Drug lord
Encyclopedia
A drug lord, drug baron or kingpin 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 informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...

s from within the organization.

Manuel Noriega

For more than a decade, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

nian Manuel Noriega
Manuel Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno is a Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.The 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States removed him from power; he was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on...

 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.

William Leonard Pickard

From 1988 until his arrest in 2000, William Leonard Pickard served as the top manufacturer of Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in the world. At the time of his arrest it was estimated that Pickards organization was responsible for as many as 10 million doses of LSD per month, with an estimated street value in excess of $40 million USD. US officials reported a 90% drop in the global supply of LSD following his arrest.

Dalton Ormsbee

Dalton Ormsbee (born January 26, 1960), also known as "Freeway" Ricky Ross, is a convicted drug trafficker best known for the "drug empire" that he presided over in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, in the early 1980s. The nickname "Freeway" came from Ross's ownership of several properties along the Harbor Freeway. His old house he grew up in is where a freeway now stands. During the height of his drug dealing, Ross claims to have made "$2 million in one day."

In 1996, Ross was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

 after being convicted of trying to purchase more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent. Ross became the subject of controversy later that year when a series of articles by journalist Gary Webb
Gary Webb
Gary Webb was a Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist.Webb was best known for his 1996 "Dark Alliance" series of articles written for the San Jose Mercury News and later published as a book...

 in the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...

brought to light a connection between one of Ross's cocaine sources, Danilo Blandon, and the CIA as part of the Iran-Contra scandal. The decision in Ross's case was brought to a federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 court of appeals
Court of Appeals
A court of appeals is an appellate court generally.Court of Appeals may refer to:*Military Court of Appeals *Corte d'Assise d'Appello *Philippine Court of Appeals*High Court of Appeals of Turkey*United States courts of appeals...

 where his sentence was reduced to 20 years. His sentence has since been reduced further for being a model prisoner and he was moved to a halfway house
Halfway house
The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a...

 in California in March 2009, and was released on September 29, 2009.

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.

Ramon Arellano Felix

was a Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 drug trafficker whom authorities linked to the Tijuana drug cartel
Tijuana Cartel
The Tijuana Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana. The cartel has been described as "one of the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico"...

 (aka the Arellano-Félix Organization). At 188 cm (6 foot 2 inch) and 100 kg (220 lb), Arellano Félix was allegedly one of the most ruthless members of the cartel and was a suspect in various murders. Arellano Félix had been linked by Mexican police to the 1997 massacre of twelve members of a family outside of Ensenada, Baja California
Ensenada, Baja California
Ensenada is a coastal city in Mexico and the third-largest city in Baja California. It is located south of San Diego on the Baja California Peninsula. The city is locally referred to as La Cenicienta del Pacífico, or, The Cinderella of the Pacific...

. The family was related to a drug dealer that had an unpaid debt to the Arellano Félix Cartel. On September 18, 1997, Ramon Arellano Félix became the 451st fugitive to be placed to the Ten Most Wanted list. Leading to his Most Wanted Fugitive listing in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, he had been charged in a sealed indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California
United States District Court for the Southern District of California
The United States District Court for the Southern District of California is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties in California: Imperial and San Diego. In terms of filed indictments, it is one of the busiest criminal districts in the United States...

, with Conspiracy to Import Cocaine and Marijuana in drug trafficking.

Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo Guzmán"

Loera is one of Mexico's top Drug Kingpins 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
Douglas, Arizona
Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. Douglas has a border crossing with Mexico and a history of mining.The population was 14,312 at the 2000 census...

--to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States in the early 1990s. In 1993 a 7.3 ton shipment of his cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

, concealed in cans of chili peppers and destined for the United States, was seized in Tecate
Tecate
Tecate is a small city in Baja California, Mexico and the municipal seat of Tecate Municipality. It is located on the border with Tecate, California, United States in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. There is a small port of entry betwixt the sister cities that serves as a calmer...

, Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

. In 1993 he barely escaped an ambush by the Tijuana Cartel led by Ramon Arellano Felix and his gunmen, Captured in Guatemala, he was jailed in 2001 and placed in a maximum security prison called Puente Grande, but paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates.

He is considered a folk hero
Folk hero
A folk hero is a type of hero, real, fictional, or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by...

 in the narcotics world, celebrated by musicians who write and perform "corridos," extolling his exploits. For example, Los Buitres recorded a ballad extolling his life on the run:

He sleeps at times in homes,

at times in tents

Radio and rifle at the foot

of the bed

Sometimes his roof is the cave

Ismael Zambada García

Zambada is hardly a household name, yet he has become the most wanted drug smuggler in Mexico, and is expected to be added soon to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...

 and DEA
DEA
DEA is the commonly used acronym for the Drug Enforcement Administration, a United States law enforcement agency.DEA or Dea may also refer to:- Organizations :* DEA , UK development education charity...

 most wanted 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.

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 preacher") because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others.

Arturo Beltran Leyva

(Marcos) Arturo Beltrán Leyva (September 27, 1961 – December 16, 2009) was the leader of the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 drug trafficking organization known as the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel
Beltrán-Leyva Cartel
The Beltrán-Leyva Cartel was a Mexican drug cartel and organized crime syndicate founded by the four Beltrán Leyva brothers: Marcos Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo and Héctor....

, which is headed by the Beltrán Leyva brothers: Marcos Arturo, Carlos
Carlos Beltrán Leyva
Carlos Beltrán Leyva is an incarcerated Mexican drug lord with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. The cartel was created by the four Beltrán Leyva brothers: Héctor, Alfredo and Arturo...

, Alfredo
Alfredo Beltrán Leyva
Alfredo Beltrán Leyva "whose nickname 'El Mochomo' refers to a desert ant" is an incarcerated Mexican drug lord with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.-Break away from the Sinaloa Cartel:...

 and Héctor
Héctor Beltrán Leyva
Héctor Beltrán Leyva is a Mexican drug lord and leader of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel.Héctor Beltrán Leyva is the brother of Arturo Beltrán Leyva , former leader of the cartel...

. The cartel is responsible for cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

 production, transportation and wholesaling. It controls numerous drug trafficking corridors into the United States and is also responsible for human smuggling, money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...

, extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...

, kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, contract killing
Contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary, or otherwise. The hiring party may...

, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

, gun-running and other acts of violence against men, women, and children in Mexico. The organization is connected with the assassinations of numerous Mexican law enforcement officials.

Frank Lucas


Frank Lucas is a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle. Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen, but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson. His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster.

Leroy Barnes

Leroy Antonio "Nicky" Barnes (born October 15, 1933) is a former drug lord and crime boss
Crime boss
A crime boss or boss is a person in charge of a criminal organization. A boss typically has absolute or near-absolute control over his subordinates, is greatly feared by his subordinates for his ruthlessness and willingness to take lives in order to exert his influence, and profits come from the...

, who led the notorious African-American crime organization known as The Council
The Council (drug syndicate)
The Council was a drug and crime syndicate in New York City created by Harlem gangster Nicky Barnes in the 1970s. The seven man organization was modeled after the Italian mob families. The Council settled disputes, handled distribution problems and other drug related issues...

, which controlled the heroin trade in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 during the 1970s. In 2007 he released a book, “Mr. Untouchable,” written with Tom Folsom and documentary DVD of the same name about his life. In the 2007 film American Gangster Barnes is portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr..

Zhenli Ye Gon

Zhenli Ye Gon (traditional Chinese: 葉真理; born January 31, 1963, Shanghai, People's Republic of China) is a Mexican businessman of Chinese origin accused of trafficking pseudoephedrine
Pseudoephedrine
Pseudoephedrine is a sympathomimetic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes. It is used as a nasal/sinus decongestant and stimulant, or as a wakefulness-promoting agent....

 into Mexico from Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. He is the legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México. States was dismissed with prejudice in August 2009 as a result of the efforts of his attorneys, Manuel J. Retureta and A. Eduardo Balarezo.

Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 - December 2, 1993) was a Colombian
Colombian people
Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...

 drug lord. Often referred to as the "World's Greatest Outlaw," Pablo Escobar was perhaps the most elusive cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

 trafficker to have ever existed. He is regarded as the richest and most successful criminal in history because, in the year 1989, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

magazine declared Escobar as the seventh richest man in the world, with an estimated personal fortune of US$ 25 billion. He owned innumerable luxury residences and automobiles and in 1986 he attempted to enter Colombian politics, even offering to pay off the nation's $10 billion national debt. It is said that Pablo Escobar once burnt two million dollars in cash just to keep warm while on the run. It is these and some other infamous achievements that have made Escobar a legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

 in the world of crime.

Christopher 'Dudus' Coke

Nicholas Christopher Jonathan Coke (born 12 March 1969), also known as Dudus, is an alleged Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse gang. He lives in Kingston and is the son of accused drug lord Lester Lloyd Coke. He is considered by the government of the United States as one of the world's most dangerous drug lords. In 2009, the United States began requesting the extradition of Coke from his native Jamaica.

Bruce Golding, the prime minister of Jamaica and leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, initially refused to extradite him, claiming that the United States had used warrantless wiretapping to gather information on Coke. This created tension both between the United States and Jamaica, and within Jamaica itself. In May 2010, the Government of Jamaica issued a warrant for Coke's arrest, and Senator Tom Tavares-Finson withdrew as Coke's attorney the following day "in order to avoid conflict of interest".

Shortly thereafter, Coke's supporters began protesting and arming themselves, and Kingston was placed under a state of emergency after a series of shootings and firebombings within the city. On 24 May 2010, police and military forces launched a large-scale operation aimed at taking Coke into custody. By the time he was arrested and handed over to the United States, at least 76 people had died in clashes between Jamaican security forces and gunmen in West Kingston. He currently awaits trial in New York.

Demetrius 'Big Meech' Flenory

One of the co-founders of the Black Mafia Family
Black Mafia Family
The Black Mafia Family , was a drug--trafficking organization originally based in Detroit, Michigan. Founded by the Flenory Brothers , the organization began in the late 1980s. By the year 2000, they had established multi-kilogram cocaine distribution cells in cities throughout the United States...

, a Detroit-based drug trafficking organization involving the large scale distribution of cocaine throughout the United States from 1990 through 2005. At the height of his career, he became the highest-earning black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 drug lord in US history.

Current trends

After the death of 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...

 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 Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...

 and the DEA
DEA
DEA is the commonly used acronym for the Drug Enforcement Administration, a United States law enforcement agency.DEA or Dea may also refer to:- Organizations :* DEA , UK development education charity...

 list also. These smaller cartels are slowly proving to be not only more profitable for those involved but also much safer.

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
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

. 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.

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.

In fiction

Drug lords are a popular choice for the lead villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...

 in many action movies and television shows, having been featured for such purposes in the Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon is a 1987 American buddy cop action film and the first in a series of films, all directed by Richard Donner and starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as a mismatched pair of LAPD detectives, and Gary Busey as their primary adversary...

and Bad Boys
Bad Boys (1995 film)
Bad Boys is a 1995 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay in his directorial debut, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer...

series and in TV series such as Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...

, Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

, and The Shield
The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...

. A drug lord was prominent in the 1989 miniseries
1989 in television
For the American TV schedule, see: 1989–90 United States network television schedule.The year 1989 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1989.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...

 Traffik
Traffik
Traffik is a 1989 British television serial about the illegal drugs trade. Its three stories are interwoven, with arcs told from the perspectives of Pakistani growers and manufacturers, German dealers, and British users. It was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, winning three...

. Perhaps the most famous fictitious movie drug lords were Tony Montana
Tony Montana
Antonio Raimundo "Tony" Montana is a fictional character from the 1983 film Scarface. He is portrayed by Al Pacino in the movie, and is voiced by André Sogliuzzo in the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. Tony Montana has become a cultural icon and is one of the most famous movie...

, who was played by Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...

, and Alejandro Sosa, who was played by Paul Shenar
Paul Shenar
Paul Shenar was an American actor.-Career:Shenar became involved in theater at an early age, partaking in the local Milwaukee playhouse productions. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. Following his military career he began acting again...

, both in the movie Scarface.

Some popular portrayals of drug lords have been fictionalized accounts of real persons. A noted example of this are the films American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

 as drug lord Frank Lucas
Frank Lucas (drug lord)
Frank Lucas is a former U.S. heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle...

 and 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...

, starring Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...

 as 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...

. Main character Klaas Jonkers from the Dutch movie The Preacher
The Preacher (film)
The Preacher is a 2004 Dutch thriller film about a drug lord named Klaas Donkers. The film is based on Bart Middelburg's biography of real-life drug lord Klaas Bruinsma....

has been (partly) based on the Dutch drug lord Klaas Bruinsma
Klaas Bruinsma (drug lord)
Klaas Bruinsma was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland...

.

Other notable fictional drug lords include most notably the unspecified Latin American Franz Sanchez
Franz Sanchez
Franz Sanchez is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film Licence to Kill. He was played by Robert Davi. The character is based on Pablo Escobar...

, who was played by Robert Davi
Robert Davi
Robert John Davi is an American actor and singer. He has played such roles as Vietnam veteran and Special Agent Johnson in Die Hard, the villainous Jake Fratelli in The Goonies, and Al Torres in Showgirls...

 in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 movie Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...

, and the Colombian Orlando Calderone, played by Miguel Pinero
Miguel Piñero
Miguel Piñero was a Puerto Rican playwright, actor, and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café. He was a leading member of the Nuyorican literary movement.-Early years:...

 who was the foil in the Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...

TV series.

Drug Lords are also featured in several videogames, most notably the Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...

 series,specially Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...

, in which Vice City is controlled by the drug lord Ricardo Diaz.

In the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a Star Wars video game developed and published by LucasArts for the Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2, released in 2002. In the game, players play as the bounty hunter Jango Fett, featured in the 2002 film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones...

, King Sebolto of Malastare is a well known drug lord peddling death sticks all over the galaxy.

The 2005
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...

 film Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill
Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill
Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill is a 2004 direct-to-DVD American horror film produced by The Asylum. The film takes inspiration from the life of William "Bloody Bill" Anderson, a Confederate soldier who committed brutal atrocities against his enemies.- Plot :The film follows a group of...

featured a group of teenagers who are taken hostage by a drug baron residing in a town inhabited by zombies.

In 2 Fast 2 Furious
2 Fast 2 Furious
2 Fast 2 Furious is a 2003 street racing action film directed by John Singleton. It is the second film in The Fast and the Furious film series following The Fast and the Furious . It stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Devon Aoki, and Chris Bridges; and was directed by John Singleton. The...

, Carter Verone, (played by Cole Hauser) was a ruthless Argentian drug lord.

In the seventh season of NCIS, one of the recurring villains is Paloma Reynosa is the head of the fictional Reynosa drug cartel.

External links

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