In 1959, when Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries toppled Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, they wasted no time booting out American business owners, casinos and drug kingpins — much to the delight of US law enforcers.

But as time passed, and Castro’s socialist regime sought ever-trickier income streams, the Caribbean island proved an irresistible  stepping stone for cartels getting product from the Andes through Central America into Florida. Ambassadors, generals, and madcap American financiers: they were all on the take. But was El Jefe?

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