#Pablo escobar the drug lord vs narcos trial
His trial in the US also signaled the start of new policy direction for Colombia: Lehder was the first drug smuggler the South American country had ever extradited to the US. From that moment on, his star began to fade with Escobar. Pushing back against the glorification of narco cultureīut in the mid-1980s, the US finally got wise to Lehder's transport routes and put an end to the party. Crazy Charlie was making billions and living it up the island became a hotspot for wild, drug-fueled orgies. At one point, it was estimated that four out of every five bags of cocaine that made it into the US were delivered by Lehder's fleet of planes. Instead, Lehder's method allowed traffickers to move unimaginable quantities of cocaine. The risky and far-less profitable method of having drug couriers carry cocaine on or in their bodies on commercial flights became a thing of the past. He bought a small island in the Bahamas called Norman's Cay, just 340 kilometers (211 miles) off the Florida coast, bribed Bahamian authorities and began transporting tons of white Colombian snow to the US in small airplanes. The planes flew low, escaping the view of watchful US authorities. Lehder revolutionized drug smuggling in the late 1970s. Lehder revolutionized cocaine transport, moving away from using so-called drug mules who would ingest or carry cocaine on their bodies As serious as the charges against him were, prosecutors often spoke of his skills with admiration, comparing his smuggling system to Henry Ford's automated assembly line. For good measure, it added another 134 years for allegedly flooding US streets with 2,000 kilos (4,409 pounds) of cocaine. The court sentenced Lehder to life in prison without parole. At the time, Lehder's 1988 trial was the biggest court case against a foreign drug smuggler in US history. What is more surprising is that Escobar didn't simply have him quietly knocked off - as he had so many others.įor most "narcotraficantes" - or "drug traffickers" - life generally holds one of two possible fates: death, like Escobar's at the hands of US and Colombian special agents during a raid in Medellin in 1993 or prison in the US, like Carlos Lehder. Still, Lehder's stock had fallen dramatically with his boss. Lehder was the right-hand man of Pablo Escobar (above)Įscobar penned an open letter vehemently denying any involvement in his business partner's arrest. The day after the party, Escobar sent Lehder to a secret hiding place, promising him he would be safe there - then he ratted him out to US authorities. In the end, there is nothing more dangerous than a crazy dealer whose escapades threaten to bring down the entire operation. But while Lehder, a Colombian-German national, thought the party would never end, drug lord Escobar had come to a different conclusion that night. Lehder apologized to Escobar, the body was disposed of and, of course, the party went on.
#Pablo escobar the drug lord vs narcos series
Gunshots, screams and a dead body in the middle of a fiesta with blaring salsa music the Netflix series Narcos is a harmless joke when compared to the reality in Colombia at the time. He shot the man, who also happened to be one of the woman's lovers. Carlos Lehder Rivas was at a Medellin Cartel party, snorting cocaine and amusing himself in the company of a prostitute when one of Pablo Escobar's hitmen had the temerity to knock on the door. Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll: even "Crazy Charlie's" last day of freedom was like a movie.