Drug lord

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A drug lord or drug baron is the term used to describe a person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the illegal drugs trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they might never be directly in possession of something illegal, but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of underlings. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltrations of their networks, often using informants from within the network.

Contents 1 Notable drug lords 1.1 Pablo Escobar 1.2 Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela and Jose Santacruz-Londono 1.3 Manuel Noriega 1.4 Amado Carrillo Fuentes 1.5 Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo Guzmán" 1.6 Ismael Zambada García 1.7 Klaas Bruinsma 2 Current trends in the world of the drug lord 3 In fiction 4 References

[edit] Notable drug lords

[edit] Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was the most notorious and violent drug lord of the Medellín Cartel. Escobar was killed by the Search Bloc, a group of Colombian police devoted to capturing Escobar, on a Colombian rooftop in 1993; by this time, the cartel had already been severely damaged. However, there would be no rest. After Escobar's death, the Medellín Cartel fragmented and the cocaine market soon became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel, until the mid-1990s when its leaders, too, were either killed or captured by the government.

[edit] Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela and Jose Santacruz-Londono

The Cali Cartel had been formed in the early 1970s by Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela and Jose Santacruz-Londono, and rose quietly alongside its violent rival, the Medellín Cartel. But while the Medellín Cartel gained an international reputation for brutality and murder, the Cali traffickers posed as legitimate businessmen. This unique criminal enterprise initially involved itself in counterfeiting and kidnapping, but gradually expanded into smuggling cocaine base from Peru and Bolivia to Colombia for conversion into powder cocaine. ^[1]

[edit] 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. Noriega facilitated "guns-for-drugs" flights for the contras, providing protection and pilots, as well as safe havens for drug cartel officials, and discreet banking facilities. ^[2]

[edit] Amado Carrillo Fuentes

As the top drug trafficker in Mexico, Carrillo was transporting four times more cocaine to the U.S. than any other trafficker in the world, building a fortune of over US$25 billion. He was called El Señor de los Cielos ("The Lord of the Skies") for his pioneering 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 U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration 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.

[edit] Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo Guzmán"

He is Mexico's top Drug Kingpin after the arrest of his rival Osiel Cardenas of the Gulf Cartel. 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. He was jailed in 1993, but in 2001 he paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates.

[edit] Ismael Zambada García

Zambada is hardly a household name, yet he has become the most wanted drug smuggler in Mexico,^[3] and is expected to be added soon to the FBI's Top 10 Most-Wanted Fugitives list, U.S. and Mexico drug agents told AP. 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.

[edit] Klaas Bruinsma

Klaas Bruinsma was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland. He was known as "De Lange" ("the tall one") and also as "De Dominee" ("the minister") because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others.

[edit] Current trends in the world of the drug lord

After the death of Pablo Escobar in 1993, the world of the drug lord had taken a major turn in its departing from massive cartels such as Juan David Ochoa's Medellín cartel. More recently, drug lords are breaking up the large cartels of the past into much smaller organizations of the future. In doing so, they not only decrease the number of people involved but also put a much smaller target on themselves -- most likely in an attempt to avoid the fate bestowed upon previous drug lords such as Pablo Escobar. 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 of the FBI’s most wanted lists. These smaller cartels are slowly proving to be not only more profitable for those involved but also much safer. ^[4]

Up until the demise of Pablo Escobar, in many instances drug lords essentially ran the governments of the locations they controlled (through bribery and assassinations), and everything associated with them. However, as the years press forward, this way of controlling their operations is becoming less prevalent. One of the most notorious examples of the treatment given to drug lords is in 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 that enjoyed lightened jail life was Al Capone. Capone continued to run his business from his jail cell, a cell that contained tables, chairs, a bed, flowers and paintings. To drug lords of the past jail was simply a way to avoid further persecution. In recent times, this has also changed -- no longer are drug lords in control of local and regional governments. This causes them to give up some of their control over their surroundings and also their ability to continue to run their businesses from behind bars.^{[5] [6]}

Another trend that has been emerging in the last decade is the willingness of authorities to cooperate with countries, most notably the United States, in an effort to apprehend and punish the drug lords. Recently (especially in the last five years), countries have been more and 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. "In 2006 Mexico extradited 63 drug dealers to the US," a record number for them. The only issue here is the worst criminals are often never extradited as Mexico and other countries refuse to send people who would be facing the death penalty at their destination, as it is not legal in those countries.^{[7] [8]}

[edit] In fiction

Drug lords are a popular choice for the lead villain in many action movies and television shows, having been featured for such purposes in the Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys series and in TV series such as Miami Vice, Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Shield. A drug lord was prominent in the 1989 miniseries Traffik. Perhaps the most famous fictitious movie drug lords were Tony Montana, who was played by Al Pacino, and Alejandro Sosa, who was played by Paul Shenar, both in the movie Scarface.

Some popular portrayals of drug lords have been fictionalized accounts of real persons. A noted example of this is the film American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington as drug lord Frank Lucas.

Other notable fictional drug lords include most notably the unspecified Latin American Franz Sanchez, who was played by Robert Davi in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, and the Colombian Orlando Calderone, played by Miguel Pinero who was the foil in the Miami Vice TV series.

Drug Lords are also featured in several videogames, most notably the Grand Theft Auto series,specially Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, in which Vice City is controlled by the drug lord Ricardo Diaz.

In the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, King Sebolto of Malastare is a well known drug lord peddling death sticks all over the galaxy.

The 2005 film Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill featured a group of teenagers who are taken hostage by a drugs baron residing in a town inhabited by zombies.

[edit] References