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Wikipedia

Drug lord

January 25, 2023

"Drug king" redirects here. For the film, see The Drug King.

A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly in possession of something illegal but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of staff. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltration into their networks, often using informants from within the organizations.

Organisational role

Since the 1970s, research on organized crime leadership (and, by extension, drug lords) has evolved. Where once studies emphasised the importance of the leader's human capital (e.g. individual traits), it has now developed to focus upon the leader's social capital (e.g. information and resource brokers, social status, access to information).[1]

List of well-known drug lords

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo

Main articles: Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Drug barons of Colombia

Known as "El Padrino" (The Godfather) and "El Jefe de Jefes" (The boss of bosses) was born in 1946, and is the founder and former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, the first mexican super-cartel ever established. He had strong ties with the Cali Cartel and Escobar's Medellin Cartel as he distributed drugs for them. He controlled almost all of the drug trafficking in Mexico and the corridors along the Mexico–United States border in 1970s and the 80s. Until the end of the 1980s, Guadalajara Cartel headed by Félix Gallardo was one of the most powerful cartels in the world. He had a huge involvement in politics and bribed political authorities to protect himself and his business. After his capture in 1989 for the alleged murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, Félix and allegedly the Mexican Government decided to divide up the trade he controlled as it would be more efficient and less likely to be brought down by law enforcement.

Félix Gallardo instructed his lawyer to convene the nation's top drug narcos in 1989 at a house in the resort of Acapulco where he designated the plazas (turfs) or territories. The Tijuana route would go to his nephews, the Arellano Felix brothers. The Ciudad Juárez route would go to the Carrillo Fuentes family and to Rafael Aguilar Guajardo . Miguel Caro Quintero would run the Sonora corridor. Joaquín Guzmán Loera and Héctor Luis Palma Salazar were left the Pacific coast operations, with Ismael Zambada García joining them soon after and thus becoming the Sinaloa Cartel, who was not yet a party to the 1989 pact. Félix Gallardo still planned to oversee national operations and remained one of Mexico's major traffickers, maintaining his organization via mobile phone until he was transferred in the 1990s to the Altiplano maximum security prison and lost all remaining contacts with other drug lords. On 18 December 2014, federal authorities approved his request to transfer to a medium-security prison in Guadalajara (State of Jalisco), due to his declining health. He still strongly denies any involvement in the murder of Enrique Camarena. He was particularly known for using less violence and many even attribute the current bloodshed due to the turf war between rival cartels to the fall of Félix

Pablo Escobar Gaviria

Main article: Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) was a Colombian drug overlord. Often referred to as the "World's Greatest Outlaw", Escobar was perhaps the most elusive cocaine trafficker to have ever existed. He is considered the 'King of Cocaine' and is known as the boss of all drug lords[2] In 1989, Forbes magazine declared Escobar as the seventh-richest man in the world, with an estimated personal fortune of US$30 billion.[3] In 1986, he attempted to enter Colombian politics. It is said that Pablo Escobar once burnt two million dollars in cash to keep his daughter warm while on the run.[4] Escobar was the boss of the famous Medellin Cartel, the most powerful drug empire to exist and is said to have had over twice the power and money as their rivals, the Cali Cartel. Pablo was known as paisa Robin Hood, for his contributions to the poor, but was also known for murdering anyone who got in his way. It took hundreds of thousands of men to kill him, and finally on 2 December, Search Bloc killed Pablo on a rooftop.

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán

Main article: Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán

Guzman is the most notorious drug lord of all time, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).[5] In the 1980s, he was a member of the Guadalajara Cartel and used to work for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. After Félix's arrest in 1989, Guzmán formed the Sinaloa Cartel along with Ismael Zambada García and Héctor Luis Palma Salazar. He is well known for his use of sophisticated tunnels—similar to the one located in Douglas, Arizona—to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States in the early 1990s. In 1993, a 7.3-ton shipment of his cocaine, concealed in cans of chili peppers and destined for the United States, was seized in Tecate, Baja California. That same year he barely escaped an ambush by the Tijuana Cartel led by Ramon Arellano Felix and his gunmen. After being captured in Guatemala, he was jailed in 1993 and in 1995 he was moved to the maximum-security prison called Puente Grande, but paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates. On 22 February 2014, Guzmán was arrested again. He is considered a folk hero in the narcotics world, celebrated by musicians who write and perform a narcocorridos (drug ballads) extolling his exploits.[6] For example, Los Traviezos recorded a ballad extolling his life on the run.[7] In July 2015, Guzman escaped a second time from a maximum-security prison through a hole in a shower floor that led to a mile-long tunnel, ending at a nearby house.[8] A large-scale manhunt ensued. On 8 January 2016, Guzmán was captured by the Mexican Marines.[9]

Osiel Cárdenas Guillén

Main article: Osiel Cárdenas Guillén


Osiel Cárdenas Guillén (born 18 May 1967) is a former Mexican drug lord who was the leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Guillén eventually became involved in the illegal drug trade the Gulf Cartel before becoming its leader in 1997 by assassinating drug lord Salvador Gómez Herrera. Guillén recruited over 30 deserters from the Mexican Army's special forces unit, the Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales, to form the cartel's armed wing; this group would go on to be among the founding members of Los Zetas, another Mexican drug cartel. In 1999, Guillén and a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen threatened two U.S. federal agents at gunpoint, which triggered a massive combined effort from American and Mexican law enforcement agencies to crack down on the leadership structure of the Gulf Cartel and led to Guillén becoming one of the most wanted criminals in the world. Guillén was arrested in Mexico in 2003 and deported to the U.S. in 2007, where he remains incarcerated to this day.[10][11]

Jorge Alberto Rodriguez

Jorge Alberto Rodriguez, also known as Don Cholito, is a notorious Argentine-born, Puerto Rican and Colombian mixed drug lord from New York, who headed the 400 criminal organization, a dismantled secret cell of the Cali Cartel. Pulled into the drug trade at age 12, he left home at age 14 to begin working for his Father, Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, who headed the Cali Cartel. Within six years he had amassed a fortune exceeding over US$300 million by shipping drugs from Colombia to nearly every state in the U.S. He was one of the most ruthless international drug lords unknown to law enforcement or governments. During that time, the murder rate and cocaine-related hospital emergencies in the United States doubled. He was arrested on July 6, 1990 in Tallahassee, Florida and sentenced to a 25-year prison term for a number of federal violations. Following his conviction, Rodriguez continued to operate his illicit business from behind bars, importing as much as 12,500 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. each month and ordering numerous murders of informants, witnesses, in the U.S. and Colombia. He reigned and flourished while incarcerated until he was placed in court-ordered high-security isolation in 1994. According to the Bureau of Prisons, Rodriguez was released in 2012.[12][13][14]

Marcola

Main article: Marcola

Born on April 13, 1968 in Osasco (a city located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil), Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known as "Marcola" is one of the founders and the current leader of Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), the largest and the most powerful Brazilian criminal organization.[15] A Brazilian with Bolivian origins, Marcola (whose criminal career began when he was a child, at the age of nine and currently serving a sentence of 234 years in prison for murder, drug trafficking and other crimes) is the current leader of PCC and commands this powerful crime syndicate from inside the Taubaté Prison, one of most infamous prisons in Brazil. Under the command of Marcola, the PCC expanded its influence outside Brazil (notoriously they are territories of the PCC: Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Paraguay and Peru). The PCC is notorious for its use of violence, for its numerous confrontations with police officers and because of their violent conflicts over territory control and the control of drug trafficking against another powerful Brazilian criminal organization, the Comando Vermelho (or CV), a powerful crime syndicate based in the city of Rio de Janeiro.[16]

Griselda Blanco

Main article: Griselda Blanco

Griselda Blanco (1943–2012), known as the "Godmother of Cocaine", was a drug lady who operated between Miami and Colombia during the 1970s and 1980s. During the height of her operation, she smuggled nearly 1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb) of cocaine into the U.S. every month through a network in south Florida.[17] She was noted for her ruthlessness and use of extreme violence, employing tactics such as publicly assassinating people in broad daylight, bayoneting a rival trafficker inside Miami International Airport, and inventing the drive-by motorcycle shooting execution method.[18][19] It was estimated that she was responsible for the homicides of 200 people in Colombia, Florida, New York, and California.[18] Arrested in 1985 for drug-trafficking charges, she was subsequently convicted and spent almost 20 years in a U.S. prison.[20] She was killed by motorcycle hitmen in Colombia on 3 September 2012 as she was coming out of a butcher's shop.[21]

Roberto Suárez Gómez

Main article: Roberto Suárez Goméz

Pablo Escobar started to buy cocaine from Roberto Suárez in the 1970s when he had just created the Medellín cartel.[citation needed] Suárez started building cocaine laboratories in the middle of the Bolivian Amazon jungle and in the zone of "Los Yungas" in the end of the 1960s and created the first cocaine cartel in Bolivia called "La Corporación".[citation needed] At first, the Medellin cartel bought cocaine at $8,000 per kilogram ($3,600/lb). La Corporación then sold cocaine-based paste to Colombian cartels, and they finished and distributed it in the east of the United States.[citation needed] The finished cocaine was sold directly to Mexican cartels for distribution in the west of the United States. Suárez received untold amounts of money, but as detectives and journalists discovered the corruption between Bolivia and the U.S., the empire Suárez built began to fall.[citation needed] Suárez was arrested by the DEA in 1988, and Escobar took over of the production and distribution of 80% of the world's cocaine.[citation needed]

Rick Ross

Main article: "Freeway" Rick Ross

Rick Ross (born January 28, 1960),[22] a.k.a. "Freeway" Ricky Ross, is a convicted drug-trafficker best known for the drug empire he presided over in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.[23] The nickname "Freeway" came from Ross growing up next to the 110 Harbor Freeway.[24] During the height of his drug dealing, Ross was said to have made "$2 million in one day." According to the Oakland Tribune, "In the course of his rise, prosecutors estimate that Ross transported several tons of cocaine to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, and made more than $600 million in the process."[25]

In 1998, Ross was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of purchasing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent during a sting operation. Ross became the subject of controversy later that year when a series of articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News revealed a connection between Ross's main cocaine source, Danilo Blandon, and the CIA as part of the Iran–Contra affair.[26] Ross's case went before the federal court of appeals and his sentence was reduced to 20 years. He was later moved to a halfway house in March 2009 and released from custody on September 29, 2009.[22]

In June 2014, Ross released his book, Freeway Rick Ross: The Untold Autobiography, co-written by crime-writer Cathy Scott.[27]

Manuel Noriega

 
Manuel Noriega, following his arrest by U.S. authorities.
Main article: Manuel Noriega

For more than a decade, Panamanian Manuel Noriega was a highly paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.[citation needed] Noriega facilitated "guns-for-drugs" flights for the Nicaraguan Contras, whom the U.S. were heavily supporting: providing protection and pilots, safe havens for drug cartel officials, and discreet banking facilities.[28] He was arrested in 1990.

Amado Carrillo Fuentes

Main article: Amado Carrillo Fuentes

As a top drug-trafficker in Mexico, Amado Carrillo (1956–1997) was transporting four times more cocaine to the U.S. than any other trafficker, building a fortune of over $25 billion.[citation needed] He was called El Señor de Los Cielos ("The Lord of the Skies") for his use of over 22 private 727 jet airliners to transport Colombian cocaine to municipal airports and dirt airstrips around Mexico, including Juárez.[citation needed] He was a member of the Guadalajara Cartel and worked for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. After Félix was arrested, Amado formed the Juarez Cartel. In the months before his death, the DEA described Carrillo as the most-powerful drug trafficker of his era, and many analysts claimed profits neared $25 billion, making him one of the world's wealthiest men.[citation needed]

Ramon Arellano Felix

Main article: Ramon Arellano Felix

Ramón Arellano Félix was a Mexican drug lord who was a founding member of the Tijuana drug cartel (a.k.a. the Arellano-Félix Organization) alongside his brothers.[29] Arellano Félix was allegedly one of the most ruthless enforcers in the organization and was a suspect in various murders. He had been linked by Mexican police to the 1997 massacre of twelve members of a family outside of Ensenada, Baja California. The family was related to a drug dealer that had an unpaid debt to the Arellano Félix Cartel.[citation needed] On September 18, 1997, Arellano Félix was placed on the FBI's ten most-wanted list.[30] In a sealed indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, he was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana.[citation needed]. Ramon and his brothers, primarily Benjamin Arellano Felix were the undisputed leaders of the Tijuana Cartel and developed an intense rivalry with Joaquin Guzman Loera’s Sinaloa Cartel. The war between both organizations lasted more than 10 years until Ramón was killed in Mazatlán on February 10, 2002 by policemen allegedly on the payroll of the rival, Sinaloa Cártel.

Ismael Zambada García

Main article: Ismael Zambada García

Ismael Zambada García is a drug smuggler in Mexico.[31] Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor, José Santiago Vasconcelos, called Zambada "drug dealer No. 1" and said the fugitive has become more powerful as his fellow kingpins have fallen, including one who was allegedly killed on Zambada's orders.[citation needed]

Klaas Bruinsma

Main article: Klaas Bruinsma (drug lord)

Klaas Bruinsma (1953–1991) was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland.[citation needed] Bruinsma was known as "De Lange" ("the tall one") and as "De Dominee" ("the preacher") because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others.[citation needed]

Arturo Beltran Leyva

Main article: Arturo Beltran Leyva

Marcos Arturo Beltrán Leyva (September 27, 1961 – December 16, 2009) was the leader of the Mexican drug-trafficking organization known as the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, which is headed by the Beltrán Leyva brothers: Marcos Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo and Héctor.[32] The cartel was engaged in cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine production, transportation, and wholesaling. It controlled numerous drug-trafficking corridors into the United States. and was also responsible for human smuggling, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder, contract killing, torture, gun-running, and other acts of violence in Mexico.[33] The organization was connected with the assassinations of numerous Mexican law-enforcement officials.[33]

Frank Lucas

Main article: Frank Lucas (drug lord)

Frank Lucas was a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem, New York during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle. Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen,[34][35] but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson.[36] His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster starring Denzel Washington.

Leroy Barnes

Main article: Leroy Barnes

Leroy Antonio "Nicky" Barnes (born October 15, 1933) was a former drug lord and crime boss of the notorious African-American crime organization known as The Council, which controlled the heroin trade in Harlem, New York during the 1970s.[37] In 2007 he released a book, Mr Untouchable, written with Tom Folsom, and a documentary DVD of the same name, about his life.[38][39] In the 2007 film American Gangster, Barnes is portrayed by Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Zhenli Ye Gon

Main article: Zhenli Ye Gon
 
Part of the currency seized from Ye Gon's home

Zhenli Ye Gon (traditional Chinese: 葉真理;[40] born January 31, 1963, Shanghai, People's Republic of China) is a Mexican businessman of Chinese origin accused of trafficking pseudoephedrine into Mexico from Asia. At the time of his arrest, he had $207 million in cash and 18 million Mexican pesos in his house. He claimed that he was forced by Javier Lozano Alarcón, putatively identified as the Secretary of Labor, to keep it at his home and that this money would be used during Felipe Calderón's presidential campaign in 2006. He is the legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México. The charges against him were dismissed with prejudice in August 2009[41] as a result of the efforts of his attorneys, Manuel J. Retureta [42] and A. Eduardo Balarezo.[43]

Christopher Coke

Main article: Christopher Coke

Michael Christopher Coke (born 13 March 1969),[44] a.k.a. Dudus,[45] is a Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse gang. He is the youngest son of drug lord Lester Lloyd Coke whose extradition had also, prior to his 1992 death in a Jamaican prison cell, been requested by the U.S.[45] Until the younger Coke's handover to U.S. forces on 24 June 2010,[citation needed] "Dudus" served as the de facto leader of Tivoli Gardens in the city of Kingston;[45] prior to his 2010 capture Jamaican police were unable to enter this neighborhood without community consent.[45]

The son of a prominent drug lord, Coke grew up wealthy, going to school with children of the country's political elite.[citation needed] Ruling the gang where his father left off, he became a leader in the community of Tivoli Gardens, distributing money to the area's poor, creating employment, and setting up community centers.[46]

In 2009, the U.S. began requesting his extradition, and in May 2010, a recalcitrant Government of Jamaica issued a warrant.[45] That same month the government took steps to capture Coke. In a run-up to Coke's arrest, more than 70 people–all but one of them civilians–died in a 24 May 2010 raid of Tivoli Gardens.[45] He was arrested at a Jamaican checkpoint on 22 June 2010.[45]

Demetrius Flenory

Demetrius Flenory is known as one of the co-founders of the Black Mafia Family, a Detroit-based drug-trafficking organization involving the large-scale distribution of cocaine throughout the U.S. from 1990 to 2005.[47] There are currently plans to produce a film based upon his career.[48][49]

José Figueroa Agosto

Main article: José Figueroa Agosto

Jose Figueroa Agosto (born June 28, 1964), also known as "José David Figueroa Agosto", "Junior Capsula" and "the Don Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean", is a Puerto Rican drug trafficker.[50] As the head of a major drug trafficking organization that made 90% of cocaine in Puerto Rico, Figueroa Agosto is considered to be one of the most dangerous drug lords of Puerto Rico.[51] He was the most wanted fugitive in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.[52]

Jari Aarnio

Main article: Jari Aarnio

Jari Seppo Aarnio (born 5 September 1957) is the former chief investigator and head of Helsinki's anti-drugs police, who spent 30 years in the anti-drugs force in Finland.[53] He has been sentenced to jail for drug crimes and other offences.[53][54]

Christy Kinahan

Main article: Christy Kinahan

Known as "The Dapper Don", Christy Kinahan (born 1958) is a notorious Irish drug lord from Dublin, Ireland and the head of Kinahan Cartel, a powerful Irish crime syndicate with territories in several countries around the world, such as Spain (Costa del Sol),[55][56] United Arab Emirates (Dubai),[57] The Netherlands,[58] among others. Under the command of Christy Kinahan, the Kinahan Cartel became responsible for a large part of drug smuggling (such as heroin, ecstasy and methamphetamine) and arms smuggling to many places in the world.[59] According to Gardai (the national police of Ireland, Kinahan has connections with other powerful Irish mobsters like George Mitchell (Known as "The Penguin")[58] (a notorious gangster from Ballyfermot and cousin of the politicians Gay Mitchell and Jim Mitchell). The Kinahan Cartel is notorious for its bloody feud against another powerful Irish crime syndicate, the Hutch gang (led by Gerry Hutch), in a gang war that became known as the Hutch–Kinahan feud[60][61] (whose conflict started after the murder of Gary Hutch, Gerry Hutch's nephew and the Shooting of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall, Dublin whose main target was Daniel Kinahan, Christy's oldest son and also a head in the Kinahan Cartel, but ended up taking the life of another important member of the cartel, David Byrne (the son of James Byrne, the brother of Liam Byrne (a notorious lieutenant for Christy Kinahan), the cousin of Freddie Thompson and brother-in-law of Thomas Kavanagh (known as "bomber"), a senior member in the Kinahan Cartel).[citation needed]

 
Garza during a video in which he asks President George W. Bush to spare his life

Juan Raul Garza

Main article: Juan Raul Garza

Juan Raul Garza (November 18, 1956 – June 19, 2001) ran his own marijuana trafficking ring in Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, and Mexico, exporting thousands of kilograms of marijuana across the border into the United States. He is known as the first and currently the only drug lord to be executed by the United States federal government under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. He was executed for three murders he committed in Texas, but was also found to be responsible for five other murders, four of which were committed in Mexico.[62][63]

Liu Zhaohua

Main article: Liu Zhaohua

Liu Zhaohua (March 5, 1965 – September 15, 2009) was a Chinese Drug Lord known for producing and trafficking over 18 tonnes of Methamphetamine.[64] The amount Liu made was worth more than US$5 billion.[64] He was arrested on March 5, 2005, sentenced to death on June 26, 2006 and executed on September 15, 2009.[64]

Modern drug lords

Following the death of Pablo Escobar in 1993, significant changes occurred in the structure of the drug trade, departing from massive cartels such as Juan David Ochoa's Medellín cartel. Drug lords have begun breaking the large cartels into much smaller organizations. In so doing, they decreased the number of people involved and shrank their role as targets—most likely in an attempt to avoid the fate of their predecessors. With newer technology, drug lords are able to manage their operations more effectively from behind the scenes, keeping themselves out of the spotlight and off the FBI and DEA wanted lists. These smaller cartels are slowly proving to be safer and more profitable for those involved.[65]

Up until the demise of Pablo Escobar, in many instances, drug lords essentially ran the governments of the locations they controlled through bribery and assassination. However, this way of controlling their operations is becoming less prevalent. One of the most-notorious examples of the treatment given to drug lords is the incarceration of Escobar. Although Escobar was, after turning himself in, jailed for his participation in drug trafficking in Colombia, the "jail" in which he was captive was a million-dollar palace built with his own funds. Another famous crime lord who enjoyed lightened jail life was Al Capone, who continued to run his business from his jail cell, which contained tables, chairs, a bed, flowers, and paintings. For drug lords of the past, jail often served as a way to avoid further persecution.

In Mexico, after the arrest of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, there was a rise in the rate of violence. Félix was particularly known for his use of non-violence to keep his business running smooth and had bribed many political authorities for protecting himself and his business. He divided his territory and the remaining members of his organization formed other cartels. He kept in contact with the drug lords and remained as one of Mexico's major traffickers until he was transferred to Altiplano maximum security prison. Eventually, the cartels fought each other for territory and lead to brutal Drug Wars which caused thousands of deaths.

In recent times, drug lords seldom control local and regional governments, having less influence over their surroundings and their ability to continue to run their businesses from jail.[34][66]

Another trend that has been emerging in the last decade is a willingness of local authorities to cooperate with foreign nations, most notably the U.S., in an effort to apprehend and incarcerate drug lords. Recently, especially in the last five years,[when?] countries have been more willing to extradite their drug lords to face charges in other countries, an act that not only benefits them directly but also gives them favor with foreign governments. Mexico extradited 63 drug dealers to the U.S. in 2006. However, extradition may be prohibited if the person faces either the death penalty or a life sentence without the possibility of parole.[35]

See also

References

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External links

January 25, 2023
drug, lord, drug, king, redirects, here, film, drug, king, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, need, rewritten, comply, with, wikipedia, qual. Drug king redirects here For the film see The Drug King This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia s quality standards You can help The talk page may contain suggestions September 2017 This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Drug lord news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message A drug lord drug baron kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice as they are normally not directly in possession of something illegal but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of staff The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltration into their networks often using informants from within the organizations Contents 1 Organisational role 2 List of well known drug lords 2 1 Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo 2 2 Pablo Escobar Gaviria 2 3 Joaquin El Chapo Guzman 2 4 Osiel Cardenas Guillen 2 5 Jorge Alberto Rodriguez 2 6 Marcola 2 7 Griselda Blanco 2 8 Roberto Suarez Gomez 2 9 Rick Ross 2 10 Manuel Noriega 2 11 Amado Carrillo Fuentes 2 12 Ramon Arellano Felix 2 13 Ismael Zambada Garcia 2 14 Klaas Bruinsma 2 15 Arturo Beltran Leyva 2 16 Frank Lucas 2 17 Leroy Barnes 2 18 Zhenli Ye Gon 2 19 Christopher Coke 2 20 Demetrius Flenory 2 21 Jose Figueroa Agosto 2 22 Jari Aarnio 2 23 Christy Kinahan 2 24 Juan Raul Garza 2 25 Liu Zhaohua 3 Modern drug lords 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksOrganisational role EditSince the 1970s research on organized crime leadership and by extension drug lords has evolved Where once studies emphasised the importance of the leader s human capital e g individual traits it has now developed to focus upon the leader s social capital e g information and resource brokers social status access to information 1 List of well known drug lords EditThis section may be too long and excessively detailed Please consider summarizing the material September 2020 Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo Edit Main articles Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and Drug barons of Colombia Known as El Padrino The Godfather and El Jefe de Jefes The boss of bosses was born in 1946 and is the founder and former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel the first mexican super cartel ever established He had strong ties with the Cali Cartel and Escobar s Medellin Cartel as he distributed drugs for them He controlled almost all of the drug trafficking in Mexico and the corridors along the Mexico United States border in 1970s and the 80s Until the end of the 1980s Guadalajara Cartel headed by Felix Gallardo was one of the most powerful cartels in the world He had a huge involvement in politics and bribed political authorities to protect himself and his business After his capture in 1989 for the alleged murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Felix and allegedly the Mexican Government decided to divide up the trade he controlled as it would be more efficient and less likely to be brought down by law enforcement Felix Gallardo instructed his lawyer to convene the nation s top drug narcos in 1989 at a house in the resort of Acapulco where he designated the plazas turfs or territories The Tijuana route would go to his nephews the Arellano Felix brothers The Ciudad Juarez route would go to the Carrillo Fuentes family and to Rafael Aguilar Guajardo Miguel Caro Quintero would run the Sonora corridor Joaquin Guzman Loera and Hector Luis Palma Salazar were left the Pacific coast operations with Ismael Zambada Garcia joining them soon after and thus becoming the Sinaloa Cartel who was not yet a party to the 1989 pact Felix Gallardo still planned to oversee national operations and remained one of Mexico s major traffickers maintaining his organization via mobile phone until he was transferred in the 1990s to the Altiplano maximum security prison and lost all remaining contacts with other drug lords On 18 December 2014 federal authorities approved his request to transfer to a medium security prison in Guadalajara State of Jalisco due to his declining health He still strongly denies any involvement in the murder of Enrique Camarena He was particularly known for using less violence and many even attribute the current bloodshed due to the turf war between rival cartels to the fall of Felix Pablo Escobar Gaviria Edit Main article Pablo Escobar Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria December 1 1949 December 2 1993 was a Colombian drug overlord Often referred to as the World s Greatest Outlaw Escobar was perhaps the most elusive cocaine trafficker to have ever existed He is considered the King of Cocaine and is known as the boss of all drug lords 2 In 1989 Forbes magazine declared Escobar as the seventh richest man in the world with an estimated personal fortune of US 30 billion 3 In 1986 he attempted to enter Colombian politics It is said that Pablo Escobar once burnt two million dollars in cash to keep his daughter warm while on the run 4 Escobar was the boss of the famous Medellin Cartel the most powerful drug empire to exist and is said to have had over twice the power and money as their rivals the Cali Cartel Pablo was known as paisa Robin Hood for his contributions to the poor but was also known for murdering anyone who got in his way It took hundreds of thousands of men to kill him and finally on 2 December Search Bloc killed Pablo on a rooftop Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Edit Main article Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Guzman is the most notorious drug lord of all time according to the U S Drug Enforcement Administration DEA 5 In the 1980s he was a member of the Guadalajara Cartel and used to work for Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo After Felix s arrest in 1989 Guzman formed the Sinaloa Cartel along with Ismael Zambada Garcia and Hector Luis Palma Salazar He is well known for his use of sophisticated tunnels similar to the one located in Douglas Arizona to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States in the early 1990s In 1993 a 7 3 ton shipment of his cocaine concealed in cans of chili peppers and destined for the United States was seized in Tecate Baja California That same year he barely escaped an ambush by the Tijuana Cartel led by Ramon Arellano Felix and his gunmen After being captured in Guatemala he was jailed in 1993 and in 1995 he was moved to the maximum security prison called Puente Grande but paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates On 22 February 2014 Guzman was arrested again He is considered a folk hero in the narcotics world celebrated by musicians who write and perform a narcocorridos drug ballads extolling his exploits 6 For example Los Traviezos recorded a ballad extolling his life on the run 7 In July 2015 Guzman escaped a second time from a maximum security prison through a hole in a shower floor that led to a mile long tunnel ending at a nearby house 8 A large scale manhunt ensued On 8 January 2016 Guzman was captured by the Mexican Marines 9 Osiel Cardenas Guillen Edit Main article Osiel Cardenas Guillen Osiel Cardenas Guillen born 18 May 1967 is a former Mexican drug lord who was the leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas Originally a mechanic in Matamoros Tamaulipas Guillen eventually became involved in the illegal drug trade the Gulf Cartel before becoming its leader in 1997 by assassinating drug lord Salvador Gomez Herrera Guillen recruited over 30 deserters from the Mexican Army s special forces unit the Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales to form the cartel s armed wing this group would go on to be among the founding members of Los Zetas another Mexican drug cartel In 1999 Guillen and a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen threatened two U S federal agents at gunpoint which triggered a massive combined effort from American and Mexican law enforcement agencies to crack down on the leadership structure of the Gulf Cartel and led to Guillen becoming one of the most wanted criminals in the world Guillen was arrested in Mexico in 2003 and deported to the U S in 2007 where he remains incarcerated to this day 10 11 Jorge Alberto Rodriguez Edit Jorge Alberto Rodriguez also known as Don Cholito is a notorious Argentine born Puerto Rican and Colombian mixed drug lord from New York who headed the 400 criminal organization a dismantled secret cell of the Cali Cartel Pulled into the drug trade at age 12 he left home at age 14 to begin working for his Father Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela who headed the Cali Cartel Within six years he had amassed a fortune exceeding over US 300 million by shipping drugs from Colombia to nearly every state in the U S He was one of the most ruthless international drug lords unknown to law enforcement or governments During that time the murder rate and cocaine related hospital emergencies in the United States doubled He was arrested on July 6 1990 in Tallahassee Florida and sentenced to a 25 year prison term for a number of federal violations Following his conviction Rodriguez continued to operate his illicit business from behind bars importing as much as 12 500 kilograms of cocaine into the U S each month and ordering numerous murders of informants witnesses in the U S and Colombia He reigned and flourished while incarcerated until he was placed in court ordered high security isolation in 1994 According to the Bureau of Prisons Rodriguez was released in 2012 12 13 14 Marcola Edit Main article Marcola Born on April 13 1968 in Osasco a city located in the state of Sao Paulo Brazil Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho known as Marcola is one of the founders and the current leader of Primeiro Comando da Capital PCC the largest and the most powerful Brazilian criminal organization 15 A Brazilian with Bolivian origins Marcola whose criminal career began when he was a child at the age of nine and currently serving a sentence of 234 years in prison for murder drug trafficking and other crimes is the current leader of PCC and commands this powerful crime syndicate from inside the Taubate Prison one of most infamous prisons in Brazil Under the command of Marcola the PCC expanded its influence outside Brazil notoriously they are territories of the PCC Bolivia Ecuador Venezuela Paraguay and Peru The PCC is notorious for its use of violence for its numerous confrontations with police officers and because of their violent conflicts over territory control and the control of drug trafficking against another powerful Brazilian criminal organization the Comando Vermelho or CV a powerful crime syndicate based in the city of Rio de Janeiro 16 Griselda Blanco Edit Main article Griselda Blanco Griselda Blanco Griselda Blanco 1943 2012 known as the Godmother of Cocaine was a drug lady who operated between Miami and Colombia during the 1970s and 1980s During the height of her operation she smuggled nearly 1 600 kilograms 3 500 lb of cocaine into the U S every month through a network in south Florida 17 She was noted for her ruthlessness and use of extreme violence employing tactics such as publicly assassinating people in broad daylight bayoneting a rival trafficker inside Miami International Airport and inventing the drive by motorcycle shooting execution method 18 19 It was estimated that she was responsible for the homicides of 200 people in Colombia Florida New York and California 18 Arrested in 1985 for drug trafficking charges she was subsequently convicted and spent almost 20 years in a U S prison 20 She was killed by motorcycle hitmen in Colombia on 3 September 2012 as she was coming out of a butcher s shop 21 Roberto Suarez Gomez Edit Main article Roberto Suarez Gomez Pablo Escobar started to buy cocaine from Roberto Suarez in the 1970s when he had just created the Medellin cartel citation needed Suarez started building cocaine laboratories in the middle of the Bolivian Amazon jungle and in the zone of Los Yungas in the end of the 1960s and created the first cocaine cartel in Bolivia called La Corporacion citation needed At first the Medellin cartel bought cocaine at 8 000 per kilogram 3 600 lb La Corporacion then sold cocaine based paste to Colombian cartels and they finished and distributed it in the east of the United States citation needed The finished cocaine was sold directly to Mexican cartels for distribution in the west of the United States Suarez received untold amounts of money but as detectives and journalists discovered the corruption between Bolivia and the U S the empire Suarez built began to fall citation needed Suarez was arrested by the DEA in 1988 and Escobar took over of the production and distribution of 80 of the world s cocaine citation needed Rick Ross Edit Freeway Rick Ross Main article Freeway Rick Ross Rick Ross born January 28 1960 22 a k a Freeway Ricky Ross is a convicted drug trafficker best known for the drug empire he presided over in Los Angeles in the early 1980s 23 The nickname Freeway came from Ross growing up next to the 110 Harbor Freeway 24 During the height of his drug dealing Ross was said to have made 2 million in one day According to the Oakland Tribune In the course of his rise prosecutors estimate that Ross transported several tons of cocaine to New York Ohio Pennsylvania and elsewhere and made more than 600 million in the process 25 In 1998 Ross was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of purchasing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent during a sting operation Ross became the subject of controversy later that year when a series of articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News revealed a connection between Ross s main cocaine source Danilo Blandon and the CIA as part of the Iran Contra affair 26 Ross s case went before the federal court of appeals and his sentence was reduced to 20 years He was later moved to a halfway house in March 2009 and released from custody on September 29 2009 22 In June 2014 Ross released his book Freeway Rick Ross The Untold Autobiography co written by crime writer Cathy Scott 27 Manuel Noriega Edit Manuel Noriega following his arrest by U S authorities Main article Manuel Noriega For more than a decade Panamanian Manuel Noriega was a highly paid CIA asset and collaborator despite knowledge by U S drug authorities as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering citation needed Noriega facilitated guns for drugs flights for the Nicaraguan Contras whom the U S were heavily supporting providing protection and pilots safe havens for drug cartel officials and discreet banking facilities 28 He was arrested in 1990 Amado Carrillo Fuentes Edit Main article Amado Carrillo Fuentes As a top drug trafficker in Mexico Amado Carrillo 1956 1997 was transporting four times more cocaine to the U S than any other trafficker building a fortune of over 25 billion citation needed He was called El Senor de Los Cielos The Lord of the Skies for his use of over 22 private 727 jet airliners to transport Colombian cocaine to municipal airports and dirt airstrips around Mexico including Juarez citation needed He was a member of the Guadalajara Cartel and worked for Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo After Felix was arrested Amado formed the Juarez Cartel In the months before his death the DEA described Carrillo as the most powerful drug trafficker of his era and many analysts claimed profits neared 25 billion making him one of the world s wealthiest men citation needed Ramon Arellano Felix Edit Main article Ramon Arellano Felix Ramon Arellano Felix was a Mexican drug lord who was a founding member of the Tijuana drug cartel a k a the Arellano Felix Organization alongside his brothers 29 Arellano Felix was allegedly one of the most ruthless enforcers in the organization and was a suspect in various murders He had been linked by Mexican police to the 1997 massacre of twelve members of a family outside of Ensenada Baja California The family was related to a drug dealer that had an unpaid debt to the Arellano Felix Cartel citation needed On September 18 1997 Arellano Felix was placed on the FBI s ten most wanted list 30 In a sealed indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California he was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana citation needed Ramon and his brothers primarily Benjamin Arellano Felix were the undisputed leaders of the Tijuana Cartel and developed an intense rivalry with Joaquin Guzman Loera s Sinaloa Cartel The war between both organizations lasted more than 10 years until Ramon was killed in Mazatlan on February 10 2002 by policemen allegedly on the payroll of the rival Sinaloa Cartel Ismael Zambada Garcia Edit Main article Ismael Zambada Garcia Ismael Zambada Garcia is a drug smuggler in Mexico 31 Mexico s top anti drug prosecutor Jose Santiago Vasconcelos called Zambada drug dealer No 1 and said the fugitive has become more powerful as his fellow kingpins have fallen including one who was allegedly killed on Zambada s orders citation needed Klaas Bruinsma Edit Main article Klaas Bruinsma drug lord Klaas Bruinsma 1953 1991 was a major Dutch drug lord shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland citation needed Bruinsma was known as De Lange the tall one and as De Dominee the preacher because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others citation needed Arturo Beltran Leyva Edit Main article Arturo Beltran Leyva Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva September 27 1961 December 16 2009 was the leader of the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Beltran Leyva Cartel which is headed by the Beltran Leyva brothers Marcos Arturo Carlos Alfredo and Hector 32 The cartel was engaged in cocaine marijuana heroin and methamphetamine production transportation and wholesaling It controlled numerous drug trafficking corridors into the United States and was also responsible for human smuggling money laundering extortion kidnapping murder contract killing torture gun running and other acts of violence in Mexico 33 The organization was connected with the assassinations of numerous Mexican law enforcement officials 33 Frank Lucas Edit Frank Lucas Main article Frank Lucas drug lord Frank Lucas was a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem New York during the late 1960s and early 1970s He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen 34 35 but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate Leslie Ike Atkinson 36 His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster starring Denzel Washington Leroy Barnes Edit Main article Leroy Barnes Leroy Antonio Nicky Barnes born October 15 1933 was a former drug lord and crime boss of the notorious African American crime organization known as The Council which controlled the heroin trade in Harlem New York during the 1970s 37 In 2007 he released a book Mr Untouchable written with Tom Folsom and a documentary DVD of the same name about his life 38 39 In the 2007 film American Gangster Barnes is portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr Zhenli Ye Gon Edit Main article Zhenli Ye Gon Part of the currency seized from Ye Gon s home Zhenli Ye Gon traditional Chinese 葉真理 40 born January 31 1963 Shanghai People s Republic of China is a Mexican businessman of Chinese origin accused of trafficking pseudoephedrine into Mexico from Asia At the time of his arrest he had 207 million in cash and 18 million Mexican pesos in his house He claimed that he was forced by Javier Lozano Alarcon putatively identified as the Secretary of Labor to keep it at his home and that this money would be used during Felipe Calderon s presidential campaign in 2006 He is the legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem Mexico The charges against him were dismissed with prejudice in August 2009 41 as a result of the efforts of his attorneys Manuel J Retureta 42 and A Eduardo Balarezo 43 Christopher Coke Edit Christopher Coke Main article Christopher Coke Michael Christopher Coke born 13 March 1969 44 a k a Dudus 45 is a Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse gang He is the youngest son of drug lord Lester Lloyd Coke whose extradition had also prior to his 1992 death in a Jamaican prison cell been requested by the U S 45 Until the younger Coke s handover to U S forces on 24 June 2010 citation needed Dudus served as the de facto leader of Tivoli Gardens in the city of Kingston 45 prior to his 2010 capture Jamaican police were unable to enter this neighborhood without community consent 45 The son of a prominent drug lord Coke grew up wealthy going to school with children of the country s political elite citation needed Ruling the gang where his father left off he became a leader in the community of Tivoli Gardens distributing money to the area s poor creating employment and setting up community centers 46 In 2009 the U S began requesting his extradition and in May 2010 a recalcitrant Government of Jamaica issued a warrant 45 That same month the government took steps to capture Coke In a run up to Coke s arrest more than 70 people all but one of them civilians died in a 24 May 2010 raid of Tivoli Gardens 45 He was arrested at a Jamaican checkpoint on 22 June 2010 45 Demetrius Flenory Edit Demetrius Flenory Demetrius Flenory is known as one of the co founders of the Black Mafia Family a Detroit based drug trafficking organization involving the large scale distribution of cocaine throughout the U S from 1990 to 2005 47 There are currently plans to produce a film based upon his career 48 49 Jose Figueroa Agosto Edit Main article Jose Figueroa Agosto Jose Figueroa Agosto born June 28 1964 also known as Jose David Figueroa Agosto Junior Capsula and the Don Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean is a Puerto Rican drug trafficker 50 As the head of a major drug trafficking organization that made 90 of cocaine in Puerto Rico Figueroa Agosto is considered to be one of the most dangerous drug lords of Puerto Rico 51 He was the most wanted fugitive in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic 52 Jari Aarnio Edit Main article Jari Aarnio Jari Seppo Aarnio born 5 September 1957 is the former chief investigator and head of Helsinki s anti drugs police who spent 30 years in the anti drugs force in Finland 53 He has been sentenced to jail for drug crimes and other offences 53 54 Christy Kinahan Edit Main article Christy Kinahan Known as The Dapper Don Christy Kinahan born 1958 is a notorious Irish drug lord from Dublin Ireland and the head of Kinahan Cartel a powerful Irish crime syndicate with territories in several countries around the world such as Spain Costa del Sol 55 56 United Arab Emirates Dubai 57 The Netherlands 58 among others Under the command of Christy Kinahan the Kinahan Cartel became responsible for a large part of drug smuggling such as heroin ecstasy and methamphetamine and arms smuggling to many places in the world 59 According to Gardai the national police of Ireland Kinahan has connections with other powerful Irish mobsters like George Mitchell Known as The Penguin 58 a notorious gangster from Ballyfermot and cousin of the politicians Gay Mitchell and Jim Mitchell The Kinahan Cartel is notorious for its bloody feud against another powerful Irish crime syndicate the Hutch gang led by Gerry Hutch in a gang war that became known as the Hutch Kinahan feud 60 61 whose conflict started after the murder of Gary Hutch Gerry Hutch s nephew and the Shooting of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall Dublin whose main target was Daniel Kinahan Christy s oldest son and also a head in the Kinahan Cartel but ended up taking the life of another important member of the cartel David Byrne the son of James Byrne the brother of Liam Byrne a notorious lieutenant for Christy Kinahan the cousin of Freddie Thompson and brother in law of Thomas Kavanagh known as bomber a senior member in the Kinahan Cartel citation needed Garza during a video in which he asks President George W Bush to spare his life Juan Raul Garza Edit Main article Juan Raul Garza Juan Raul Garza November 18 1956 June 19 2001 ran his own marijuana trafficking ring in Texas Louisiana Michigan and Mexico exporting thousands of kilograms of marijuana across the border into the United States He is known as the first and currently the only drug lord to be executed by the United States federal government under the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1988 He was executed for three murders he committed in Texas but was also found to be responsible for five other murders four of which were committed in Mexico 62 63 Liu Zhaohua Edit Main article Liu Zhaohua Liu Zhaohua March 5 1965 September 15 2009 was a Chinese Drug Lord known for producing and trafficking over 18 tonnes of Methamphetamine 64 The amount Liu made was worth more than US 5 billion 64 He was arrested on March 5 2005 sentenced to death on June 26 2006 and executed on September 15 2009 64 Modern drug lords EditFollowing the death of Pablo Escobar in 1993 significant changes occurred in the structure of the drug trade departing from massive cartels such as Juan David Ochoa s Medellin cartel Drug lords have begun breaking the large cartels into much smaller organizations In so doing they decreased the number of people involved and shrank their role as targets most likely in an attempt to avoid the fate of their predecessors With newer technology drug lords are able to manage their operations more effectively from behind the scenes keeping themselves out of the spotlight and off the FBI and DEA wanted lists These smaller cartels are slowly proving to be safer and more profitable for those involved 65 Up until the demise of Pablo Escobar in many instances drug lords essentially ran the governments of the locations they controlled through bribery and assassination However this way of controlling their operations is becoming less prevalent One of the most notorious examples of the treatment given to drug lords is the incarceration of Escobar Although Escobar was after turning himself in jailed for his participation in drug trafficking in Colombia the jail in which he was captive was a million dollar palace built with his own funds Another famous crime lord who enjoyed lightened jail life was Al Capone who continued to run his business from his jail cell which contained tables chairs a bed flowers and paintings For drug lords of the past jail often served as a way to avoid further persecution In Mexico after the arrest of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo there was a rise in the rate of violence Felix was particularly known for his use of non violence to keep his business running smooth and had bribed many political authorities for protecting himself and his business He divided his territory and the remaining members of his organization formed other cartels He kept in contact with the drug lords and remained as one of Mexico s major traffickers until he was transferred to Altiplano maximum security prison Eventually the cartels fought each other for territory and lead to brutal Drug Wars which caused thousands of deaths In recent times drug lords seldom control local and regional governments having less influence over their surroundings and their ability to continue to run their businesses from jail 34 66 Another trend that has been emerging in the last decade is a willingness of local authorities to cooperate with foreign nations most notably the U S in an effort to apprehend and incarcerate drug lords Recently especially in the last five years when countries have been more willing to extradite their drug lords to face charges in other countries an act that not only benefits them directly but also gives them favor with foreign governments Mexico extradited 63 drug dealers to the U S in 2006 However extradition may be prohibited if the person faces either the death penalty or a life sentence without the possibility of parole 35 See also EditDrug barons of Colombia Drug cartel List of Mexico s 37 most wanted drug lords War on DrugsReferences Edit Calderoni Francesco 31 March 2020 The nature of organised crime leadership criminal leaders in meeting and wiretap networks Crime Law and Social Change 72 4 419 444 doi 10 1007 s10611 019 09829 6 hdl 10807 131988 S2CID 150995312 Pablo Escobar Gaviria English Biography Articles and Notes ColombiaLink com Archived from the original on September 28 2011 Retrieved 2011 11 12 Zschoche Soren April 18 2008 The 5 richest criminals of all time World Financial Blog Retrieved May 9 2011 Pablo Escobar burnt 5m in cash to keep warm on the run The Daily Telegraph London November 3 2009 Archived from the original on 2016 10 10 Joaquin Guzman Has Become The Biggest Drug Lord Ever Forbes Retrieved 2013 12 12 He Leads a Gang of Mafioso Gunmen Songs in Honor of Mexico s El Chapo The Wall Street Journal June 13 2009 Retrieved 2010 12 01 Grayson George August 31 2009 Mexico narco violence and a failed state Transaction Publishers pp 62 63 ISBN 978 1 4128 1151 4 Retrieved 2010 12 01 Mexican Drug Lord Joaquin Guzman Loera Escapes Prison 2015 People com PEOPLE com Patrick Radden Keefe July 12 2015 El Chapo Escapes Again The New Yorker Con Oziel Cardenas sucesor de Garcia Abrego el cartel del Golfo recobra fuerza Proceso in Spanish 11 December 1999 Archived from the original on 4 December 2018 Osiel Cardenas Guillen Former Head of the Gulf Cartel Sentenced to 25 Years Imprisonment Federal Bureau of Investigation 24 February 2010 Archived from the original on 4 January 2017 U S vs Jorge Alberto Rodriguez 981 Federal Reporter 2d Page 1199 Federal Register Volume 74 Issue 77 Thursday April 23 2009 gpo gov U S Bureau Of Prisons Prisoner Registry Number 09086 017 Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho alias Marcola 8 June 2018 Brazil s largest cocaine cartels are waging a bloody war in the country s prisons Corben Billy director Cosby Charles himself Blanco Griselda herself July 29 2008 Cocaine Cowboys 2 Hustlin with the Godmother DVD Magnolia Home Entertainment ASIN B00180R03Q UPC 876964001366 Retrieved October 3 2010 a b Corben Billy 2 September 2012 Griselda Blanco So Long and Thanks for All the Cocaine Vice Retrieved 24 July 2017 Greene David 6 September 2012 Godmother Of Cocaine Trade Murdered In Colombia NPR Morning Edition Retrieved 24 July 2017 Villarreal Ryan 4 September 2012 Colombian Drug Lord Griselda Blanco s Life of Violence Comes Full Circle International Business Times Godmother of Cocaine Colombian drug lord who ran Miami cocaine empire in 1970s and 1980s shot to death by motorcycle gunmen Daily News New York Retrieved 7 June 2013 a b Inmate Locator Ricky Ross bop gov Federal Bureau of Prisons Retrieved 2011 11 12 CIA Contra Crack Cocaine Controversy D Law Enforcement Investigations of Ross USDOJ gov United States Department of Justice Archive Retrieved 2011 11 12 Sager Mike September 25 2013 Say Hello to Rick Ross Esquire magazine Scott JohnsonOakland Tribune 2012 04 17 Oakland Tribune Insidebayarea com Retrieved 2013 12 12 NBC Drugs and the CIA YouTube May 29 2007 Rick Ross Book signing Event Recap Los Angeles Sentinel Los Angeles Sentinel 27 June 2014 Lormand Eric May 8 2007 Panama The Resume of Manuel Noriega personal umich edu Steller Tim April 15 1998 Mexican drug runners may have used C 130 from Arizona The Arizona Daily Star Archived at California State University Northridge Archived from the original on 2008 01 03 Retrieved 2007 09 26 The Business Arellano Felix Cartel Drug Wars 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November 2017 Spanish police seize 10m worth of guns believed to be linked to Kinahan cartel 16 January 2017 Kinahan Hutch feud Man appears in court over murder of Gary Hutch BBC News 15 September 2016 New gang feuds emerge in shadow of Kinahan Hutch conflict The Irish Times enforcement Richard A Serrano Richard A Serrano was a federal law Washington terrorism reporter in the Los Angeles Times D C in 2015 bureau He left The Times 2001 06 20 Texas Murderer Becomes 2nd to Be Executed by U S in 8 Days Los Angeles Times Retrieved 2022 04 04 The Case of Juan Garza Trial Capital Punishment in Context capitalpunishmentincontext org Retrieved 2022 04 04 a b c Notorious drug kingpin executed for trafficking South China Morning Post September 15 2009 Special Drug organization profiles The Drug Lords CNN Archived from the original on October 29 2007 Retrieved October 29 2007 Kershaw Sarah February 20 2006 Dizzying Rise and Abrupt Fall For a Reservation Drug Lord New York Times Vol 155 no 53496 Academic Search Premier p A1 A10 2p 2c Retrieved 2011 11 12 External links Edit31 Notorious Drug Lords Archived 2009 10 11 at the Wayback Machine slideshow by Life magazine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Drug lord amp oldid 1130023792, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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