Drug lord

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.

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.

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.

[5] 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.

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.

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.

He is considered a folk hero in the narcotics world, celebrated by musicians who write and perform narcocorridos (drug ballads) extolling his exploits.

[8] 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.

[11][12] 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.

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.

[13][14][15] 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.

[18] 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.

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.

[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.

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.

[citation needed] Klaas Bruinsma (1953–1991) was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland.

and was also responsible for human smuggling, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder, contract killing, torture, gun-running, and other acts of violence in Mexico.

Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen,[35][36] but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson.

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 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.[46] 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;[46] prior to his 2010 capture Jamaican police were unable to enter this neighborhood without community consent.

[65] Shaheed "Roger" Khan (born 13 January 1972) is a Guyanese drug lord who is known for his money-laundering activities as well as his distribution and importation of substantial amounts of cocaine into the US from South America.

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.

[66] Drug lords often have de facto control over the governments of the locations they operate in, through bribery, corruption, obstruction of justice, intimidation, contract killings, and narco-terrorism.

This phenomenon takes place in developing countries with weak and/or corrupt governments, where impunity is present or rife, and rule of law is missing or lacking.

For example, Juan Orlando Hernández protected drug cartels, who contributed donations to his presidential campaign, from criminal investigations, prosecutions, arrests, and convictions, after he was elected as the President of Honduras.

They can influence legal proceedings, obstruct investigations, and avoid facing charges or indictments for their crimes, through bribing prosecutors.

Drug lords can bribe judges and jurors, to influence court decisions, secure favorable rulings, and avoid conviction or receive lenient sentences for their offenses.

For example, Pablo Escobar was known for using a carrot-and-stick approach, by offering "lead or silver" to Colombian police officers, judges, prosecutors, and military personnel.

In developed countries, drug lords seldom control local and regional governments; they also have less influence over their surroundings, and their ability to continue to run their businesses, upon being arrested and incarcerated.

[35][69] 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.