Drug barons of Colombia
When he later bought fifteen bigger airplanes (including a Learjet) and six helicopters, he decommissioned the original plane and hung it above the gate of his ranch at Hacienda Napoles.
In May 1976, Escobar and several of his men were arrested and found in possession of 39 pounds (18 kg) of white paste after returning to Medellín with a heavy load from Ecuador.
The Medellín Cartel's massive wealth and power enabled them from the outset to bribe government and legal officials, and buy sophisticated weaponry for their protection.
Lehder and Robert Vesco purchased most of the land on the island which included a 3,300 feet (1,000 m) airstrip, a harbor, hotel, houses, boats, aircraft; he even built a refrigerated warehouse to store the cocaine.
From 1978 until 1987, the Cay was the Caribbean's main drug smuggling hub for the Medellín Cartel, as well as a tropical hideaway and playground for Lehder and associates.
[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 Aguirre—running petty street scams, selling contraband cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, and stealing cars.
In the early 1970s, he was a thief and bodyguard, and he made a quick $700,000 on the side kidnapping and ransoming a Medellín executive before entering the drug trade.
Born in Armenia, Colombia, Lehder eventually ran a cocaine transport empire on Norman's Cay island, 210 miles (340 km) off the Florida coast in the central Bahamas.
[17][18][19][20] 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.
[21] Lehder's ultimate scheme was to revolutionize the cocaine trade by transporting the drug to the United States, using small aircraft from Norman's Cay.
[26] 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.
[9] In 2013, the Colombian counternarcotics police, along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, seized almost 300 properties in the country belonging to Barrera, including villas, cattle ranches, restaurants and bars, as well as trucks and cars.
[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.
[33] U.S. District Judge Gregory Howard Woods called Barrera's crimes "staggering" and stated: "It's hard to exaggerate the quantity of narcotics for which he was responsible.
In addition to drug trafficking, Santacruz was blamed for the 1989 assassination of former Governor of Antioquia, Antonio Roldan Betancur, and was linked to the 1992 murder of journalist Manuel de Dios Unanue in New York.
Sentenced to fifteen years in prison, he was temporarily freed in early November 2002, due to a controversial judicial order issued by deputy judge Pedro José Suárez, who believed the reduction was applicable through habeas corpus.
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.
[37] Henry de Jesus Lopez (nicknamed "Mi Sangre", meaning "My Blood"), reported at the time to be the country's most-wanted cocaine dealer, was arrested in 2012 in Argentina.
[38] In January 2020, it was announced previous Pablo Escobar associate Luis Del Río Jiménez, alias "el Tío", or "Señor T", was among 10 people arrested during an operation conducted by Colombian and DEA forces on 24 November 2019.
[39] Dario Antonio Úsuga David, also known as "Mao", is a Colombian drug lord who is the co-leader of the violent organization Los Urabeños, also known as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas.
On 26 October 2019, Mesa head Luis Rodrigo Rodríguez, alias "El Montañero", was arrested on charges of conspiracy, extortion and drug trafficking.
[44] Franz Sanchez played by Robert Davi in Licence to Kill is strongly implied to be Colombian; incidentally, del Toro also appears in that film as a drug trafficker.
