As a result of the premiere of the series Narcos: Mexico on Netflix, the issue of cartels, drug traffickers and corruption has returned to the front pages, and some international websites made a count of the men who made a huge fortune illegally.
Of course, it is not the first time that a ranking has been made with the most powerful gangsters in world history, but even publications such as Forbes and Business Insider maintain them to this day in their lists of the richest and most powerful.
Throughout history, figures of the stature of Pablo Escobar built their empires with bricks of cocaine, marijuana, opium and alcohol. And so, below you can meet some of these drug dealers who made the most money from their criminal activities, according to GQ magazine.
Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Loera
After working for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, ‘The Godfather’, he became the drug lord of Mexico. He escaped from prison twice. The last one, in 2015, from the maximum security prison of Puente Grande, Jalisco. Two years later he was recaptured and extradited to the United States. He is currently being held in the north and is awaiting trial.
According to Forbes, in 2011 “El Chapo” had an estimated fortune of US$11 billion.
khunsa
Considered one of the largest drug traffickers in Southeast Asia. In the 1970s and 1980s, the streets of New York were flooded with heroin, and much of that drug came from Khun Sa’s crops. At its peak, an estimated 85% of the heroin entering the United States came from its fields. Of course, in the 90s his influence declined until his death in 2007.
According to Business Insider, his fortune was estimated at $5 billion.
Pablo Escobar Gaviria
Pablo Escobar’s business generated some US$420 million a week in its heyday and accounted for 80% of the cocaine trade in the world. Between 1987 and 1993, and without interruption, Forbes put him on the list of the richest men in the world.
Business Insider points out that the Colombian’s fortune can be estimated at US $ 30,000 million.
Caro Quintero
Founder of the Guadalajara Cartel together with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo. Currently, Caro Quintero is being sought by the Mexican government, which is offering 20 million pesos as a reward for any information that helps to capture him. Quintero lived his heyday in the 1980s until his arrest in 1985.
His fortune was estimated to be US$500 million.
Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros
Juan Ramón Matta Ballesteros, ‘El Negro’, offered to pay the foreign debt of Honduras, his native country. With this action it was possible to calculate how much fortune he came to amass with the export of cocaine. He had a great relationship with the Medellin and Guadalajara cartels.
Matta was for a time the man who introduced 65% of the cocaine that arrived from Colombia to Spain and after his capture, the United States sentenced him to 12 life sentences and he is currently serving them in Colorado.
According to Forbes, “El Negro” had a fortune estimated at US $ 2,000 million.
Beltran Leyva brothers
Arturo, Héctor, Carlos and Alfredo Beltrán Leyva were first the disciples of ‘Chapo’ Guzmán, when he ran the drug empire in Sinaloa. The society was broken, presumably, by the death of Guzmán’s son at the hands of the Beltrán Leyva family.
Since Arturo’s death in 2009, the clan has lost influence and has broken up into various factions. The fortune of the brothers is unknown.