The most powerful drug traffickers in Colombia

• Everyone feared them in Colombia.
• The most powerful drug traffickers.
• They sowed fear among the people.

These men sparked fear, respect and concern in the authorities and the general public in Colombia. Everyone knew that if you saw them it could be your best day or your last day. Today we tell you about the most powerful drug traffickers in Colombia.

Their names still remain known on the streets, although some of them are no longer alive, their legacy and power lives on.

The most powerful drug traffickers in Colombia

The transport of tons of drugs, especially cocaine, to other countries such as the United States, and to much of the world, was locally orchestrated by the gangs of Medellin, Cali and Norte del Valle.

But who were the men who led these cartels? Possibly you already know some of them. If not, we will tell you about them and their illicit activities that positioned them as the most powerful drug traffickers in Colombia.

Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel

The Cartel of Medellin was one of the most feared organizations in Colombia, responsible for many attacks such as the siege on the Avianca plane on November 27, 1989 that killed more than 100 people and the attack on the DAS headquarters a few days later, in which 63 people died.

The leader of this bloody gang, who mercilessly sowed terror in society, was Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (Rionegro, Antioquia, December 1, 1949 – Medellín, December 2, 1993). At that time, Forbes estimated his fortune at around $7 billion, making him one of the 10 richest men in the world. He amassed this wealth thanks to his annual production of cocaine, calculated at more than 120 tons in 1980.

Orejuela and his work in the Cali Cartel

The Cali Cartel was a criminal organization that exported large quantities of cocaine, mainly to the United States. His top boss was Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, who died on May 31 in the United States due to old age.

Known as the «Joe Player», Orejuela was arrested on June 9, 1995, in what was considered one of the most important coups at that time by the Colombian State in its long and painful war against drug trafficking. Next to him is also his brother Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, considered one of the most powerful capos in Colombia.

Colombia’s leading Valle Cartel

The Norte del Valle gang experienced a drug-trafficking boom after the Medellín and Cali gangs began to disintegrate following the death of Escobar and the arrest of the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers. The leader of this gang is Orlando Henao Montoya, the «El hombre del overol».

For many years he hid behind the facade that his money was the product of his lucrative investments. But the fact is, since at least 1994, the authorities had been investigating how, in eight years, he went from being a police officer to having a fortune of at least 7,000 million pesos at that time and becoming a shareholder in important companies and one of the most powerful drug traffickers in Colombia.