The Colombian drug cartels are a huge octopus that has entangled its tentacles not only in Colombia, but also in neighboring countries. Local residents obey them more than the authorities, and fear them more than the intelligence services. Their arsenal includes kidnapping, torture, and murder. Few people know about their structure, business and income - cartel members are accustomed to keeping their mouths shut under pain of death. But some secrets of the drug lords of Colombia nevertheless became known to the general public.

Colombian drug cartels have their own fleet

The main source of income for Colombian drug cartels is drug smuggling into the United States. This business brings crazy profits, but, as you know, no business will develop well if you don’t invest money in it. And the Colombians have something to invest in the business. Since land delivery of goods is not only dangerous, but also fraught with large losses due to vigilant customs and border guards, Colombians, competing with each other, are actively looking for new ways to deliver contraband to the huge American market, trying to grab additional market share at every opportunity. . Therefore, the most powerful drug cartels in Colombia have their own small fleet, which includes not only speedboats, but even submarines! Such submarines can secretly approach the shore in secret places, delivering huge loads of goods at once.

Colombians successfully corrupt US Drug Enforcement Administration employees

Of course, it is more convenient to supply drugs and human goods if you are covered by those who, as part of their duty, must fight your activities. And the Colombians spare no effort in this direction. The United States was recently rocked by a scandal when a former D.C. police officer alleged that from 2005 to 2008 he organized parties with prostitutes for DEA agents financed by Colombian drug cartels. Moreover, everything took place right in the service apartments of anti-drug fighters! Another police officer confirmed the information, saying that he was present at the parties as a security guard, ensuring the inviolability of weapons and personal belongings of police agents. Moreover, he added, in addition to prostitutes, drug cartels supplied federal agents with money and gave them expensive gifts, including weapons." Yes, in such a situation, drugs clearly cannot be overcome!

Drug cartels make money by illegally pumping oil

IN Lately According to journalists, drug cartels are mastering a new business - highly profitable and popular. This is their approach: they try to put their paw on everything that brings high income. IN in this case We are talking about oil - the main source of income for Mexico, which actively supplies oil to the United States, which is considered its main buyer. Already, judging by press reports, drug cartels are actively engaged in illegal pumping of oil from Mexican wells, while actively seeking ways to take over the highly profitable business. It is even possible that in the coming years the fire of criminal wars, which has long been blazing in Colombia, will spread to Mexico if the cartels decide to get down to business seriously.

Drug cartels have a history of taking over government buildings

In 1985, a Colombian drug cartel and its affiliate, the M-19 rebel movement, seized the Palace of Justice in the Colombian capital, Bogota. Bandits under the command of Pablo Escobar himself seized the building, taking several dozen people hostage. It took the Colombian military, including tanks and helicopters, to regain control of the Palace of Justice. The attackers were killed, but dozens of innocents also died. Pablo Escobar needed this operation to intimidate him: he did not want the Colombian government to interfere with him, and in such a cruel way he decided to show that it was better to live in friendship with him.

Colombian drug lords never hesitated to betray their

Despite the strict laws of silence adopted in the Colombian drug cartels, any member caught transporting a large quantity of cocaine is almost always ready to turn in his accomplices in order to escape a life sentence. The leaders of the cartels know this - and do not know pity, trying to exterminate betrayal in the bud. The all-powerful drug lord Pablo Escobar was famous for his particular cruelty towards his own people. Escobar had attacks of paranoia, complicated by insomnia, and at these moments, as biographers say, betrayal seemed to him everywhere. One could come under suspicion for the slightest reason or even for no reason at all. Pablo ordered the suspect to be brought to him for interrogation, beat him, brutally tortured him, and often killed him, without ever learning that this man had no guilt against him. The problem was aggravated by Escobar's temper, which prevented him from thinking clearly and making the right decisions - including about the fate of his comrades.

Colombian drug cartels launder dirty money around the world

Colombian drug cartels are distinguished by their outstanding skills not only in making illegal money, but also in turning it into legal, solid capital. To do this, they involve financial institutions around the world. Some drug cartels launder their money even in Hong Kong, allegedly purchasing goods there through trusted companies and transferring money to Hong Kong banks for supposedly existing products. To understand the scale of the phenomenon, let us recall one story. In 2014, the US Federal Court found Daniel Barrera guilty of money laundering. According to the prosecution, the money laundering took place through a Chinese bank in Guangzhou, and the amount amounted to 5 billion dollars! For some countries this is the entire annual budget. And for Colombian drug lords - just one portion of funds laundered in just one country in the world.

Colombian drug cartels are involved in human trafficking

An investigation conducted in 2013 showed that every year thousands of Colombians become victims of modern slave traders. People simply disappear without a trace - and local authorities and law enforcement already know what this means. The Colombian police are doing what they can to save people, but, alas, the forces are unequal: in addition to the Colombian drug cartel, dozens of criminal communities around the world are involved in human trafficking. As a rule, the victims of modern slave traders are girls supplied for the sex industry and slaves of coaquin plantations, whom drug cartels use as free labor. US authorities have estimated the annual turnover of the modern slave market in America at $30 billion. It is not surprising that Colombian drug lords entered this business - they are attracted by everything that promises easy money.

Colombian drug lords stage terrorist attacks

Participation in terrorist attacks is par for the course for the Colombian drug cartels, and the deaths of hundreds of innocent people do not bother them at all. On November 17, 1989, Avianco Airlines flight #203 was scheduled to depart from El Dorado International Airport in the Colombian capital of Bogota to a city in California. The plane took off from Bogota at 7 a.m., but exploded in mid-air just a few minutes later. The speed of the Boeing 727 aircraft at that time was about 350 kilometers per hour, the altitude above the ground was about 6000 meters. The plane crashed to the ground, killing everyone on board - 107 passengers and crew members. After the tragedy, Pablo Escobar did not even hide the fact that the explosion was his doing, just as he did not hide his goal - to prove to the government that power belongs to him. The lives of innocent people, from his point of view, were worth nothing.

Kidnapping is the Colombian drug cartel's tool of choice

The cartel does not hesitate to use any means to achieve what it wants. Kidnapping innocent people and using them for trade is his favorite method. In 1991, members of the Medellin drug cartel kidnapped the famous journalist Diana Terbey. She was deceived into allegedly meeting with one of the leaders of the cartel - but instead of a drug lord at the meeting place, a group of bandits was waiting for her, who grabbed the journalist and took her to an unknown direction. Terbay later died when Colombian police officers failed to save her. The kidnapping of the journalist was only a small part of the drug cartel's global plan to kidnap as many government officials and journalists as possible in order to prevent the passage of a law on the extradition of criminal elements. However, Colombian legislators nevertheless passed a law that allowed the country's authorities, when searching for Escobar and other drug lords, to extradite them to the United States, placing them under the jurisdiction of an American court.

Medellin drug cartel - a terrible legend of Colombia

Before his death at the hands of US Drug Enforcement Administration agents in 1993, Pablo Escobar led one of the largest and most brutal Colombian drug cartels, the Medellin Cartel. This organization, involved in drug smuggling and trafficking, was founded in the Colombian city of Medellin. In the 1970s and 80s, the cartel's headquarters were located in Bolivia. The Medellin cartel is considered one of the most successful drug trafficking organizations in history. According to rough estimates, the cartel annually earned from $50 to $100 billion from drug trafficking. However, in the 1990s, after the death of Escobar, the cartel was destroyed by competitors. By this point, the Medellin cartel had become so hated (probably out of envy) that the rival Cali drug cartel was given as much credit for its destruction as the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Colombian authorities act at the behest of drug cartels

An interview given by Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro in 2014 was like a bombshell. In it, the mayor admitted for the first time that drug cartels have long paved their way to the highest echelons state power. For years, Colombian lawmakers have shown a strange reluctance to take steps to crack down on the country's illegal cocaine exports, which have already become a national disaster. Regarding the situation that has arisen in the country because of this, Gustavo Petro said: “I am sure that in order to achieve peace, we must change the political model, integrate the population of the country into social life and democratize Colombia... But for this we need to find the courage to solve the problem of illegal drug trafficking. These problems go hand in hand: it all starts with the fact that people are on the margins of life, this creates violence - and as a result we are faced with illegal drug flows, where drug traffickers use violence for their own purposes... If we do not decide social problems that provoke violence, we will not solve the rest. Drug lords use violence to control the state and the territory of Colombia. This makes the drug trafficking problem insoluble. The drug lords have concentrated power over the country in their hands."

The main killer of the Medellin cartel killed more than 3,000 people

Jairo Velasquez Vasquez, nicknamed Polpay, Pablo Escobar's favorite hitman, is rumored to have killed 300 people with his own hands and issued sanctions for the murder of another 3 thousand. The most incredible thing is that Popeye, having “retired”, released his memoirs, talking about his life in the Medellin cartel - terrible life, which left behind thousands of corpses of innocent people. But Popeye talks about this in passing. main topic his memoirs are about how he managed to survive all these years next to the paranoid tyrant Escobar. Popeye also confirms that best years The Medellin cartel kept a large part of the Colombian government on its payroll. In addition, he says that huge amounts of money helped Escobar also bribe the highest ranks of Colombian intelligence and the national security service. Popeye admits to having participated in both the bribery of government officials, their kidnapping and torture, and his involvement in the 1989 Avianca Airlines bombing.

The Cali Cartel - the brutal successors of the Medellin Cartel

The Cali Cartel, led by brothers Rodriguez Orejuela and Jose Santacruz Londoño, broke away from Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel in the late 1980s. His base was located in the south of Colombia, in the city of Santiago de Cali. When the Medellin cartel lost its leader, the Cali cartel quickly took his place in the drug trafficking market. In their better times the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers and their people controlled up to 90% of the world's cocaine traffic. The US Drug Enforcement Administration compared the Cali Cartel to the Soviet KGB in terms of strength and power and called it "the most powerful crime syndicate in recent history."

"Group 400" - a secret criminal alliance

A division of the Cali cartel, the "Group 400" was led by the famous mafioso Jorge Alberto Rodriguez, nicknamed Don Cholito. It was a community of 400 of the most talented criminals from around the world, operating with the support of government officials. Rodriguez was known for smuggling millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States before he even turned 18. He was brought into the Cali cartel by his father, Jorge Alberto Rodriguez Sr. Subsequently, Don Cholito was called the most all-powerful drug trafficker in the United States. In 1990, Rodriguez was arrested and sentenced to several decades in prison. However, according to rumors, within a few years, Rodriguez was released and enjoying all the benefits that a multimillion-dollar fortune can provide, somewhere in the United States.

Drug lords do not hesitate to kill senior officials

This film was shot on August 18, 1989 in the city of Soacha, where Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan was killed by Colombian drug cartel militants. Machine gun fire can be clearly heard on the recording - these are the killers sent by Pablo Escobar shooting. Escobar made the decision about his death immediately after Galan announced his intention to participate in the presidential elections in 1990. The murder occurred during a meeting between Shalan and voters and became the loudest and most daring action in a series of numerous murders, assassinations and kidnappings, the purpose of which was control over the government. The cartel needed guarantees that the newly elected president would suit it, and to ensure the arrival of the candidate the kings of drug trafficking needed, they stopped at nothing.

05/30/2019 at 19:02 · VeraSchegoleva · 11 630

10 most famous drug lords in the world who made history and earned hundreds of millions of dollars

Government officials have to fight crime even in the most prosperous ones.

There are people who are not afraid to pose a real challenge to the state: they manage to create entire criminal empires. They maintain numerous armies of mercenaries and amass billions of dollars in wealth.

Famous drug lords who were active at the end of the 20th century were especially successful in such matters.

IN last decades law enforcement agencies have learned to shut down large drug supply channels much faster. However, the names of some drug dealers are so famous that people will remember them for a very long time. Introducing 10 the most famous drug lords in the world, made history.

10. Jose Figueroa Agosto | Net worth: $100 million

• Date of birth unknown.
• Place of residence: Dominican Republic.

Under the control of this criminal, cocaine was delivered from Colombia through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to America. Agosto was sentenced to 209 years in prison. In the late 90s he escaped.

To prevent Agosto from being imprisoned again, he gave the police a lot of money and repeatedly changed his appearance.

Now the criminal is back in prison, and his huge fortune is hidden. Where exactly - only he knows Jose Figueora Agosto.

9. Nikki Barnes | Heroin Net Worth: $105 Million

• Born October 15, 1933
• Place of residence: New York, Harlem.

This drug dealer himself really enjoyed using his product. He was addicted to heroin from an early age. However, later Nikki Barnes I decided that it was better not to buy drugs, but to sell them. Between his addiction and business, he chose the latter.

His career as a drug dealer was very tumultuous. "Mr. Untouchable" is Nicky Barnes's self-imposed nickname.

The drug dealer was often arrested, but this ultimately led to nothing: every time he managed to get away with it. It made me very angry American President and police officers.

Then the drug lord was given a life sentence. Barnes was an informant for a long time, and thanks to this, he was pardoned and released in 1998.

8. Paul Lear Alexander | Cocaine wealth: $170 million

• Born July 27, 1956
• Place of residence: Brazil.

Another name for this drug lord is El Parito Loco. He was called the "Cocaine Baron."

For a while Paul Lear Alexander actively informed the DEA. At the same time, he strove in every possible way to improve his affairs, establishing strong connections for this and eliminating competitors.

The sly man played a double game, but this could not last too long: his intentions were discovered, and he is now in prison in Brazil.

7. Freeway Rick Ross | Net worth: more than 600 million dollars

• Born January 26, 1960
• Residence: Texas.

In the 80s Freeway Rick Ross was the King of Crack. He distributed more than 400 kg of cocaine in a week.

Now Rick Ross is serving a life sentence: he is in prison in America. The offender cannot exercise the right of early release.

Freefey was turned in by his partner, who was trying to sell drugs to an undercover federal agent.

6. Rafael Caro Quintero | Net worth: more than 650 million dollars

• Born October 3, 1952
• Place of residence: Mexico.

This criminal founded Guadalajara, the famous drug cartel that operated in the 80s of the last century. Rafael Caro Quintero deprived the lives of several people, including a representative of the law.

In the mid-80s, he was arrested for murder, and in 2013 he was released from a Mexican prison.

However, government officials in America were not satisfied that the drug lord was released, and they asked to detain him again. Now the criminal is being sought in America, Mexico and other countries.

5. Joaquin Guzman Loera | Net worth: $1 billion

• Born December 25, 1954 or April 4, 1957
• Place of residence: Mexico.

Joaquin Guzman Loera controlled the work of the Sinaloa drug cartel. The nickname of this criminal is El Chapo. He was involved in transporting marijuana, heroin and cocaine between Mexico and America.

When Osama bin Laden died, Loera was named the most dangerous person wanted by the authorities.

El Chapo is a drug trafficker who is considered very influential, surpassing Pablo Escobar himself in this regard.

Loera has escaped custody several times, but is now in prison. The criminal got there in 2016 - after meeting Sean Penn, an American star.

4. Griselda Blanco | Net worth: $2 billion

• Born February 15, 1943, died September 3, 2012.
• Place of residence: Colombia.

This criminal is called the "Cocaine Queen". She worked with the Medellin drug cartel. Exactly Griselda Blanco established uninterrupted transportation of narcotic substances from Colombia to the United States.

Griselda was born in dysfunctional family. Her mother led a dissolute lifestyle, to which she also taught her little daughter. From her earliest years, Griselda was involved in theft and prostitution. She was very cruel, unbalanced, and had sadistic tendencies.

Blanco spent 20 years in an American prison, after which she was deported to Colombia. The former criminal died from shots from two unknown people: they could have been mercenaries.

3. Carlos Leder | Net worth: $2.7 billion

• Born September 7, 1949
• Place of residence: Colombia.

Earlier Carlos Leder was a common car thief, and he somehow managed to rise to one of the founders of the Medellin drug cartel. He established the transportation of cocaine to the United States from Colombia through Southeast Asia, and also made this drug accessible even to those people who did not have high incomes. The transshipment base was the island of Norman's Cay. Up to 300 kg of narcotic substances passed through it every day.

Carlos Ledera was detained by Colombian police. They handed him over to US authorities. Now the drug lord is imprisoned for the rest of his life.

2. Amado Carrillo Fuentes | Net worth: more than 25 billion dollars

• Born December 17, 1956, died July 4, 1997.
• Place of residence: Mexico.

This drug lord's nickname is "Lord of the Skies." Previously, he was an ordinary henchman of drug cartel leaders in Colombia. Job Amado Carrillo Fuentes paid with cocaine.

In the late 80s, Colombian drug lords began to have big problems with the law. Amado took advantage of the situation and organized his own cartel, the Juarez cartel. He controlled the transportation of drugs to the United States from Mexico. Carrillo was one of the first to actively use airplanes for such matters.

The cause of death of the famous drug lord can be called quite stupid: unfortunate.

1. Pablo Escobar | Net worth: $30 billion

• Born December 1, 1949, died December 2, 1993.
• Place of residence: Colombia.

This drug lord was the founder of the Medellin cartel. Pablo Escobar ruled it with an iron fist for many years. It was this drug lord who controlled most of the world cocaine market.

In his best times, Pablo Escobar was recognized as one of the. He ran a business without much imagination, but was distinguished by his determination and particular cruelty.

This drug lord waged a real war against the Colombian government, causing many innocent people to suffer. Pablo Escobar died when police stormed his home.

What else to see:

Curve Digital has announced the release of a video game based on the criminal life of the famous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The criminal life story of a world-famous criminal is sometimes so incredible that it surpasses even common sense, so she belongs in the cinema. But, besides Pablo Escobar, the world knew at least ten more equally daring, cruel and incredibly rich drug lords.

Frank Lucas

Net worth: $50 million.

Frank Lucas is still alive and 87 years old, which is extremely uncharacteristic for a criminal of his stature. He made his fortune by transporting kilograms of heroin from Asia to the United States during the Vietnam War, hiding drugs in the coffins of dead American soldiers. In the 70s, he was arrested and sentenced to 70 years in prison, but he was able to turn in his accomplices, which led to more than a hundred arrests. After serving 5 years, Lucas was released, but a year later he was caught again, this time buying cocaine. Released in 1991.

The film “Gangster” was made based on his biography (stills from the film above).

Jose Figueroa Agosto

Net worth: $100 million.

Jose Figueroa Agosto, also known as Junior Capsule and Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean, controlled the supply of Colombian cocaine to the United States through Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. As befits a real drug lord, in 1999 Jose escaped from prison when he was sentenced to 209 years in prison, changed his appearance several times and paid large bribes to the police so that he would not be put behind bars again. Currently, Jose is serving his sentence, and his 100 million are in a secluded place known only to him.

Nikki Barnes

Net worth: $105 million from heroin sales.

Like many drug dealers, Barnes himself was not averse to being on drugs. He began using heroin at a young age. Then he finally decided that it was better to sell drugs than to buy them. And so began his stormy career.

In the 70s, he personally proclaimed himself because of numerous arrests that led to nothing, he always managed to extricate himself. This greatly angered the police and American President Jimmy Carter.

Barnes was jailed for life. The drug dealer helped justice by working as an informant for a long time. For his length of service, he was pardoned and released in 1998.

Paul Lear Alexander

Net worth: 170 million from selling cocaine.

Paul Lear Alexander, or simply El Parito Loco, worked at one time as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. At that very time, he was actively expanding his business, selling out competitors and establishing strong connections for his own business.

In 2010, he escaped from a Brazilian prison and is still wanted.

Freeway Rick Ross

Net worth: more than 600 million dollars.

In the 80s, he sold crack and earned more than half a million dollars. In 1996, he was sentenced to life, which was initially reduced to 20 years. As a result, he was released after 10 years for “exemplary behavior.”

He is best known for suing rapper Rico Ross for using his pseudonym.

Rafael Caro Quintero

Net worth: over $650 million.

Rafael Caro Quintero is the founder of the Mexican drug cartel Guadalajara, operating in the 80s. During his criminal activities, he killed several people, including a pilot and a federal agent. He was arrested for murder in 1985 and released from a Mexican prison in 2013. However, the US government was not pleased that Quintero was released and asked for his re-arrest. Quintero is currently wanted in Mexico, America and several other countries.

Joaquin Guzman Loera

Net worth: $1 billion.

Joaquin Guzman, or as he is popularly called, is the leader of the Sinaloa cartel. His main activity was the supply of cocaine, heroin and marijuana between America and Mexico.

Known for becoming the world's most wanted fugitive after the death of Osama bin Laden. The Drug Enforcement Administration considers Guzman the most powerful drug trafficker in history, surpassing Pablo Escobar himself.

Despite the fact that El Chapo escaped from prison several times, he is currently in custody. The drug lord was jailed in 2016 after he met with American actor Sean Pen. This meeting helped law enforcement agencies get on the trail of El Chapo.

Griselda Blanco

Net worth: $2 billion.

Griselda Blanco was among the pioneers of the drug business, building her empire in the 70s. She was popularly called the godmother of cocaine and was the head of the criminal Medellin cartel.

She is also known for the fact that she was married three times; she buried all three husbands (it is believed that she shot her second husband herself). Blanco also allegedly liked to make love to men while pointing a gun at them.

In 2012, she was shot dead by a passing motorcyclist (who remained unknown). Moreover, it was she herself who once came up with this method of murder during the fight against competitors.

Carlos Leder

Earned: $2.7 billion.

One of the founders of the Medellin cartel, known for numerous innovations in the drug business. I came up with a marketing campaign - “the first dose is free.” At some point, Leder wanted to legalize his business and suggested that the President of Colombia fully pay off the country’s entire external debt.

According to official data, he is currently serving a sentence of 135 years in an American prison. Since the exact location of his imprisonment is unknown, there are rumors that he was placed under the witness protection program and has been at large for a long time.

Amado Carrillo Fuentes

Net worth: over $25 billion.

Amado Fuentes received the nickname Lord of the Skies for transporting cocaine in airplanes. Despite the fact that Fuentes always tried to stay in the shadows, the American police tried their best to catch the criminal. Because of this, the drug lord had to change his appearance through plastic surgery. However, Fuentes died during the operation, apparently due to a lethal mixture of painkillers.

Pablo Escobar

Net worth: $30 billion.

The name always comes to mind when someone nearby says the word “cocaine.” Forbes magazine estimates that Escobar controlled 80 percent of the world's cocaine business.

Considered one of the most dangerous and brutal criminals in history. He is responsible for the murders of politicians, judges, journalists, police officers and even the bombing of a civilian aircraft.

The drug lord's son Sebastian Marroquin (Juan Pablo Escobar) said that somehow, once again hiding from government agents, Escobar, along with his son and daughter, ended up in a high-mountain shelter. The night turned out to be extremely cold, and while trying to warm his daughter and cook food, Escobar burned about $2 million in cash.

Country of operation: USA
Clients: Western USA
Products: Cocaine
Ross was the biggest crack distributor in the 1980s. His business was allegedly based on buying up to 400 kilograms of cocaine a week and selling more than $3 million of crack every day.

As a result, he is considered by some to be the sole person responsible for the cocaine epidemic in the United States. In 1999, such a claim was strongly refuted by the US Department of Justice, who acknowledged the enormous size of his operations but denied any mention that Ross (or any other individual) himself could have been responsible.

A fall: In 1996, Ross was set up by his partner, offering him to sell 100 kg of cocaine to an undercover DEA agent.
Ricky Ross is currently in prison in the USA.

Number 9. Paul Lear Alexander, aka “The Cocaine Baron”

Country of operation: Brazil
Clients: USA
Products: Cocaine
Some milestones in Alexander's life, such as his being trained by the Israeli Mossad, still require proof. All that is known about him is that he became the main Brazilian supplier of cocaine even before his successful escape to the United States, where he became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

As an informant, he helped neutralize many of his competitors, since he never thought of stopping his activities by betraying others.

A fall: Alexander is a person from the category of great cunning people who could go over to one side or the other. The DEA didn't like it.
Status as of 2008: Alexander is currently in prison in Brazil.

Number 8. Santiago Luis Polanco Rodriguez, aka “Yayo”

Country of operation: USA
Clients: USA, Jamaica and Dominican Republic
Products: Cocaine
Rodriguez used more traditional drug distribution schemes than were available at the time. His clever sales techniques included weekly discounts, the use of business cards, brand recognition, and handing over merchandise to dealers in glassine envelopes (used by philatelists).

In the words of sociologist Robert Jackall: “The genius of a person was immediately noticeable, even if he himself did not realize it.”
A fall: In 1987, Rodriguez fell into a trap set by the Drug Enforcement Administration. However, it was not drug related, so he spent only a short time in prison in the Dominican Republic.
Status as of 2008: Today, Rodriguez lives quietly in the Dominican Republic with his wife and children...out of the reach of US authorities.

Number 7. Felix Mitchell, aka “The Cat”

Country of operation: USA
Clients: USA
Products: heroin, cocaine
Mitchell, who also received the nickname “Gangster 69,” conducted an extensive gangster trade. He was the first drug lord of his kind to use something resembling clever PR: providing financial support to local athletes, paying for children to visit zoos and amusement parks.

After he ended up in prison, a new type of urban crime was born: the rest of Mitchell's empire became a theater of war in his absence, people began to be shot in drive-by cars, and competition increased between his enemies trying to divide his business.

A fall: Mitchell's notoriety made him a target for the authorities, leading to life imprisonment in the Federal Penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth.
Status as of 2008: Mitchell was stabbed to death in prison less than 2 years after his incarceration. His funeral was worth watching, with Rolls-Royce limousines driving the funeral procession through the streets of Auckland through a packed crowd of thousands.

Number 6. Carlos Leder

Country of operation: Bahamas
Clients: USA
Products: Cocaine
Leder made two major contributions to illegal drug trafficking:
1) He was one of the founders of the Medellin Cartel - one of the most profitable and brutal drug cartels in history;
2) He completely rebuilt the drug transportation system. Now they were transported by plane from Colombia to the United States via Vietnam. In short, he exponentially increased the volume of supply, hence the benefits were immediate.

A fall: The megalomania took its toll on Leder. He took control of one of the Bahamas islands and turned it into his untouchable transshipment base, where, according to some estimates, 300 kg of cocaine arrives every hour.

Status as of 2008: Leder is currently in prison in the United States.

Number 5. Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha

Products: Cocaine
Even before Rodriguez became Pablo Escobar's No. 2 man in the Medellin cartel, in his youth he worked as a hitman for various gangsters and drug traffickers such as Veronica Rivera de Vargas. He was one of those who attracted public attention to himself. In 1988, Forbes magazine ranked him one of the richest people in the world.

Gacha was always tireless, constantly looking for new, creative routes for drug shipments from Mexico to the United States. He is also responsible for the rise of the Cartel's brutality. He specifically hired foreign military experts, brought them to Colombia and trained the Cartel troops in such things as assassination and guerrilla warfare.

A fall: Increased cartel violence, including many assassination orders coming directly from Rodriguez, led to punitive measures against the Medellin Cartel in the late 1980s.
Status as of 2008: Gacha died in 1989 after a confrontation with Colombian police.

Number 4. Griselda Blanco, aka “The Cocaine Queen of Miami”

Country of operation: USA
Clients: USA
Products: Cocaine
The undefeated “Cocaine Queen of Miami” was tough, ruthless and possibly mentally unstable. She was one of the most effective drug traffickers working for the Medellin cartel. According to some sources, her fortune was estimated at $500 million.

She liked to wear couture dresses and smoke crack, but her greatest hobby (as well as the source of various legends) was a penchant for “refined” cold-blooded murders. The figure is said to be 200, including one failed attempt in which the killer had to eliminate a man with a bayonet.

A fall: Blanco's brutality, which included the murder of a 2-year-old child, gave the DEA the basis to hunt her. In 1985, she was caught and sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking.

Status: After his release in 2004 and immediate deportation to Colombia, Blanco's current whereabouts are unknown.

Number 3. Hong Sa, aka “The Opium King”

Country of operation: Burma (Myanmar)
Clients: Mainly USA
Products: heroin (opium)
In the mid-1960s, one of Burma's military commanders, Hung Sa, disappeared into the jungle with an army of 800 men and began growing opium. An entire city was dedicated to this, and at the peak of his “fame,” Hong Sa was the largest heroin trafficker in the world, accounting for 3/4 of the world’s total turnover.

Caravans of drugs were regularly sent to the United States through Thailand. The DEA, which nicknamed him the ruthless “Prince of Death,” was desperate to put him on trial and offered the Burmese government $2 million to hand him over to US authorities.

A fall: In the mid-1990s, worried that the authorities would still agree to hand him over to the United States, Hong Sa surrendered to Burmese troops, who refused to hand him over.
Status: Hong Sa lived beautiful life in Rangoon until his death at the end of 2007.

Number 2. Amando Carillo Fuentes, aka “Lord of the Skies”

Country of operation: Mexico
Clients: USA, Mexico, Argentina and Chile.
Products: Cocaine
Fuentes learned the drug trade while working for Colombian barons during the cocaine boom, and his first successful step in this field was to completely abandon cash.
Instead, he took payment in cocaine and used it to develop his own system distribution. As the influence of the Colombian cartels waned in the late 1980s, Fuentes turned Mexico's colossal Juarez Cartel into enormous power with a turnover of 30 million dollars a day. This was due in no small part to his decision to use his fleet of 727 aircraft to supply products from Peru, Bolivia and Colombia to Mexico.

At the time of his heyday, his payroll included the main officials Mexico's Drug Enforcement Administration, and his own network was estimated to be worth almost $25 billion.

A fall: Amando's operations were so large that he soon became one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers.

Status: In 1997, plastic surgeons completely changed his face, but, unfortunately, not to the fullest extent. better side. After some time, these surgeons were found walled up in oil barrels.

Number 1. Pablo Escobar

Country of operation: Colombia
Clients: North, Central and South America, Caribbean Islands, Western Europe and possibly Asia.
Products: Cocaine
Pablo Escobar was not the smartest drug trafficker, nor was he the most organized or the most innovative. He was just the most ruthless, and that eliminates certain differences. The head of the Medellin cartel ruled his empire in Colombia with apparent impunity, carrying out retaliatory actions against anyone who dared challenge him.

As a result, 30 judges, more than 400 police officers were killed, and Avianca Flight 203 was blown up. By mistake (he believed that a Colombian presidential candidate was flying on that plane, although he was not there), 107 civilians were killed. It is believed that more than 3,000 people were killed on his orders.

At its peak, Escobar's cartel controlled 4/5 of the world's cocaine market. This was estimated at approximately $30 billion annually.

A fall: Concerned about his extradition to the United States, Escobar made an agreement with Colombian authorities, who placed him in the most luxurious prison you can imagine. But Escobar couldn't stay out of trouble and soon escaped from prison.
Status: Pablo Escobar died in 1993 after being fatally wounded while being hunted down by joint Colombian and American troops.

NOT INCLUDED
You may have noticed the absence from the list of Frank Lucas, who was played by Denzel Washington in the film American Gangster. While the film implies that he was one of the most prominent drug lords of all time, it simply suggests that the material used to create the film was prepared by Lucas himself (he did it for a famous magazine a few years ago).
This means, in the words of the prosecutor, the film is 1% reality and 99% Hollywood.

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Since the release of the first list of the world's richest people in 1982, Forbes magazine has included drug lords and gangsters - since organized crime is part of the global economy, these incomes need to be counted. For example, according to according to The Guardian, the Calabrian mafia 'Ndrangheta became richer in 2013 than Deutsche Bank and McDonald's combined - €53 billion.

Below are the odious figures of the underworld who made millions and billions - Pablo Escobar, "Shorty", Al Capone, Tony Salerno and others.

Pablo Escobar

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar became the first criminal to appear on the Forbes 100 International Billionaires list in 1987 with an income of $3 billion. He dropped out only after his death in 1993. The Medellin cartel, led by Escobar, had revenues of $7 billion from 1981 to 1986, with the drug lord taking 40% for himself. The cartel received its main wealth from smuggling cocaine into the United States (about 15 tons daily); in the late 1980s it owned 80% of the entire cocaine market in the world. According to Business Insider, Escobar earned $420 million a week; according to other sources, his fortune was more than $30 billion.

Each year, the king of cocaine lost about $2.1 billion (10% of revenue) as the money was haphazardly stored in warehouses and abandoned farms, destroyed by mold and rodents. Every month he spent $2,500 on rubber bands to hold bills together. Escobar once burned $2 million to keep his daughter warm: the family was then hiding in the mountains, and there was nothing to light a fire with. In 1984, the cartel offered to pay Colombia's national debt in exchange for immunity. The Drug Enforcement Administration placed a reward of $11 million on Escobar's head. In 1991, the drug lord made a deal with the Colombian government to build his own La Catedral prison (with a football field and guards chosen by him), which the authorities could not approach closer than 5 km.

The life of the drug lord was so colorful that Netflix released the series “Narcos” dedicated to him in 2015.

Joaquin Guzman Loera

In 2009, Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, nicknamed “Shorty,” was included in the Forbes list of the richest people on the planet with a fortune of $1 billion. In 2012 and 2013, he ranked 63rd and 67th among the most influential people in the world. Strategic Forecasting Inc. and even estimated his wealth at $12 billion. The Sinaloa Cartel under the leadership of Loehr was responsible for 25% of illegal drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States and received revenue of $3 billion. The New York Times, citing data from the Drug Enforcement Administration, writes that the cartel sold more cocaine than Escobar at the peak of his career.

“Shorty” started his business in the early 1990s, transporting cocaine, including in cans of chili peppers (in 1993, Mexican authorities confiscated such a 7-ton cargo). He was declared "Mexico's most wanted man" with a $7 million reward for his capture: $5 million from the United States and another $2 million from Mexico. He was first arrested in 1993, but escaped from prison in 2001. The last time Mexican security forces captured Loera in Sinaloa was in January 2016. The drug lord was killed by vanity. He was going to make a biographical film about himself and was conducting a casting. In addition, actor Sean Penn flew to "Shorty" for an interview. It is believed that the authorities were able to track the movements of the criminal due to this.

Brothers Ochoa and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha

In 1987, along with Escobar, the co-founders of the Medellin cartel, Jorge Luis Ochoa-Vazquez (with an income of $2 billion) and his brothers Juan David and Fabio, who received 30% of the cartel's revenue, were included in the Forbes list of the richest. The Ochoa brothers remained on the Forbes list for another 6 years until they surrendered to the authorities.

The drug lord Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, who lived at the same time, worked both with the Medellin cartel and independently (for example, transporting cocaine from Bogota to the United States disguised as flower deliveries) was also a billionaire. In 1988, Forbes estimated his fortune at $1.3 billion. Gacha remained on the list for two years until he was shot dead by Colombian police.

Rafael Caro Quintero and Amado Carrillo Fuentes

Before the star of the drug lord "Shorty" rose in Mexico, two names thundered there - Rafael Caro Quintero (pictured) and Carrillo Fuentes. The head of the Guadalajara cartel, Rafael Quintero, owned a marijuana plantation called Rancho Bufalo. During a police raid in 1984, about 6,000 tons of marijuana were seized at the ranch, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, cost Quintero between $3.2 and $8 billion. The Guadalajara cartel earned $5 billion a year. There were rumors in the Mexican press that Quintero, following Escobar, offered to pay Mexico's foreign debt in exchange for his freedom. The drug lord was sentenced to 40 years in a Mexican prison in 1989, but was released 28 years later.

The second Mexican drug lord is Carrillo Fuentes, head of the Juarez cartel. The Washington Post estimated his fortune at $25 billion. It is believed that his wealth allowed him to evade justice for many years. Fuentes received the nickname "Lord of the Skies" for his extensive fleet (22 aircraft) for transporting cocaine to the United States. Fuentes died in 1997 during plastic surgery by changes in appearance.

Morris Dalitz

Moritz (Moe) Dalitz was one of such legendary gangsters as Al Capone and Bugzy Siegel. During the Prohibition era, he was involved in bootlegging, and later in the gambling business and real estate. In 1982, Dalitz appeared on the first Forbes list of the richest, along with artist Yoko Ono, actor Bob Hope and mafia accountant Meyer Lansky. Dalitz's fortune was estimated at $110 million, but how much he actually earned remains a question.

Dalitz received a significant share of his wealth from the first Las Vegas casinos. In 1949, he co-founded the Desert Inn and Stardust Hotel casinos. In the 1950s, he took part in the emergence of the Paradise Development Company, which built a university and convention center in Las Vegas. In the 1960s, he invested in the $100 million La Costa Resort complex near San Diego, after which he sued Penthouse magazine for $640 million, which wrote that the construction was financed by the mafia. Unlike many of his colleagues with a criminal past, Dalitz lived to an old age, in last years did charity work.

Khun Sa

Khun Sa, the “Opium King,” was estimated by Business Insider to be worth $5 billion. Born Chang Shifu, the son of a Chinese man and a Shan woman, in the 1960s he changed his name to the pseudonym Khun Sa, which means “Prosperous Prince.” During these years, he led the Burmese army, which was engaged in the cultivation of opium in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia, which included 20,000 men. In the 1970s and 80s, the Sa army controlled the Thai-Burmese border and was responsible for 45% of the pure heroin entering the US, earning it the title of "the best in the business" by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) (The Economist).

The US government placed a $2 million bounty on the head of the “Opium King.” By the 1990s, the DEA was able to destroy Sa’s trading chain, he moved to Yangon and retired. Currently, opium production in the Golden Triangle has fallen to 5% of the global figure (in 1975 it was 70%).

There are reports on whether the drug lord saved billions before his death in 2007. different versions- from “lived in luxury” to “was content with a modest pension.”

Griselda Blanco

The Western press called Colombian Griselda Blanco the “Godmother of Cocaine.” Blanco was a key figure in the Miami cocaine trade in the 1970s and 1980s. Even in the male drug business, she had a reputation as a ruthless operator. According to Business Insider, her fortune was approaching $2 billion, however, she was far from the income of Exobar.

A three-time widow whose spouses were rumored to have died at her hands, she named one of her sons Michael Corleone. Its distribution network made tens of millions of dollars and transported about 1,500 kilograms of cocaine a month, according to The Guardian. Before his arrest in 1985 in California, “Godmother” appeared on the list of the most dangerous drug traffickers along with Escobar and the Ochoa brothers. She was charged with 40 to 200 murders in Florida, but death penalty the woman escaped due to a technical error in court: the officer who testified against her was discredited because he had a telephone sex conversation with the secretary in the prosecutor’s office, the Guardian wrote. Blanco was imprisoned in federal prison and deported to Colombia in 2004, where she was shot and killed by a motorcycle killer eight years later.

Al Capone

Capone is the most famous American gangster. A character named Al Capone appears in 77 Mafia films.

At the time of his death in 1947, his fortune was estimated at $1.3 billion. Capone operated in various criminal spheres - bootlegging, racketeering, murder. In 1929, the American government declared him "Enemy No. 1." Prosecutors repeatedly sentenced Capone to prison, but he was released several months later. As a result, in 1931, Capone was only sentenced for tax evasion - for 11 years. He was to spend most of his sentence in Alcatraz.

In 1939, Capone was released, but his health was poor - he suffered from syphilis and dementia.

In 2012, Forbes conducted an analysis former property Capone. The Chicago four-bedroom house he bought with his first earnings was valued at $450,000, and the Miami Beach mansion where he died in 1947 was valued at $9.95 million.

Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar

The income of India's most wanted criminal is estimated by Business Insider at $6.7 billion. Forbes included Kaskar in the lists of the most influential people in the world in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (50th, 63rd and 57th place, respectively). His crime syndicate, D-Company, is blamed for the 1993 and 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and has also been involved in drug and arms smuggling. The US government believes that Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar has ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. According to one version, Kaskar is hiding in Pakistan.

Anthony Salerno

In 1986, Fortune magazine published a list of the "50 Most Powerful Mafia Bosses." Chief Editor explained the appearance of the material by the fact that “organized crime is a powerful economic factor.” Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno also made the list. Led by a gangster, the Genovese clan (300 people) was involved in racketeering and drugs in New York. According to The New York Times, the clan's influence extended to Cleveland, Nevada and Miami, and its interests also included construction, loan sharking and casinos. Since the 1960s, the clan earned $50 million a year. Between 1981 and 1985, Salerno imposed a two percent Mafia tax in New York on all contractors pouring concrete for buildings costing more than $2 million. Salerno's real wealth may have been $1 billion.

In 1988, the gangster was sentenced to 70 years for racketeering and concealing illegal income of $10 million a year (the declaration indicated only $40,000 a year). Four years later, at the age of 80, he died in prison.

Michael Franzese

On Fortune's list of the 50 Most Powerful Mafia Bosses, Michael Franzese was ranked 18th. Franzese, nicknamed “Don Yuppie,” is the son of a bank robber who formed a cartel that was involved in the release of B-movies, the illegal sale of gasoline, scams involving the repair and sale of cars, and fraudulent loans.

Michael Franzese received between $1 and $2 million in income per week. In 1985, the US government charged him with fraud, stripped him of $4.8 million in assets and ordered him to repay $10 million for illegally selling gasoline through shell companies. After eight years in prison and a $15 million settlement, Frances moved to California and decided to capitalize on his criminal past. He has written two books - an autobiography, Blood Covenant, and a business advice book, I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse, as well as sold the rights to a miniseries about his life to CBS. Now the former gangster lives in a $2.7 million house, drives a Porsche, gives interviews to Vanity Fair and gives lectures at universities.

Shinobu Tsukasa

74-year-old Shinobu Tsukasa leads a yakuza clan called the Yamaguchi-gumi. Fortune listed the Yamaguchi-gumi as one of the five most powerful mafia groups in the world, with annual profits of $6.6 billion. Yamaguchi was founded in the port city of Kobe more than 100 years ago and has 23,400 members. Most of the income comes from drug sales, as well as gambling and extortion.

Shinobu Tsukasa is the sixth leader of the clan in history. In the 1970s, he was sentenced to 13 years for murder with a samurai sword. In 2005, he was jailed for 6 years for possession of a firearm. In 2015, a split occurred in the Yamaguchi-gumi. According to Tokyo Reporter, most of the group remained with Tsukasa, and 3,000 members formed a new clan led by Kunio Inoue.

John Gotti

New York boss of the Gambino clan John Gotti received two nicknames from the press. “Teflon Don” - for being invulnerable to justice for a long time. And also “Don the Dapper” - for expensive custom suits (Brioni for $2000 and hand-painted silk scarves for $400), careful hairstyle, black Mercedes 450 SL and lavish parties.

Growing up in the South Bronx, Gotti joined the Gambino clan, one of the powerful crime syndicates, in the 1950s. gambling, extortion, usury and drugs. The US government suspected that on his way to becoming head of the Gambinos, Gotti eliminated his predecessor Paul Castellano in 1985. An FBI agent who worked on the Gotti case said that "he was the first media don, never trying to hide the fact that he was a superboss." And his large lifestyle and external gloss always provided food for articles in the tabloids.

According to the New York Times, Gotti earned between $10 million and $12 million annually in income, while the Gambino clan earned more than $500 million a year in the 1980s. Justice did not reach Gotti until 1992, and 10 years later he died in prison.