Medellín Cartel
Encyclopedia
The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...

, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. The drug cartel
Drug cartel
Drug cartels are criminal organizations developed with the primary purpose of promoting and controlling drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking...

 operated in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, as well as Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and run by Ochoa Vázquez brothers Jorge Luis, Juan David, and Fabio together with Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...

. By 1993, the Colombian government, helped by the US, had successfully dismantled the cartel by imprisoning or hunting and gunning down its members.

History

During the height of its operations, the cartel brought in more than $60 million per day. The total amount of money made by the cartel was in the tens of billions, and very possibly the hundreds of billions of dollars. There were many "groups" during the cartel's years, usually white Americans, Canadians or Europeans, organized for the sole purpose of transporting shipments of cocaine destined for the United States, Europe and Canada. While many groups were infiltrated and taken down by Federal agents and informers, a few were stumbled upon by authorities, usually due to some small misstep or careless behavior by a group member.

Once authorities were made aware of "questionable activities", the group would be put under Federal Drug Task Force surveillance. Evidence would be gathered, compiled and presented to a Grand Jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...

, resulting in indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

s, arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...

s and prison sentences
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...

, for those convicted. The number of Colombian Cartel Leaders actually taken into custody as a result of these operations was very few. Mostly, non-Colombians conspiring with the Cartel were the "fruits" of these indictments.

Most Colombians targeted, as well as those named in such indictments, lived and stayed in Colombia, or fled before indictments were unsealed. However, by 1993 most, if not all, cartel fugitives had been imprisoned or hunted and gunned down by the Colombian National Police
Colombian National Police
The National Police of Colombia is the national police force of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military of Colombia , it constitutes along with them the "Public Force" and is also controlled by the Ministry of Defense. They are the largest police force in Colombia...

 trained and assisted by U.S. Delta Force
Delta Force
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta is one of the United States' secretive Tier One counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units. Commonly known as Delta Force, Delta, or The Unit, it was formed under the designation 1st SFOD-D, and is officially referred to by the Department of Defense...

 units and the CIA.

While it is broadly believed that the group "Los Pepes
Los Pepes
Los Pepes , was a short-lived vigilante group composed of enemies of narcotics kingpin Pablo Escobar who waged a bloody war against Escobar and his associates in the early 1990s.-Name:While the name suggested that all, or most, members of Los Pepes were previously persecuted by...

" have been instrumental in the assassination of the cartel's members over the last 17 years, it is still in dispute whether the mantle is just a screen designed to deflect political repercussions from both the Colombian and United States governments involvement in these assassinations.

Fear of extradition

Perhaps the greatest threat posed to the Medellín Cartel and the other traffickers was the implementation of an extradition treaty between the United States and Colombia. It allowed Colombia to extradite any Colombian suspected of drug trafficking to the US and to be put on trial there for their crimes. This was a major problem for the cartel since the drug traffickers had little access to their local power and influence in the US, and a trial there would most likely lead to imprisonment. Among the staunch supporters of the extradition treaty were Colombian Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur, and was assassinated by orders of Pablo Escobar because of his work as Minister in prosecuting cocaine traffickers mainly belonging to the Medellín Cartel.Lara's death...

, Police Officer Jaime Ramírez and numerous Supreme Court Judges.

However, the cartel applied a "bend or break" strategy towards several of these supporters, using bribery, extortion or violence. However, when police efforts began to cause major losses, some of the major drug lords themselves were temporarily pushed out of Colombia, going into hiding while they ordered cartel members to take out key supporters of the extradition treaty.

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was pushing for more action against the drug cartels.

The cartel issued death threats to the Supreme Court Judges, asking them to denounce the Extradition Treaty. The warnings were ignored. In November 1985, 35 heavily armed members of the M-19
19th of April Movement
The 19th of April Movement or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla movement. After its demobilization it became a political party, the M-19 Democratic Alliance , or AD/M-19.The M-19 traced its origins to the allegedly fraudulent presidential elections of 19 April 1970...

 guerilla group stormed the Colombian Supreme Court in Bogotá, leading to the Palace of Justice siege
Palace of Justice siege
The Palace of Justice siege was a 1985 attack against the Supreme Court of Colombia, in which members of the M-19 guerrilla group took over the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, Colombia, and held the Supreme Court hostage, intending to hold a trial against President Belisario Betancur...

. The army and the police attempted to rescue the hostages, but the operation ended tragically with many of the hostages killed in the crossfire and heavy casualties. Some claimed at the time that the Cartel's influence was behind the M-19's raid, because of its interest in intimidating the Supreme Court. The issue continues to be debated inside Colombia.

The cartel and terrorism

On August 18, 1989, the cartel murdered leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán
Luis Carlos Galán
Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento was a Colombian journalist and liberal politician who ran for the presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time representing the Liberal Party in 1982 which he lost to Belisario Betancur...

, and declared "total and absolute war" against the Colombian government, seeking to stop potential extradition of its members. The strategy consisted of terrorizing the civilian population and cornering the government. The cartel conducted hundreds of terrorist attacks against civilian and governmental targets. However, the cartel had already started a campaign of assassinations of key political figures, as far back as 1984. The following is a list of the most notable incidents involving the Medellín cartel:
  • May 30, 1989: Attempted assassination of Miguel Maza Marquez, director of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad
    Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad
    The Administrative Department of Security was the Security Service agency of Colombia, also responsible for the immigration services. It was dissolved on 31 October 2011 as part of a wider Executive Reform, and it was superseded by the National Directorate of Intelligence, DNI.- Activities :Its...

     (DAS) in Bogotá
    Bogotá
    Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

    . Car bomb. 4 dead, 37 injured.
  • September 2, 1989: Car bomb against major newspaper El Espectador
    El Espectador
    El Espectador is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá...

    in Bogotá. 84 wounded. Guillermo Cano Isaza
    Guillermo Cano Isaza
    Guillermo Cano Isaza was a Colombian journalist.The editor of the daily El Espectador, he was murdered in front of the paper's offices by two hitmen linked to Colombia's drug cartels...

    , director of the newspaper had been killed on Escobar's orders on December 17, 1986.
  • October 16, 1989: Car bomb against newspaper Vanguardia Liberal
    Vanguardia Liberal
    Vanguardia Liberal is a Colombian regional newspaper, founded 1 September 1919 by former minister, governor and ambassador Alejandro Galvis Galvis, whose descendants are its current owners. It is printed in Bucaramanga, Santander, and related to the Colombian Liberal Party...

    , in Bucaramanga
    Bucaramanga
    Bucaramanga is a Colombian city, and capital city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth largest city economy and sixth largest population in Colombia, with 1,212,656 people in its metropolitan area...

    . Four killed.
  • November 27, 1989: The cartel bombs Avianca Flight 203
    Avianca Flight 203
    Avianca Airlines Flight 203 was a Colombian domestic passenger flight from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali. It was destroyed by a bomb over the municipality of Soacha on November 27, 1989....

     during flight over Bogotá while attempting to kill presidential candidate César Gaviria Trujillo, who had not boarded the plane. 110 are killed.
  • December 6, 1989: DAS headquarters in downtown Bogotá is bombed
    DAS Building bombing
    The DAS Building bombing was a truck bomb attack in Bogotá, Colombia, at 7:30 am on December 6, 1989. The bomb targeted the Administrative Department of Security headquarters....

     with over 1,100 pounds of explosives during the morning rush. The attack kills over 50, injures more than 600, and levels several city blocks, destroying more than 300 commercial properties.
  • May 13, 1990: Two bombs detonate separately at the Quirigua and Niza shopping malls during Mother's Day in Bogotá, killing 14 and wounding over 100.
  • February 16, 1991: The cartel detonates a 440-pound car bomb outside La Macarena, a Bullring
    Bullring
    A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with Spain, but they can also be found in neighboring countries and the New World...

     in Medellín, killing 22.
  • January 30, 1993: A car bomb in downtown Bogotá kills 20. The bomb was set off in a high-rise area, and most of the dead were in higher floors as the explosive wave traveled up the buildings.
  • April 15, 1993: A car bomb kills 15 and injures over 100 outside the Centro 93 shopping mall in northern Bogotá.

Assassinations

As a means of intimidation, the cartel conducted several hundred assassinations throughout the country. Escobar and his associates made it clear that whoever stood against them would risk being killed along with his/her families. Some estimates put the total around 3,500 killed during the height of the cartel, including over 500 police officers in Medellín, but the entire list is impossible to assemble, due to the limitation of the judiciary power in Colombia. The following is a brief list of the most notorious assassinations conducted by the cartel:
  • Luis Vasco and Gilberto Hernandez, two DAS
    Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad
    The Administrative Department of Security was the Security Service agency of Colombia, also responsible for the immigration services. It was dissolved on 31 October 2011 as part of a wider Executive Reform, and it was superseded by the National Directorate of Intelligence, DNI.- Activities :Its...

     agents who had arrested Pablo Escobar in 1976. One of the earliest assassinations of authority figures by the cartel.
  • Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
    Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
    Rodrigo Lara Bonilla was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur, and was assassinated by orders of Pablo Escobar because of his work as Minister in prosecuting cocaine traffickers mainly belonging to the Medellín Cartel.Lara's death...

    , Minister of Justice, killed on a Bogotá highway on April 30, 1984 when two gunmen riding a motorcycle approached his vehicle in traffic and opened fire.
  • Tulio Manuel Castro Gil, Superior Judge, killed by motorcycle gunmen in July 1985 shortly after indicting Escobar.
  • Hernando Baquero Borda, Supreme Court Justice, killed by gunmen in Bogotá on July 31, 1986.
  • Jaime Ramírez
    Jaime Ramírez
    Jaime Caupolicán Ramírez Banda was a Chilean football striker.-Club:He was skillful with the ball, he had great technique and even at his height, he had a great heading shot, he played in the junior divisions of Bádminton , Universidad de Chile in the Ballet Azul years, Colo-Colo champion with the...

    , Police Colonel
    Colonel
    Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

     and head of the anti-narcotics unit of the National Police of Colombia. Killed on a Medellín highway in November 1986 when assassins in a red Renault
    Renault
    Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

     pulled up beside his white Toyota minivan and opened fire. Ramírez was killed instantly; his wife and two sons were wounded.
  • Guillermo Cano Isaza
    Guillermo Cano Isaza
    Guillermo Cano Isaza was a Colombian journalist.The editor of the daily El Espectador, he was murdered in front of the paper's offices by two hitmen linked to Colombia's drug cartels...

    , director of El Espectador
    El Espectador
    El Espectador is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá...

    , killed on December 1986 in Bogotá by gunmen riding a motorcycle.
  • Jaime Pardo Leal
    Jaime Pardo Leal
    Jaime Pardo Leal was the candidate of the Patriotic Union for the presidency of Colombia in the 1986 elections.Members of the Patriotic Union became the target of multiple death threats and assassination attempts...

    , presidential candidate and head of the Patriotic Union
    Patriotic Union (Colombia)
    The Patriotic Union or UP , was a leftist Colombian political party founded by the FARC and the Colombian Communist Party in 1985, as part of the peace negotiations that the guerrillas held with the Conservative Belisario Betancur administration...

     party, killed by a gunman on October, 1987.
  • Carlos Mauro Hoyos, Attorney General, killed by gunmen in Medellín on January 1988.
  • Antonio Roldan Betancur, governor of Antioquia, killed by a car bomb in July 1989.
  • Valdemar Franklin Quintero, Commander of the Antioquia police, killed by gunmen in Medellín in August, 1989.
  • Luis Carlos Galán
    Luis Carlos Galán
    Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento was a Colombian journalist and liberal politician who ran for the presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time representing the Liberal Party in 1982 which he lost to Belisario Betancur...

    , presidential candidate, killed by gunmen during a rally in Soacha
    Soacha
    Soacha is the city of Colombia on the southern edge of Bogotá, the country's capital. It has an important industrial zone and is home to mostly working class families.-Demographics:...

     in August, 1989. The assassination was carried out on the same day the commander of the Antioquia police was gunned down by the cartel.
  • Carlos Ernesto Valencia, Superior Judge, killed by gunmen shortly after indicting Escobar on the death of Guillermo Cano, in August 1989.
  • Jorge Enrique Pulido, journalist, director of JEP Television, killed by gunmen in Bogotá in November 1989.
  • Diana Turbay
    Diana Turbay
    Diana Turbay Quintero was a Colombian journalist, killed during the rescue operation while kidnapped by the Medellín Cartel...

    , journalist, chief editor of the Hoy por Hoy magazine, killed during a rescue attempt in January 1991.
  • Enrique Low Murtra, Minister of Justice, killed by gunmen in downtown Bogotá on May 1991.
  • Myriam Rocio Velez, Superior Judge, killed by gunmen shortly before she was to sentence Escobar on the assassination of Galan, in September 1992.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/judge-murdered-1552641.html

End of the cartel

The cartel's violence earned it the enmity of the Colombian and U.S. governments in addition to that of its rival Cali Cartel
Cali Cartel
The Cali Cartel was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca Department. The Cali Cartel was founded by the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, Gilberto and Miguel, as well as associate José Santacruz Londoño...

.

Many members of the cartel, including Pablo Escobar, were hunted and killed by a National Police of Colombia force, the Search Bloc
Search Bloc
The Search Bloc was a Special Operations unit of the National Police of Colombia .-History:...

, which had been trained and assisted by both the U.S. Delta Force
Delta Force
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta is one of the United States' secretive Tier One counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units. Commonly known as Delta Force, Delta, or The Unit, it was formed under the designation 1st SFOD-D, and is officially referred to by the Department of Defense...

 as well as the CIA. Escobar's cartel associates were also targeted by the Los Pepes
Los Pepes
Los Pepes , was a short-lived vigilante group composed of enemies of narcotics kingpin Pablo Escobar who waged a bloody war against Escobar and his associates in the early 1990s.-Name:While the name suggested that all, or most, members of Los Pepes were previously persecuted by...

 vigilante group.

DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...

 Agents considered that their four-pronged 'Kingpin
Kingpin
Kingpin may refer to:* Kingpin , the pivot in the steering mechanism* Kingpin , a Swedish metal band from the mid-1980s* Kingpin , a satirical chess magazine...

 Strategy', specifically targeting senior cartel figures, was a major contributing factor to the collapse of the organization.

Cultural references

  • The 1996 Gabriel García Márquez
    Gabriel García Márquez
    Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...

     novel News of a Kidnapping
    News of a Kidnapping
    thumb|1st edition News of a Kidnapping is a non-fiction book by Gabriel García Márquez...

  • The 2001 film Blow
    Blow (film)
    Blow is a 2001 biopic about the American cocaine smuggler George Jung, directed by Ted Demme. David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes adapted Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All for the screenplay. It is based on the real...

    depicts the life of American cocaine trafficker George Jung
    George Jung
    George Jacob Jung , nicknamed "Boston George", was a major player in the cocaine trade in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s. Jung was a part of the Medellín Cartel which was responsible for up to 85 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States . He specialized in the...

    , who had ties with the Medellín cartel. Pablo Escobar appears as a character.
  • Killing Pablo, a 2001 book by Mark Bowden chronicles the rise and fall of Escobar's reign.
  • The 2005 Don Winslow
    Don Winslow
    Don Winslow is an American author most recognized for his crime and mystery novels. Many of his books are set in California. He has published a series of five novels that have a private investigator named Neal Carey as their main character...

     novel The Power of the Dog
    The Power of the Dog
    The Power of the Dog is a 2005 crime/thriller novel by Don Winslow, based on the DEA's involvement with the War on Drugs. The book was published after six years of writing and research by the author....

  • The 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys
    Cocaine Cowboys
    Cocaine Cowboys is a 2006 documentary film directed by Billy Corben and produced by Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben through their Miami-based media studio Rakontur. The film explores the rise of cocaine and resulting crime epidemic that swept the American city of Miami, Florida in the 1970s and...

  • Characters in the HBO series Entourage
    Entourage (TV series)
    Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

    created a film, titled "Medellín", based on the life of Pablo Escobar.
  • Both the novel and film
    Clear and Present Danger (film)
    Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy. It is a subsequent release to the 1992 film Patriot Games, which in itself is a subsequent release to the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October.It is the last film to feature Harrison...

     versions of Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy
    Tom Clancy
    Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...

     depict the US's attempt to fracture the cartel.
  • Spike TV
    Spike TV
    Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

    's Deadliest Warrior
    Deadliest Warrior
    Deadliest Warrior is a television program in which information on historical or modern warriors and their weapons are used to determine which of them is the "deadliest" based upon tests performed during each episode...

    used the Medellín Cartel as a competitor for season 2; they were pitted against and lost to the Somali Pirate
    Piracy in Somalia
    Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century...

    s

See also

  • Griselda Blanco
    Griselda Blanco
    Griselda Blanco is a former drug lord for the Medellín Cartel, and was a pioneer in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld during the 1970s and early 1980s.-Biography:...

  • Max Mermelstein
    Max Mermelstein
    Max Mermelstein was a drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel in the late 70's and early 80's, who later became a key informant against the organization. In the words of James P...

  • Jack Carlton Reed
    Jack Carlton Reed
    Jack Carlton Reed, was a drug smuggler and Co-defendant of Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas, Colombian drug baron and co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. Reed was a pilot working under Lehder’s cocaine transport empire on Norman's Cay, an out island 210 miles off the Florida coast in the Exuma chain in...

  • Narcotrafficking in Colombia
  • Norte del Valle Cartel
    Norte del Valle Cartel
    The Norte del Valle Cartel, or North Valley Cartel, is a drug cartel that operates principally in the north of the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia...

  • Cocaine Cowboys
    Cocaine Cowboys
    Cocaine Cowboys is a 2006 documentary film directed by Billy Corben and produced by Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben through their Miami-based media studio Rakontur. The film explores the rise of cocaine and resulting crime epidemic that swept the American city of Miami, Florida in the 1970s and...


Further reading

  • Mark Bowden
    Mark Bowden
    Not to be confused with Mark Bowden, U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Somalia.Mark Robert Bowden is an American writer and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a 1973 graduate of Loyola University Maryland...

    's biography of Pablo Escobar, Killing Pablo.
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