Kingpins

After a DEA investigation forced Griselda Blanco to flee New York City in 1975, she returned to her hometown of Medellin, Colombia to run her cocaine operation from the shadows. There, she met a protege who would soon become her deadliest rival: Pablo Escobar.

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The woman who would become one of Colombia's first major cocaine traffickers in the 1970s got her start as a criminal at age 11, kidnapping neighborhood children for ransom. This brand of ruthlessness and violence would become Griselda Blanco’s signature whenever she was crossed, even by her own husbands.

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By the time this 70-year-old Afghan kingpin stood trial in 2012, Haji Bagcho had been moving drugs for nearly five decades and responsible for twenty percent of the entire world's heroin supply. He didn't climb to the top on his own: he had some help from both the CIA and the Taliban.

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Even while he was building his nationwide drug empire, Demetrius Flenory never gave up on his childhood dream of becoming a hip-hop artist and producer. After a shooting at an Atlanta nightclub in 2003, the law started closing in and his chances of going legit started slipping away.

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Growing up in poverty in Detroit, brothers Demetrius and Terry Flenory started dealing drugs to keep the family afloat before they were even old enough to drive. In 1989, Demetrius moved to Atlanta to expand his cocaine empire nationwide. He became a fixture of the city's nightlife scene, catching the attention of rappers like Young Jeezy...and DEA agents like Jack Harvey.

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As Colombia descended into chaos in the late 1980s, the Orejuela Brothers knew there was only one way to save the Cali Cartel from crumbling: get rid of Pablo Escobar for good. They didn't anticipate that by bringing down their rival, they'd only be setting the stage for their own inevitable fall.

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The Brothers infiltrated the streets of New York City and built the infrastructure for one of the United States’ largest cocaine rings in the 80s. Never getting caught by a local or federal enforcement officer, the Orejuela brothers thought they could continue their operation unscathed. However, more was happening behind-the-scenes than they ever knew. 

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At the height of their power, Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela were bringing in one million dollars a week by smuggling cocaine into New York City. In the 1980s, a war broke out between the Cali Cartel and the Medellin Cartel. Officials struggled to track down the notorious kingpins.

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The two brothers that made up half of the Cali Cartel in Colombia, Gilberto and Miguel Orejuela became the leaders of one of the world’s most successful cocaine cartels in the 1970s. Most of the cocaine in New York City at the time was delivered by this massive operation that stretched from Bolivia to Peru. 

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One of the most powerful men in Chicago, Big Jim’s businesses ranged from brothels and opium dens to upscale dining. His political influence in the early 1900s helped shape the way American organized crime operated for decades to come. Nobody could take down Big Jim… but that doesn’t mean they didn’t try. 

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