{{Short description|Person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the illegal drug trade}} {{Redirect|Drug king|the film|The Drug King}}
A '''drug lord''', '''drug baron''', '''kingpin''', or '''lord of drugs''' is a type of crime boss in charge of a drug trafficking network, organization, or enterprise.<ref>McCoy, Alfred W. "Lord of drug lords: One life as lesson for US drug policy." Crime L. & Soc. Change 30 (1998): 301.</ref> When a group of independent drug lords collude with each other, in order to improve their profits and dominate the illegal drug trade, they form an organization called a drug cartel.<ref>Sullivan, J. P., & Bunker, R. J. (2002). Drug cartels, street gangs, and warlords. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 13(2), 40-53.</ref>
==List of well-known drug lords==
===Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo=== {{Main|Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo|Drug barons of Colombia}}
=== Pablo Escobar === {{Main|Pablo Escobar}} [[File:Pablo Escobar Mug.jpg|thumb|upright|Pablo Escobar]]
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) was a Colombian drug overlord. Often referred to as the "World's Greatest Outlaw", Escobar was perhaps the most elusive cocaine trafficker to have ever existed. He is considered the 'King of Cocaine' and is known as the lord of all drug lords.<ref name="colombialink.com">{{cite web|title=Pablo Escobar Gaviria - English Biography - Articles and Notes|url=http://www.colombialink.com/01_INDEX/index_personajes/narcotrafico/escobar_gaviria_pablo_ing.html|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928140737/http://www.colombialink.com/01_INDEX/index_personajes/narcotrafico/escobar_gaviria_pablo_ing.html|archive-date=September 28, 2011|access-date=2011-11-12|publisher=ColombiaLink.com|df=mdy}}</ref> In 1989, ''Forbes'' magazine declared Escobar as the seventh-richest man in the world, with an estimated personal fortune of US$30 billion.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zschoche|first=Sören|date=April 18, 2008|title=The 5 richest criminals of all time|url=http://www.worldfinancialblog.com/entertainment/the-5-richest-criminals-of-all-the-time|access-date=May 9, 2011|work=World Financial Blog|archive-date=February 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227004007/http://www.worldfinancialblog.com/entertainment/the-5-richest-criminals-of-all-the-time/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1986, he attempted to enter Colombian politics. It is said that Pablo Escobar once burnt two million dollars in cash to keep his daughter warm while on the run.<ref>{{cite news|date=November 3, 2009|title=Pablo Escobar burnt £5m in cash to keep warm on the run|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/colombia/6493894/Pablo-Escobar-burnt-1m-in-cash-to-keep-his-daugther-warm-on-the-run.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010131926/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/colombia/6493894/Pablo-Escobar-burnt-1m-in-cash-to-keep-his-daugther-warm-on-the-run.html |archive-date=2016-10-10 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref> Escobar was the boss of the famous Medellín Cartel, the most powerful drug empire to exist and is said to have had over twice the power and money of their rivals, the Cali Cartel. Pablo was known as ''Paisa'' Robin Hood, for his contributions to the poor, but was also known for murdering anyone who got in his way. His carrot-and-stick strategy of bribing public officials in the Colombian government, and sending hitmen to murder the ones who rejected his bribes, came to be known as "silver or lead" or "money or bullets". When the Colombian government launched a manhunt for Escobar, it needed assistance from the DEA, the CIA, the Cali Cartel, and Los Pepes. On December 2, Search Bloc killed Escobar on a rooftop.
===Amado Carrillo Fuentes===
{{Main|Amado Carrillo Fuentes}}
As a top drug lord in Mexico, Amado Carrillo (1956–1997) was transporting four times more cocaine to the U.S. than any other trafficker, building a fortune of over $25 billion.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Moore|first1=Molly|title=Drug lord goes home in coffin|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/07/12/drug-lord-goes-home-in-coffin/10c8b12d-85d8-4f75-b9c4-2801b0d4e865/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 12, 1997}}</ref> He was called El Señor de Los Cielos ("The Lord of the Skies") for his use of over 22 private 727 jet airliners to transport Colombian cocaine to municipal airports and dirt airstrips around Mexico, including Juárez.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} He was a member of the Guadalajara Cartel and worked for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. After Félix was arrested, Amado formed the Juarez Cartel. In the months before his death, the DEA described Carrillo as the most-powerful drug trafficker of his era, and many analysts claimed profits neared $25 billion.
===Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán=== {{Main|El Chapo}} [[File:Booking photo of Joaquin “El Chapo“ Guzman (front).jpg|thumb|upright|El Chapo]]
Guzman is the most notorious drug lord of all time, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2011/06/15/joaquin-guzman-has-become-the-biggest-drug-lord-ever/ |title=Joaquin Guzman Has Become The Biggest Drug Lord Ever |date=2011-06-15 |work=Forbes |access-date=2013-12-12}}</ref> In the 1980s, he was a member of the Guadalajara Cartel and used to work for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. After Félix's arrest in 1989, Guzmán formed the Sinaloa Cartel along with Ismael Zambada García and Héctor Luis Palma Salazar. 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. That same year he barely escaped an ambush by the Tijuana Cartel led by Ramon Arellano Felix and his gunmen. After being captured in Guatemala, he was jailed in 1993 and in 1995 he was moved to the 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. On 22 February 2014, Guzmán was arrested again. He is considered a folk hero in the narcotics world, celebrated by musicians who write and perform ''narcocorridos'' (drug ballads) extolling his exploits.<ref name="WSJ2009-06-13">{{cite web | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124482379191510287 | title = 'He Leads a Gang of Mafioso Gunmen': Songs in Honor of Mexico's 'El Chapo' | access-date = 2010-12-01 | date = June 13, 2009 | work = The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> For example, Los Traviezos recorded a ballad extolling his life on the run.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Grayson | first1 = George | title = Mexico: narco-violence and a failed state? | publisher = Transaction Publishers | date = August 31, 2009 | pages = 62–63 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ogjkeCd7RGoC&pg=PA62 | access-date = 2010-12-01 | isbn = 978-1-4128-1151-4}}</ref> In July 2015, Guzman escaped a second time from a maximum-security prison through a hole in a shower floor that led to a mile-long tunnel, ending at a nearby house.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.people.com/article/joaquin-guzman-loera-escapes-mexican-prison|title=Mexican Drug Lord Joaquin Guzman Loera Escapes Prison 2015 : People.com|work=PEOPLE.com}}</ref> A large-scale manhunt ensued. On 8 January 2016, Guzmán was captured by the Mexican Marines.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/el-chapo-escapes-again|title=El Chapo Escapes Again|author=Patrick Radden Keefe|date=July 12, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and incarcerated in ADX Florence, Colorado, United States.<ref name="SentenceBBC">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49022208 "El Chapo sentenced to life in prison."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717144211/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49022208 |date=17 July 2019 }} BBC News 17 July 2019.</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' begins life term in Colorado 'Supermax' prison|date=21 July 2019|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-el-chapo/mexican-drug-lord-el-chapo-begins-life-term-in-colorado-supermax-prison-idUSKCN1UE2GA|work=Reuters|access-date=22 July 2019|quote="We can confirm that Joaquin Guzman is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at United States Penitentiary (USP) Administrative Maximum (ADX) Florence, located in Florence, Colorado," the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said in a statement.|archive-date=21 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721115049/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-el-chapo/mexican-drug-lord-el-chapo-begins-life-term-in-colorado-supermax-prison-idUSKCN1UE2GA|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Osiel Cárdenas Guillén=== {{Main|Osiel Cárdenas Guillén}}
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén (born 18 May 1967) is a former Mexican drug lord who was the leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Guillén eventually became involved in the illegal drug trade the Gulf Cartel before becoming its leader in 1997 by assassinating drug lord Salvador Gómez Herrera. Guillén recruited over 30 deserters from the Mexican Army's special forces unit, the ''Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales'', to form the cartel's armed wing; this group would go on to be among the founding members of Los Zetas, another Mexican drug cartel. In 1999, Guillén and a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen threatened two U.S. federal agents at gunpoint, which triggered a massive combined effort from American and Mexican law enforcement agencies to crack down on the leadership structure of the Gulf Cartel and led to Guillén becoming one of the most wanted criminals in the world. Guillén was arrested in Mexico in 2003 and deported to the U.S. in 2007, where he remains incarcerated to this day.<ref name="Ehtab">{{Cite news|url=https://www.proceso.com.mx/182132/con-oziel-cardenas-sucesor-de-garcia-abrego-el-cartel-del-golfo-recobra-fuerza|title=Con Oziel Cárdenas, sucesor de García Abrego, el cártel del Golfo recobra fuerza|date=11 December 1999|work=Proceso|language=Spanish|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204014606/https://www.proceso.com.mx/182132/con-oziel-cardenas-sucesor-de-garcia-abrego-el-cartel-del-golfo-recobra-fuerza|archive-date=4 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite web|url=https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/houston/press-releases/2010/ho022410b.htm|title=Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, Former Head of the Gulf Cartel, Sentenced to 25 Years' Imprisonment|date=24 February 2010|publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104030455/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/houston/press-releases/2010/ho022410b.htm|archive-date=4 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Jorge Alberto Rodriguez=== Jorge Alberto Rodriguez, also known as Don Cholito, is a notorious Argentine-born, Puerto Rican and Colombian mixed drug lord from New York, who headed the 400 criminal organization, a dismantled secret cell of the Cali Cartel. Pulled into the drug trade at age 12, he left home at age 14 to begin working for his Father, Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, who headed the Cali Cartel. Within six years he had amassed a fortune exceeding over US$300 million by shipping drugs from Colombia to nearly every state in the U.S. He was one of the most ruthless international drug lords unknown to law enforcement or governments. During that time, the murder rate and cocaine-related hospital emergencies in the United States doubled. He was arrested on July 6, 1990, in Tallahassee, Florida and sentenced to a 25-year prison term for a number of federal violations. Following his conviction, Rodriguez continued to operate his illicit business from behind bars, importing as much as 12,500 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. each month and ordering numerous murders of informants, witnesses, in the U.S. and Colombia. He reigned and flourished while incarcerated until he was placed in court-ordered high-security isolation in 1994. According to the Bureau of Prisons, Rodriguez was released in 2012.<ref>U.S. vs Jorge Alberto Rodriguez, 981 Federal Reporter 2d, Page 1199.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-04-23/html/E9-9294.htm|title=Federal Register, Volume 74 Issue 77 (Thursday, April 23, 2009)|work=gpo.gov}}</ref><ref>U.S. Bureau Of Prisons Prisoner Registry Number: 09086-017.</ref>
===Marcola=== {{Main|Marcola}}
Born on April 13, 1968, in Osasco (a city located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil), Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known as "'''Marcola'''" is one of the founders and the current leader of Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), the largest and the most powerful Brazilian criminal organization.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/brazil-organized-crime-news/marcos-willians-herbas-camacho-marcola/|title=Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, alias 'Marcola'|date=8 June 2018}}</ref> A Brazilian with Bolivian origins, Marcola (whose criminal career began when he was a child, at the age of nine and currently serving a sentence of 234 years in prison for murder, drug trafficking and other crimes) is the current leader of PCC and commands this powerful crime syndicate within inside the Taubaté Prison, one of the most infamous prisons in Brazil. Under the command of Marcola, the PCC expanded its influence outside Brazil, to having a presence in Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Paraguay and Peru. The PCC is notorious for its use of violence, for its numerous confrontations with police officers and because of their violent conflicts over territory control and the control of drug trafficking against another powerful Brazilian criminal organization, the Comando Vermelho (or CV), a powerful crime syndicate based in the city of Rio de Janeiro.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/brazils-largest-cocaine-cartels-are-waging-a-bloody-war-in-the-countrys-prisons/|title = Brazil's largest cocaine cartels are waging a bloody war in the country's prisons| date=12 January 2017 }}</ref> Marcola is currently serving his sentence at the Brasília Federal Penitentiary, which was inaugurated in 2018 to isolate the country’s most dangerous inmates.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/brazilian-security-forces-make-headway-in-combating-brazils-largest-criminal-organization/|title = Brazilian Security Forces Make Headway in Combating Brazil's Largest Criminal Organization | Diálogo Americas| date=9 February 2021 }}</ref>
===Griselda Blanco=== {{Main|Griselda Blanco}} [[File:Griselda Blanco Medellin.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Griselda Blanco]] Griselda Blanco (1943–2012), known as the "Godmother of Cocaine", was a drug lord who operated between Miami and Colombia during the 1970s and 1980s. During the height of her operation, she smuggled nearly {{convert|3500|lbs|order=flip}} of cocaine into the U.S. every month through a network in south Florida.<ref name="cowboys2">{{cite video|people=Corben, Billy (director); Cosby, Charles (himself); Blanco, Griselda (herself)|date=July 29, 2008|title=Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' with the Godmother|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176726|medium=DVD|publisher=Magnolia Home Entertainment|access-date=October 3, 2010|ASIN=B00180R03Q|id={{UPC|876964001366}}}}</ref> She was noted for her ruthlessness and use of extreme violence, employing tactics such as publicly assassinating people in broad daylight, bayoneting a rival trafficker inside Miami International Airport, and inventing the drive-by motorcycle shooting execution method.<ref name="vice">{{cite web|last1=Corben|first1=Billy|title=Griselda Blanco: So Long and Thanks for All the Cocaine|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/griselda-blanco-so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-cocaine/|website=Vice|access-date=24 July 2017|language=en-us|date=2 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Greene|first1=David|title='Godmother' Of Cocaine Trade Murdered In Colombia|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/09/06/160649616/godmother-of-cocaine-trade-murdered-in-colombia|website=NPR Morning Edition|access-date=24 July 2017|date=6 September 2012}}</ref> It was estimated that she was responsible for the homicides of 200 people in Colombia, Florida, New York, and California.<ref name="vice"/> Arrested in 1985 for drug-trafficking charges, she was subsequently convicted and spent almost 20 years in a U.S. prison.<ref name=Villarreal2012>{{cite news|last=Villarreal|first=Ryan|title=Colombian Drug Lord Griselda Blanco's Life of Violence Comes Full Circle|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/colombian-drug-lord-griselda-blancos-life-violence-comes-full-circle-761125|newspaper=International Business Times|date=4 September 2012}}</ref> She was killed by motorcycle hitmen in Colombia on 3 September 2012 as she was coming out of a butcher's shop.<ref name=Godmother>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/godmother-cocaine-colombian-drug-lord-ran-miami-cocaine-empire-70-80-shot-death-motorcycle-gunmen-article-1.1151456|title=Godmother of Cocaine,' Colombian drug lord who ran Miami cocaine empire in 1970s and 1980s, shot to death by motorcycle gunmen|access-date=7 June 2013|work=Daily News|date=4 September 2012 |location=New York}}</ref>
===Roberto Suárez Gómez=== {{Main|Roberto Suárez Goméz}}
Pablo Escobar started to buy cocaine from Roberto Suárez in the 1970s when he had just created the Medellín cartel.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} Suárez started building cocaine laboratories in the middle of the Bolivian Amazon jungle and in the zone of "Los Yungas" in the end of the 1960s and created the first cocaine cartel in Bolivia called "La Corporación".{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} At first, the Medellin cartel bought cocaine at $8,000 per kilogram ($3,600/lb). La Corporación then sold cocaine-based paste to Colombian cartels, and they finished and distributed it in the east of the United States.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} The finished cocaine was sold directly to Mexican cartels for distribution in the west of the United States. Suárez received untold amounts of money, but as detectives and journalists discovered the corruption between Bolivia and the U.S., the empire Suárez built began to fall.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} Suárez was arrested by the DEA in 1988, and Escobar took over of the production and distribution of 80% of the world's cocaine.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
{{Clear}}
===Rick Ross=== [[File:Ricky Donnell Ross.jpg|thumb|upright|"Freeway" Rick Ross]] {{Main|"Freeway" Rick Ross}} Rick Ross (born January 28, 1960),<ref name="FBPRoss">{{cite web |url=http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=ross&Middle=&FirstName=ricky&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=13& |title=Inmate Locator - Ricky Ross |work=bop.gov |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons |access-date=2011-11-12 |archive-date=2012-03-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310081041/http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=ross&Middle=&FirstName=ricky&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=13& |url-status=dead }}</ref> {{a.k.a.}} "Freeway" Ricky Ross, is a convicted drug-trafficker best known for the drug empire he presided over in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/ch06p3.htm |title=CIA Contra Crack Cocaine Controversy - D. Law Enforcement Investigations of Ross |publisher=United States Department of Justice Archive |work=USDOJ.gov |access-date=2011-11-12}}</ref> The nickname "Freeway" came from Ross growing up next to the 110 Harbor Freeway.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.esquire.com/features/rick-ross-drug-dealer-interview-1013|title=Say Hello to Rick Ross|first=Mike|last=Sager|date=September 25, 2013|website=Esquire magazine}}</ref> During the height of his drug dealing, Ross was said to have made "$2 million in one day." According to the ''Oakland Tribune'', "In the course of his rise, prosecutors estimate that Ross transported several tons of cocaine to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, and made more than $600 million in the process."<ref>{{cite web|author=Scott Johnson |work=Oakland Tribune |url=http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_17113312 |title=Oakland Tribune |publisher=Insidebayarea.com |date=2012-04-17 |access-date=2013-12-12}}</ref>
In 1998, Ross was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of purchasing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent during a sting operation. Ross became the subject of controversy later that year when a series of articles by journalist Gary Webb in the ''San Jose Mercury News'' revealed a connection between Ross's main cocaine source, Danilo Blandon, and the CIA as part of the Iran–Contra affair.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1KfHaIF_Y "NBC: Drugs and the CIA"]. YouTube. May 29, 2007.</ref> Ross's case went before the federal court of appeals and his sentence was reduced to 20 years. He was later moved to a halfway house in March 2009 and released from custody on September 29, 2009.<ref name="FBPRoss" />
In June 2014, Ross released his book ''Freeway Rick Ross: The Untold Autobiography'', co-written by crime-writer Cathy Scott.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lasentinel.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13160:rick-ross-book-signing-event-recap&catid=77:exclusive&Itemid=167|title=Rick Ross Book signing Event Recap - Los Angeles Sentinel|work=Los Angeles Sentinel|date=27 June 2014}}</ref>
===Manuel Noriega=== [[File:Manuel Noriega mug shot.jpg|thumb|upright|Manuel Noriega, following his arrest by U.S. authorities]] {{Main|Manuel Noriega}} By the early 1970s, American law enforcement officials had reports of Noriega's possible involvement with narcotics trafficking.<ref name='Frantz'>{{Cite news| issn = 0458-3035| last1 = Frantz| first1 = Douglas| last2 = Ostrow| first2 = Ronald J.| last3 = Jackson| first3 = Robert L.| title = Rivalry, Snitches, Murder Helped Shape Noriega Case| work = Los Angeles Times| access-date = October 14, 2017| date = February 25, 1990| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-25-mn-2221-story.html}}</ref> No formal criminal investigations were begun, and no indictment was brought: according to Dinges, this was due to the potential diplomatic consequences.<ref name='Frantz'/><ref>{{cite book | last1=Dinges | first1=John | title=Our man in Panama : How general Noriega used the United States and made millions in drugs and arms | date=1990 | publisher=Random House | isbn=978-0-394-54910-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/ourmaninpanamaho00ding }}</ref> This evidence included the testimony of an arrested boat courier, and of a drug smuggler arrested in New York.{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=58–60}} Though Torrijos frequently promised the U.S. cooperation in dealing with drug smuggling, Noriega would have headed any effort at enforcement, and the U.S. began to see Noriega as an obstacle to combatting drug smuggling.{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=61–64}} Dinges writes that the U.S. government considered several options to move Noriega out of the drug trafficking business, including assassinating him, and linking him to a fictional plot against Torrijos. Though no assassination attempt was made, the other ploys may have been tried in the early 1970s, according to Dinges.{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=61–64}} Dinges wrote that beginning in 1972 the U.S. relaxed its efforts at trapping individuals involved with smuggling within the Panama government, possibly as a result of an agreement between Torrijos and U.S. President Richard Nixon.{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=68–70}}
===Ramon Arellano Felix=== {{Main|Ramon Arellano Felix}} Ramón Arellano Félix was a Mexican drug lord who was a founding member of the Tijuana drug cartel (a.k.a. the Arellano-Félix Organization) alongside his brothers.<ref name=azstar1>{{cite web |url=http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/980415.steller.html |title=Mexican drug runners may have used C-130 from Arizona |access-date=2007-09-26 |last=Steller |first=Tim |date=April 15, 1998 |work=The Arizona Daily Star |publisher=Archived at California State University Northridge |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080103194935/http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/980415.steller.html |archive-date = 2008-01-03}}</ref> Arellano Félix was allegedly one of the most ruthless enforcers in the organization and was a suspect in various murders. He had been linked by Mexican police to the 1997 massacre of twelve members of a family outside of Ensenada, Baja California. The family was related to a drug dealer that had an unpaid debt to the Arellano Félix Cartel.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} On September 18, 1997, Arellano Félix was placed on the FBI's ten most-wanted list.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Business - Arellano-Felix Cartel|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/business/afo/afomembers.html|website=Drug Wars - Frontline|publisher=PBS|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref> In a sealed indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, he was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}. Ramon and his brothers, primarily Benjamin Arellano Felix were the undisputed leaders of the Tijuana Cartel and developed an intense rivalry with Joaquin Guzman Loera's Sinaloa Cartel. The war between both organizations lasted more than 10 years until Ramón was killed in Mazatlán on February 10, 2002, by policemen allegedly on the payroll of the rival, Sinaloa Cártel.
===Ismael Zambada García=== {{Main|Ismael Zambada García}} Ismael Zambada García is a drug smuggler in Mexico and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel.<ref>{{cite news |title=Portrait Of A Mexican Drug Lord | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/portrait-of-a-mexican-drug-lord/ |work=CBS News |date=October 24, 2003}}</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
On July 25, 2024, Zambada was arrested in Texas after arriving in a private plane with one of Joaquin Guzmán's sons, Joaquín Guzmán López.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada: How US caught drug kingpin after 35 years |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1rwyl2x050o |work=www.bbc.com |date=26 July 2024}}</ref> As of August 2025, he is in federal custody in the USA.<ref>{{cite web |title=Notorious Sinaloa Cartel Leaders in Federal Custody Following Joint HSI, FBI Investigation {{!}} ICE |url=https://www.ice.gov/about-ice/hsi/news/hsi-insider/notorious-sinaloa-cartel-leaders-arrested |website=www.ice.gov |language=en |date=7 February 2025}}</ref>
===Arturo Beltran Leyva=== {{Main|Arturo Beltran Leyva}} Marcos Arturo Beltrán Leyva (September 27, 1961 – December 16, 2009) was the leader of the Mexican drug-trafficking organization known as the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, which is headed by the Beltrán Leyva brothers: Marcos Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo and Héctor.<ref>{{cite news | first=Antonio O. | last=Garza | title=President Bush Designates Beltran Leyva and his Organization Under Kingpin Act | date=May 30, 2008 | publisher=Embassy of the U.S. in Mexico | url=http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/eng/releases/ep080530kingpin.html | access-date=2009-08-03 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827010930/http://usembassy-mexico.gov/eng/releases/ep080530kingpin.html | archive-date=August 27, 2009 }}</ref> The cartel was engaged in cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine production, transportation, and wholesaling. It controlled numerous drug-trafficking corridors into the United States. and was also responsible for human smuggling, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder, contract killing, torture, gun-running, and other acts of violence in Mexico.<ref name="DOS">{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/p/inl/narc/rewards/133310.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100228084820/http://www.state.gov/p/inl/narc/rewards/133310.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-02-28 |title=Narcotics Rewards Program: Marcos Arturo Beltran-Leyva |access-date=2009-12-20 |year=2008 |work=U.S. Department of State }}</ref> The organization was connected with the assassinations of numerous Mexican law-enforcement officials.<ref name="DOS"/>
===Frank Lucas=== [[File:FrankLucas.jpg|thumb|upright|Frank Lucas]] {{Main|Frank Lucas (drug lord)}} Frank Lucas was a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem, New York during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was 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,<ref name="Drugss">{{cite news|last=Vincent|first=Isabel|title=Where the drug lords are Kings|publisher=Maclean's|date=January 29, 2006|volume=120|issue=3|pages=23–24, 2p, 3c|agency=Academic Search Premier|url=http://www.macleans.ca/world/global/article.jsp?content=20070129_140042_140042|access-date=2011-11-12|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531142110/http://www.macleans.ca/world/global/article.jsp?content=20070129_140042_140042|archive-date=May 31, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Drugs">[https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-20-mexico-extraditions_x.htm?csp=24 "Mexico extradites 'unprecedented' number of drug lords to U.S."]. ''USA Today.'' January 20, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2011.</ref> but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson.<ref name="Drugsss">{{cite news|last=McKinley |first=James C. Jr. |title=Drug Lord, Ruthless and Elusive, Reaches High in Mexico|work=The New York Times|date= February 9, 2005|volume= 154 |issue=53120|page=A3, 1/3p, 1 map, 2bw |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/09/international/americas/09chapo.html |agency=Academic Search Premier |access-date=2007-04-18}}</ref> His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film ''American Gangster'' starring Denzel Washington.
===Leroy Barnes=== {{Main|Leroy Barnes}} Leroy Antonio "Nicky" Barnes (born October 15, 1933) was a former drug lord and crime boss of the notorious African-American crime organization known as The Council, which controlled the heroin trade in Harlem, New York during the 1970s.<ref name = "The New York Times">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/nyregion/04nicky.html |access-date = 2010-05-02 | last= Sam Roberts |title = Crime's 'Mr. Untouchable' Emerges From Shadows | work=The New York Times | date=March 4, 2007}}</ref> In 2007 he released a book, ''Mr Untouchable'', written with Tom Folsom, and a documentary DVD of the same name, about his life.<ref name="Book">{{cite book| last = Leroy "Nicky" Barnes, Tom Folsom| title = Mr. Untouchable: My Crimes and Punishments| year = 2007| edition = March 6, 2007| publisher = Rugged Land| isbn = 978-1-59071-041-8| page = [https://archive.org/details/mruntouchable00barn/page/352 352]| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/mruntouchable00barn/page/352}}</ref><ref name="Documentary">{{IMDb title|qid=Q6929271|title=Mr. Untouchable (2007)}}</ref> In the 2007 film ''American Gangster'', Barnes is portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.
===Zhenli Ye Gon=== {{Main|Zhenli Ye Gon }} [[File:YeGon millions.jpg|thumb|left|<!--250px|-->Part of the currency seized from Ye Gon{{'}}s home]] Zhenli Ye Gon (traditional Chinese: 葉真理;<ref name="Gilberto">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2417847.stm "Profile: Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela"]. BBC. December 4, 2004. Retrieved November 12, 2011.</ref> born January 31, 1963, Shanghai, People's Republic of China) is a Mexican businessman of Chinese origin accused of trafficking pseudoephedrine into Mexico from Asia. At the time of his arrest, he had $207 million in cash and 18 million Mexican pesos in his house. He claimed that he was forced by Javier Lozano Alarcón, putatively identified as the Secretary of Labor, to keep it at his home and that this money would be used during Felipe Calderón's presidential campaign in 2006. He is the legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México. The charges against him were dismissed with prejudice in August 2009<ref>{{cite web| url=http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/08/federal-judge-dismisses-ye-gon-case-with-prejudice-.html |title=Federal Judge Dismisses Ye Gon Case With Prejudice |date=August 28, 2009 |last=Jeffery |first=Jeff |work=Legal Times |access-date=May 12, 2011}}</ref> as a result of the efforts of his attorneys, Manuel J. Retureta<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://returetawassem.com/|title=Retureta & Wassem | Washington, D.C. Law Firm}}</ref> and A. Eduardo Balarezo.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.balarezolaw.com/|title=Balarezo Law | Federal Criminal Defense | Washington DC | New York|website=Balarezo Law}}</ref>
===Christopher Coke=== [[File:Christopher Coke.jpg|thumb|upright|Christopher Coke]] {{Main|Christopher Coke}} Michael Christopher Coke (born 13 March 1969),<ref name="aol">{{cite web|url=http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100524/lead/lead4.html |title=Who is 'Dudus'? - Lead Stories - Jamaica Gleaner - Monday | May 24, 2010 |publisher=Jamaica Gleaner |date=2010-05-24 |access-date=2013-12-12}}</ref> a.k.a. Dudus,<ref name=nyr>{{Citation | last = Schwartz| first = Mattathias | title = A Massacre in Jamaica | newspaper = The New Yorker | pages = 62–71 | date = 2011-12-12 | url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/12/12/111212fa_fact_schwartz | access-date = 2011-12-26}}</ref> is a Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse gang. He is the youngest son of drug lord Lester Lloyd Coke whose extradition had also, prior to his 1992 death in a Jamaican prison cell, been requested by the U.S.<ref name=nyr/> Until the younger Coke's handover to U.S. forces on 24 June 2010,{{citation needed|date=December 2011}} "Dudus" served as the ''de facto'' leader of Tivoli Gardens in the city of Kingston;<ref name=nyr/> prior to his 2010 capture Jamaican police were unable to enter this neighborhood without community consent.<ref name=nyr/>
The son of a prominent drug lord, Coke grew up wealthy, going to school with children of the country's political elite.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}} Ruling the gang where his father left off, he became a leader in the community of Tivoli Gardens, distributing money to the area's poor, creating employment, and setting up community centers.<ref name=extradite>[http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2010/06/20106301398204868.html Extraditing Coke.] Al Jazeera. June 30, 2010.</ref>
In 2009, the U.S. began requesting his extradition, and in May 2010, a recalcitrant Government of Jamaica issued a warrant.<ref name=nyr/> That same month the government took steps to capture Coke. In a run-up to Coke's arrest, more than 70 people–all but one of them civilians–died in a 24 May 2010 raid of Tivoli Gardens.<ref name=nyr/> He was arrested at a Jamaican checkpoint on 22 June 2010.<ref name=nyr/>
===Demetrius Flenory=== [[File:Demetriusflenory.jpg|thumb|upright|Demetrius Flenory]] Demetrius Flenory is known as one of the co-founders of the Black Mafia Family, a Detroit-based drug-trafficking organization involving the large-scale distribution of cocaine throughout the U.S. from 1990 to 2005.<ref>[https://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2008/detroit091208a.html "Black Mafia Family Members Sentenced to 30 Years"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916143544/http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2008/detroit091208a.html |date=September 16, 2011 }}. September 12, 2008. ''Drug Enforcement Administration''. Press release.</ref> There are currently plans to produce a film based upon his career.<ref><!--<nowiki>http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-detroit/film-works-about-detroit-gangster-demetrius-flenory-black-mafia-family</nowiki>-->"Film in works about Detroit gangster Demetrius Flenory, Black Mafia Family" . June 25, 2011. Examiner.com{{dubious|date=November 2011|reason=unreliable source.}} </ref><ref>Clark, Kevin L. (June 24, 2011). [http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/06/the-black-mafia-family-movie-is-coming-soon "The 'Black Mafia Family' Movie Is Coming To A Theater Near You!"]. ''complex.com'', Complex Media.</ref>
===José Figueroa Agosto=== {{Main|José Figueroa Agosto}} Jose Figueroa Agosto (born June 28, 1964), also known as "José David Figueroa Agosto", "Junior Capsula" and "the Don Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean", is a Puerto Rican drug trafficker.<ref name=bbc>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-10675333|title=Caribbean 'drug baron' arrested|work=BBC News|date=July 18, 2010}}</ref> As the head of a major drug trafficking organization that made 90% of cocaine in Puerto Rico, Figueroa Agosto is considered to be one of the most dangerous drug lords of Puerto Rico.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011778,00.html|title=The Caribbean Drug Kingpin Turned Porn Star|first=Ezra|last=Fieser|date=August 18, 2010|magazine=Time}}</ref> He was the most wanted fugitive in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/17/puerto.rico.drug.arrest/index.html|title=DEA agents nab alleged drug kingpin in Puerto Rico - CNN.com|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref>
===Jari Aarnio=== {{Main|Jari Aarnio}} Jari Seppo Aarnio (born 5 September 1957) is the former chief investigator and head of Helsinki's anti-drugs police, who spent 30 years in the anti-drugs force in Finland.<ref name="BBC"/> He has been sentenced to jail for drug crimes and other offences.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38458583 |title= Finland jails police chief Aarnio for drug-smuggling |date=29 December 2016 |website=BBC |access-date=17 March 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/convicted_ex-helsinki_drug_cop_jari_aarnio_begins_appeal_to_overturn_10-year_prison_sentence/9832688 |title= Convicted ex-Helsinki drug cop Jari Aarnio begins appeal to overturn 10-year prison sentence |date= 14 September 2017 |website= Yle |access-date= 17 March 2018 }}</ref>
===Christy Kinahan=== {{Main|Christy Kinahan}} Known as '''"The Dapper Don"''', Christy Kinahan (born 1958) is a notorious Irish drug lord from Dublin, Ireland and the head of Kinahan Cartel, a powerful Irish crime syndicate with territories in several countries around the world, such as Spain (Costa del Sol),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2016/11/04/inenglish/1478268077_569082.html|title = Why is Irish drug trafficker Christy Kinahan still at liberty on the Costa del Sol?|date = 7 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2019/11/04/nightclub-which-launders-money-for-the-irish-kinahan-drug-cartel-reportedly-at-centre-of-date-rape-attacks-probe-on-spains-costa-del-sol/|title = Nightclub which 'launders money for the Irish Kinahan drug cartel' reportedly at centre of date rape attacks probe on Spain's Costa del Sol|date = 4 November 2019}}</ref> United Arab Emirates (Dubai),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2016/06/23/costa-del-sol-based-kinahan-clan-begin-relocation-to-dubai/|title = Costa del Sol-based Kinahan clan begin relocation to Dubai|date = 23 June 2016}}</ref> The Netherlands,<ref name="irishmirror.ie">{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/kinahan-cartel-joined-forces-george-11534823|title=Kinahan cartel joined with George 'The Penguin' Mitchell to buy €7m in drugs|date=17 November 2017}}</ref> among others. Under the command of Christy Kinahan, the Kinahan Cartel became responsible for a large part of drug smuggling (such as heroin, ecstasy and methamphetamine) and arms smuggling to many places in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/spanish-police-seize-10million-worth-9631288|title=Spanish police seize €10m worth of guns believed to be linked to Kinahan cartel|date=16 January 2017}}</ref> According to Gardai (the national police of Ireland), Kinahan has connections with other powerful Irish mobsters like George Mitchell (Known as '''"The Penguin"''')<ref name="irishmirror.ie"/> (a notorious gangster from Ballyfermot and cousin of the politicians Gay Mitchell and Jim Mitchell). The Kinahan Cartel is notorious for its bloody feud against another powerful Irish crime syndicate, the Hutch gang (led by Gerry Hutch), in a gang war that became known as the Hutch–Kinahan feud<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-37360192|title = Kinahan-Hutch feud: Man appears in court over murder of Gary Hutch|work = BBC News|date = 15 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/new-gang-feuds-emerge-in-shadow-of-kinahan-hutch-conflict-1.3901181|title = New gang feuds emerge in shadow of Kinahan-Hutch conflict| newspaper=The Irish Times }}</ref> (whose conflict started after the murder of Gary Hutch, Gerry Hutch's nephew and the Shooting of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall, Dublin whose main target was Daniel Kinahan, Christy's oldest son and also a head in the Kinahan Cartel, but ended up taking the life of another important member of the cartel, David Byrne (the son of James Byrne, the brother of Liam Byrne (a notorious lieutenant for Christy Kinahan), the cousin of Freddie Thompson and brother-in-law of Thomas Kavanagh (known as '''"bomber"'''), a senior member in the Kinahan Cartel).{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} [[File:Juan Raul Garza.jpg|thumb|Garza during a video in which he asks President George W. Bush to spare his life]]
=== Juan Raul Garza === {{Main|Juan Raul Garza}} '''Juan Raul Garza''' (November 18, 1956 – June 19, 2001) ran his own marijuana trafficking ring in Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, and Mexico, exporting thousands of kilograms of marijuana across the border into the United States. He is known as the first and currently the only drug lord to be executed by the United States federal government under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. He was executed for three murders he committed in Texas, but was also found to be responsible for five other murders, four of which were committed in Mexico.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-06-20 |title=Texas Murderer Becomes 2nd to Be Executed by U.S. in 8 Days |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-20-mn-12583-story.html |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Case of Juan Garza - Trial {{!}} Capital Punishment in Context |url=https://capitalpunishmentincontext.org/cases/garza/trial |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=capitalpunishmentincontext.org}}</ref>
=== Liu Zhaohua === {{Main|Liu Zhaohua}} '''Liu Zhaohua''' (March 5, 1965 – September 15, 2009) was a Chinese Drug Lord known for producing and trafficking over 18 tonnes of Methamphetamine.<ref name="SCMP">{{cite web |title=Notorious drug kingpin executed for trafficking |url=https://www.scmp.com/article/692604/notorious-drug-kingpin-executed-trafficking |website=South China Morning Post |language=en |date=September 15, 2009}}</ref> The amount Liu made was worth more than US$5 billion.<ref name="SCMP"/> He was arrested on March 5, 2005, sentenced to death on June 26, 2006, and executed on September 15, 2009.<ref name="SCMP"/>
==Modern drug lords== Following the death of Pablo Escobar in 1993, significant changes occurred in the structure of the drug trade, departing from massive cartels such as Juan David Ochoa's Medellín cartel. Drug lords have begun breaking the large cartels into much smaller organizations. In so doing, they decreased the number of people involved and shrank their role as targets—most likely in an attempt to avoid the fate of their predecessors. 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 the FBI and DEA wanted lists. These smaller cartels are slowly proving to be safer and more profitable for those involved.<ref name="NORQUIST">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/0008/organization.profiles/drug.html |title=Special: Drug organization profiles - The Drug Lords |work=CNN |access-date=October 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071029173707/http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/0008/organization.profiles/drug.html |archive-date=October 29, 2007 |df=mdy }}</ref>
In developing countries, it is still common for drug lords to control local and regional governments, although this phenomenon is not as common as it was in the past. For example, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada held de facto control over the Mexican state of Durango, by contributing donations to political campaigns during gubernatorial elections, along with assassinating political candidates who rejected his donations, and through bribing and intimidating the Durango State Police.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theworld.org/stories/2013-01-19/mexico-over-150-police-durango-state-arrested-suspicion-organized-crime-links |title=Mexico: Over 150 police in Durango state arrested on suspicion of organized crime links|website=The World from PRX |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240725034916/https://theworld.org/stories/2013-01-19/mexico-over-150-police-durango-state-arrested-suspicion-organized-crime-links|archivedate=2024-07-25}}</ref> As of early 2023, he had never been arrested or incarcerated.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Insight Crime |date=5 May 2021 |url=https://insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/ismael-zambada-garcia-el-mayo/}}</ref> He was, however, arrested in 2024.
In developed countries, drug lords seldom control local and regional governments; they also have less influence over their surroundings, and their ability to continue to run their businesses, upon being arrested and incarcerated. Unlike developing countries, developed countries have stronger rule of law and do not suffer from nearly as much corruption. Hence, it is difficult for drug lords to operate in developed countries, such as the United States or Canada, in modern times. However, it is still relatively common for drug lords and drug cartels to operate with certain levels of impunity in developing countries, especially Latin American countries, such as Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico, in modern times.<ref name="Drugss"/><ref name="Drugssss">{{cite news|last=Kershaw |first=Sarah|title=Dizzying Rise and Abrupt Fall For a Reservation Drug Lord |work=The New York Times |date= February 20, 2006 |volume=155 |issue= 53496 |page=A1-A10, 2p, 2c |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/national/20gena.html?pagewanted=all |agency=Academic Search Premier |access-date=2011-11-12}}</ref>
Another trend that has been emerging in the last decade is a willingness of local authorities to cooperate with foreign nations, most notably the U.S., in an effort to apprehend and incarcerate drug lords. Some countries have been 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. Mexico extradited 63 drug dealers to the U.S. in 2006. However, extradition may be prohibited if the person faces either the death penalty or a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Nevertheless, such efforts have failed to curb the rise of new drug lords because of widespread corruption in foreign countries, especially Latin American countries. Today, there are also many drug lords in Latin America, who have never been extradited, and continue to operate with impunity.<ref name="Drugs"/>
== Organizational role == Since 1967, research on organized crime leadership (and, by extension, drug lords) has evolved. Where once studies emphasised the importance of the leader's human capital (e.g. individual traits), it has now developed to focus upon the leader's social capital (e.g. information and resource brokers, social status, access to information).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Calderoni|first=Francesco|date=31 March 2020|title=The nature of organised crime leadership: criminal leaders in meeting and wiretap networks|journal=Crime, Law and Social Change|volume=72|issue=4|pages=419–444|doi=10.1007/s10611-019-09829-6|hdl=10807/131988|s2cid=150995312|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
==See also== * Drug barons of Colombia * Drug cartel * List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords * War on drugs
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/31932/31-notorious-drug-lords 31 Notorious Drug Lords] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011102154/http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/31932/31-notorious-drug-lords |date=2009-10-11 }} – slideshow by ''Life'' magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drug Lord}} Category:Illegal drug trade Category:Drug cartels Category:Organized crime members by role Category:Crime bosses