He eventually became associated with drug lords José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Pablo Escobar, the wealthy and powerful leader of the Medellín Cartel.
[1] Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Vargas ran a multimillion-dollar cocaine empire that included a network of large cocaine-processing laboratories deep in the jungles of Caqueta.
His strongholds were among the guerrillas of the Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, with whom Vargas was believed to have established drug trafficking links.
[3] Vargas has been accused of organizing hit squads of hired killers,[1] and is believed to have ordered the murder of the Colombian presidential candidate Horacio Serpa.
[3] Vargas was released early in 2002, but authorities seized assets to the value of $40 million and 135 houses, four vehicles, two bank accounts and three companies, all of which were acquired with the proceeds of drug trafficking.
[4] Spanish police arrested Vargas in Madrid in July 2006 on charges of trafficking 427 kilograms (941 lb) of cocaine, which had been discovered in a container in the port of Valencia in eastern Spain.
Authorities believed them to be professional hitmen from eastern Europe, who were hired to settle scores between Vargas and rival drug gangs.
[1] Seven arrests were made in connection with the Leonidas Vargas murder, which authorities believed was committed by an organized group involved in extortion and drug trafficking.