juan Pablo, now Sebastin Marroqun Santos) and daughter (Manuela) fled Colombia in 1995 after failing to find a country that would grant them asylum. I met a man who claimed to be Ersa at a ball and took her on the road of drug trafficking. [12][15] Escobar and many other Colombian drug lords bought Colombian politicians, in both the New Liberalism Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, by contributing political donations to their political campaigns. The trio was profiled in a Time magazine cover story in July 1991. Police chief Jorge Vargas has said the drug lord was fearful of capture, "never approaching inhabited areas". Mr Duque, quoted by AFP news agency, described the operation as "the biggest penetration of the jungle ever seen in the military history of our country". Al Capone, John Gotti, Frank Lucas, and Whitey Bulger are just some of the gangsters, drug dealers, and hitmen whose names are notorious from coast to coast. The YouTuber behind the 'African Drug Lord' pranks reveals his secrets - and a disturbing truth about our online privacy. Aliases: "El Mexicano". He founded what later became theColombo crime family in 1928 and was the family's boss for over three decades. According to police, a raid at the . Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen, but this claim is denied by his Southeast Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson. [39], Dario Antonio suga David, also known as "Mao", is a Colombian drug lord who is the co-leader of the violent organization Los Urabeos, also known as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas. Photo credit: EPA. He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, an island called Norman's Cay about 350km (220mi) southeast of the Florida coast. It was in 2004 that heir to her legacy and to some of her vast fortune that . He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia. [16] Although the Medelln Cartel was only established in the early 1970s, it expanded after Escobar met several drug lords on a farm in April 1978, and by the end of 1978 they had transported some 19,000 kilograms of cocaine to the United States. He first entered into the criminal world by selling stolen vehicles at his fathers used car business. [32] Extradited in 2013 from Colombia to the United States, Barrera pleaded guilty in federal court to a number of charges and in 2016 was sentenced to 35 years in prison and a $10 million fine. Legends state that he bought drugs from the "Golden Triangle" and smuggled them into the U.S. using the coffins of servicemen. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. . According to his brother, Escobar did not purchase Norman's Cay; it was instead a sole venture of Lehder's. But the parallels perhaps stop there - Otoniel is not as well-known outside of Colombia. [69] In 2018, National Geographic published another article on the hippos which found disagreement among environmentalists on whether they were having a positive or negative impact, but that conservationists and locals particularly those in the tourism industry were mostly in support of their continued presence. [35] He was recaptured by Colombian authorities in Cali in March 2003. Arturo Beltran Leyva's own downfall was even more unsubtle. The first step was to build from scratch a combined dataset with names of Tolkien characters and prescription drugs (a bunch of them . The Famous People. Mr Untouchable, written with Tom Folsom, and a documentary DVD of the same name, about his life. Colombian President Ivan Duque said the demolition "means that history is not going to be written in terms of the perpetrators, but by recognizing the victims," hoping the demolition would showcase that the city had evolved significantly and had more to offer than the legacy left by the cartels.[72]. He was killed while attempting to flee. The power of the Colombian drug barons took off in the 1970s, fueled by a massive demand for cocaine in the United States and Europe. Colombia's fierce battle with cocaine traffickers, More than 100 police hurt in French May Day protests, Fighter jets are roaring over my home in Sudan, JP Morgan snaps up troubled US bank First Republic. Marcos Arturo was the leader Beltran-Leyva cartel which was run by him and his three brothers, Carlos, Alfredo and Hector in Mexico. Fabio Ochoa Restrepo may have had a wholesome background in the family restaurant and cattle farming business, but that didnt stop his sons Juan David, Jorge Luis, and Fabio from getting into drug trafficking. In 1991, Escobar surrendered to authorities, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on a host of charges, but struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President Csar Gaviria, with the ability of being housed in his own, self-built prison, La Catedral. He earned so much community support that capturing him in Kingston, Jamaica was a harrowing five-week ordeal with many casualties. (LSTM) to classify Tolkien characters and prescription drug names using Keras. [5] The Cali Cartel was less violent than its rival, the Medelln Cartel, more inclined toward bribery rather than violence. [23][24], After the assassination of Luis Carlos Galn, the administration of Csar Gaviria moved against Escobar and the drug cartels. mercenary.[10][11][12]. Levyas forfeiture amount was set based on a forgiving estimate of the value of the cocaine that he smuggled to the United States border. Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuelas moniker El Ajedrecista translates to The Chess Player in English and was bestowed upon him because of how carefully he considered his every move. Dairo Antonio suga, better known as Otoniel, was seized after a joint operation by the army, air force and police on Saturday. [15] Some people have said that Lehder, with German ancestry, was allegedly also active in the small Quintn Lam Movement, an indigenous guerrilla that was related to the FARC and the M-19, but these allegations haven't been proven. Initially, Escobar tried to bribe the Medelln judges who were forming the case against him. [7] Several political leaders, such as President Virgilio Barco Vargas, became convinced that the ruthless drug lords were intent on becoming so powerful that they could oust the formal government and run the country. Escobar was initially involved in many illegal activities in Puerto Vallarta with Oscar Bernal Aguirrerunning petty street scams, selling contraband cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, and stealing cars. He is accused of producing cocaine in Colombia, storing it in Apure, and then transporting it to Central America and Mexico before smuggling it into the United States. Lehder is estimated to have spent $4.5 million on the island in total. He began gearing up much of the government resources into cracking down on the Medelln Cartel. Despite revolutionizing the Colombian drug trade with mules and air travel, Lehders true dream was to head up a new Colombian Neo-Nazi government. Otoniel was captured in his rural hideout in Antioquia province in north-western Colombia, close to the border with Panama. The ongoing Mexican government campaign has led to the killing of two major drug lords, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas at the end of 2010, and the arrest in June 2011 of Moreno's apparent successor Jesus Mendez Vargas. Dubdogz's "Pablo Escobar" (feat. Escobar's influence allowed him to discover the plan in advance and make a successful escape, spending the remainder of his life evading the police.[25][26]. They then distributed it to locations in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. Escobar has been the subject of several books, including the following: Two major feature films on Escobar, Escobar (2009) and Killing Pablo (2011), were announced in 2007. Escobar was shot and killed while trying to escape from the roof. Originally born Zhang Qifu, this infamous drug lord got military training from the Kuomintang and the Burmese Army before becoming independent and establishing himself as the Opium King of Myanmar. Accounts of Escobar's continued criminal activities while in prison began to surface in the media, which prompted the government to attempt to move him to a more conventional jail on 22 July 1992. Escobar is rumored to have started his criminal career with his gang by stealing tombstones, sandblasting their inscriptions, and reselling them, though his most likely first crime was street fraud. In the early 1970s, he was a thief and bodyguard, and he made a quick $700,000 on the side kidnapping and ransoming a Medelln executive before entering the drug trade. Raffaela D'Alterio is an Italian Mafia godmother who was the leader of a faction of the Camorra family. Ultimately, authorities were unable to link her funds to illegal activity, and she was released. Henao even successfully negotiated for her son's life by personally guaranteeing he would not seek revenge against the cartel or participate in the drug trade. Joe Profaci was an Italian-bornNew York Citymafiaboss. [60] Escobar's body was exhumed on 28 October 2006 at the request of some of his relatives in order to take a DNA sample to confirm the alleged paternity of an illegitimate child and remove all doubt about the identity of the body that had been buried next to his parents for 12 years. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's death, and hence left on the untended estate. Through this, he was responsible for community projects such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. [14], Escobar had been involved in organized crime for a decade when the cocaine trade began to spread in Colombia in the mid-1970s. Vain says he can find a name by "researching their gamer tag (a . I fell in love with his desire to help people and his compassion for their hardship. Alfredo Beltran Leyva smuggled multi-ton loads of methamphetamine and cocaine from South America and Mexico into the United States. The campaign began in the summer of 1995, leading to the arrest of several Cali leaders; Gilberto Rodrguez Orejuela was arrested on 9 June. In addition to his drug-related crimes, he also laundered money through Colombia to finance his fleets. According to a BBC Mundo Mexico report, the 37 drug lords "have jeopardized Mexico national security." As of 8 January 2016, 25 drug lords had been captured, eight had been killed and four remained fugitives. The Rodriguez-Orejuela family alone amassed a fortune of more than $250 billion in worldwide assets, according to the DEA.[6]. The building was initially built for Escobar's wife but was gutted by a Cali Cartel car bomb in 1988 and had remained unoccupied ever since, becoming an attraction to foreign tourists seeking out Escobar's physical legacy. By the time of his arrest in 1995, he dominated much of the U.S. market, operating large-scale cocaine operations in most of the major U.S. cities. Several of them, notably Pablo Escobar, were long considered among the world's most dangerous and most wanted men by U.S. intelligence. [59], Escobar's sister, Luz Maria Escobar, also made multiple gestures in attempts to make amends for the drug baron's crimes. List of famous drug lords, with photos, bios, and other information when available. Escobar left high school in 1966 just before his 17th birthday, before returning two years later with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria. He was the third of seven children and grew up in poverty, in the neighboring city of Medellin. The following year, the agent who arrested Escobar was assassinated. Frank Lucas was a notorious drug trafficker from the 1960s and the 1970s. In 1982, the Drug Enforcement Administration indicted him in a money laundering operation, but he fled back to Mexico where he was finally arrested in 1985. On 2 December 1993, Escobar was found in a house in a middle-class residential area of Medellin by Colombian special forces using technology provided by the United States. [43][44] Vallejo would subsequently testify in Galn's assassination. Read about our approach to external linking. [27][28] It is estimated that she was responsible for the homicides of around 200 people in Colombia, Florida, New York, and California. His killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000people. [12], Soon after Escobar's death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medelln Cartel, the cocaine market became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders were either killed or captured by the Colombian government. Netflix's original show Narcos depicts the life of Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel. Drug barons of Colombia refer to some of the most notable drug lords which operate in illegal drug trafficking in Colombia. [4] Jos Santacruz Londoo, Gilberto Rodrguez Orejuela, and Miguel Rodrguez Orejuela were key figures in the Cali Cartel in the end of 1970s. Dataset. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (/skbr/; Spanish:[palo eskoa]; 1 December 1949 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and a politician, who was the founder and sole leader of the Medelln Cartel. His motivation to join the MAS was to retaliate against the M-19 guerrilla movement, which, on 19 November 1981, attempted to kidnap him in order to ask for a ransom, but he escaped from the kidnappers and they only managed to shoot him in the leg. [51] According to her son, Henao fell in love with Escobar "because of his naughty smile [and] the way he looked at [her]. Barnes led The Council into an international drug trafficking ring, in partnership with the Italian-American Mafia, until his arrest in 1977. In May 1976, Escobar and several of his men were arrested and found in possession of 39 pounds (18kg) of white paste after returning to Medelln with a heavy load from Ecuador. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (/ s k b r /; Spanish: [palo eskoa]; 1 December 1949 - 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and a politician, who was the founder and sole leader of the Medelln Cartel.Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar was the wealthiest criminal in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of . After many months, the case was dropped. Although only an alternate, he was automatically granted parliamentary immunity and the right to a diplomatic passport under Colombian law. Colombia's armed forces later released a photo showing its soldiers guarding Otoniel, who was in handcuffs and wearing rubber boots. Marroqun aimed to publish the book in hopes to resolve any inaccuracies regarding his father's excursions during the 1990s. And the comparisons with Pablo Escobar are understandable. For other uses, see, infiltrate every level of the Colombian government, Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw, Pablo Escobar: El Patrn del Mal (Pablo Escobar, The Boss Of Evil), "10 facts reveal the absurdity of Pablo Escobar's wealth", "Here's How Rich Pablo Escobar Would Be If He Was Alive Today", "Pablo Escobar Gaviria English Biography Articles and Notes", "Pablo Emilio Escobar 1949 1993 9 Billion USD The business of crime 5 'success' stories", "Familiares exhumaron cadver de Pablo Escobar para verificar plenamente su identidad", "Decline of the Medelln Cartel and the Rise of the Cali Mafia", "Escobar's Former Mansion Will Now Be A Theme Park", "Colombia: Coexistence, Legal Confrontation, and War with Illegal Armed Groups", "Cali Colombia Nacional Pablo Escobar financi la toma del Palacio de Justicia Escobar financi toma del Palacio de Justicia", "25 years on, Colombia still mourns Escobar plane bombing, still wants answers", "Colombian Drug Baron Escapes Luxurious Prison After Gunfight", "Escobar escape humiliates Colombian leaders", "Loving Pablo Director on Reuniting Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz: It's Been Very Intense", "Me Matan, Limon! [58] In 2014, Marroqun published Pablo Escobar, My Father under his birth name. He was the leader of the "Urabenos" gang which is situated the northern part of the country. Myraah uses sophisticated AI algorithms to generate brandworthy names and it's free. President Ivn Duque hailed Otoniel's capture in a televised video message. [7] As a result, the Medelln Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44thbirthday.[8]. Before his downfall, estimates of Lehder's annual income ranged as high as $300 million. He was known for violence and cruelty in eliminating rival gang members, the most infamous incident being the St. Valentines Day Massacre. He turned himself in during 1991 and served only five years. In 2007, Barnes released a book, Mr. Untouchable, written with Tom Folsom, and a documentary DVD of the same title. [64][65] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd and, after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities. So, just how much money can these violent criminals make by peddling forbidden substances? 4 Raffaela D'Alterio. [1] Escobar and Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new island trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, called Norman's Cay. All this, however, offers small encouragement as Mexico tries to . He gained plenty of popularity by sponsoring charities and sports but eventually undermined his own reputation with excessive and often indiscriminate violence. [39][40], Among Escobar's biographers, only Vallejo has given a detailed explanation of his role in the 1985 Palace of Justice siege. 2 leader of the same Medellin Cartel that Carlos Lehder helped establish, Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was one of the most wanted men in Colombia while he was at large. [37][38] On 24 July, a video in which Vallejo had accused Santofimio of instigating Escobar to eliminate presidential candidate Galn was aired by RCN Television of Colombia. While throwing a Christmas party at his lavish home in 2009, he and his pals came . Jemeker Thompson: Crack Queen of L.A 42m. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Amado Carrillo Fuentes was known for his brutality after murdering his boss, Rafael Aguilar Guajardo, and seizing control of the Jurez Cartel. Drug traffickers are often wanted for their crimes in multiple countries since a lot of their money is earned by sneaking illegal narcotics across borders. Tuco Salamanca. Responsible for the production of meth, cocaine, heroin and marijuana, as well as its trafficking across the border into the US, Marcos Arturo . [70], By October 2021, the Colombian government had started a program of chemically sterilizing the animals. Her statements prompted the reopening of the case in 2008; Vallejo was asked to testify, and many of the events she had described in her book and testimonial were confirmed by Colombia's Commission of Truth. At this time, the hard life on the streets of Medellin had polished them into gangster bullies in the eyes of teachers. He then studied in college with the goal of becoming a criminal lawyer, a politician, and eventually the president, but had to give up because of lack of money. Drug barons of Colombia refer to some of the most notable drug lords which operate in illegal drug trafficking in Colombia.Several of them, notably Pablo Escobar, were long considered among the world's most dangerous and most wanted men by U.S. intelligence. This article is about the Colombian drug lord. Otoniel now faces a number of charges, including sending shipments of cocaine to the US, killing police officers and recruiting children. [67], The National Geographic Channel produced a documentary about them titled Cocaine Hippos. When we talk of drug lords, probably the first name to crosses our minds would be of El Chapothe most significant drug lord in history! [41][42] These events led to further investigation into the siege that resulted with the conviction of a high-ranking former colonel and a former general, later sentenced to 30 and 35 years in prison, respectively, for the forced disappearance of the detained after the siege. [54][55][56] The judge ordered the seizing of assets for about $1m each. [79] Details about them, and additional films about Escobar, are listed below. Dairo Antonio suga was led away in handcuffs following the raid. [61] A video of the exhumation was broadcast by RCN, angering Marroqun, who accused his uncle, Roberto Escobar, and cousin, Nicolas Escobar, of being "merchants of death" by allowing the video to air. Legends state that he bought drugs from the "Golden Triangle" and smuggled them into the U.S. using the coffins of servicemen. A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a type of crime boss, who is in charge of a drug-trafficking network, . According to the Colombian National Police intelligence service DIJIN, Barrera bribed numerous Colombian policemen in order to maintain his drug emporium in Bogot. [16] Hence, Escobar and many other Colombian drug lords managed to infiltrate every level of the Colombian government, because many of the political candidates whom they backed financially, were eventually elected. Three months later, Lara-Bonilla was murdered. While the Medelln Cartel was involved in a brutal campaign of violence against the Colombian government, the Cali Cartel grew in power, reaching its peak in the early to mid-1990s when they controlled some 80% of the world's cocaine supply and earned an estimated $8 billion a year. The journalist stated that Escobar had financed the operation, which was committed by M-19; but she blamed the army for the killings of more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court magistrates, M-19 members, and employees of the cafeteria. Londoo escaped La Picota Prison in Bogot on 11 January 1996. . This German-Colombian drug lord helped to co-found the infamous Medellin Cartel, along with several other figures who make this list. [6] In 1992, the DEA seized two of Santacruz Londoo's cocaine conversion laboratories in Brooklyn. [19], In Congress, the new Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara-Bonilla, had become Escobar's opponent, accusing Escobar of criminal activity from the very first day of Congress.