Drug lords

A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or narcotrafficker is a person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are never directly in possession of something illegal, but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of underlings. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltrations of their networks, often using informants from within the organization.

Rakesh Jyoti Saran, also known as "Black Panther", is a convicted drug trafficker best known for the "Illegal Internet Pharmacy" that he presided over in Arlington, Texas, in the late 1990s. Saran along with others took orders for prescription drugs online and then shipped them to people across the country, raking in an average profit of more than $50,000 a day. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration, "prosecutors estimate that Saran bought $1 million worth of controlled substances each month, handled 15,000 customers weekly and filling more than 3,000 orders for controlled substances each day. Saran made more than $200 million in the process." Additionally, Saran also sold promethazine cough syrup with codeine, hydrocodone and alprazolam illegally to individuals on the streets profiting more than $20 million.

In 2009, Saran was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment and ordered to pay $68 million in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and other federal offences, two counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. According to plea papers filed in court, Saran operated 23 Texas-incorporated pharmacies through two firms he owned, Carrington Healthcare Systems and Infinity Services Group. As part of Saran's plea agreement, Saran forfeited assets earned from his illegal activities, including more than $1,000,000 in cash seized at his residence, over $375,000 found in bank accounts, $390,000 in cashiers' checks and money orders, several vehicles and a Mega Mansion in Arlington which is over 23,000sqft estimated at $6,000,000.

According to the DEA, Guzmán is the biggest drug lord in history. He is well known for his use of sophisticated tunnels—similar to the one located in Douglas, Arizona—to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States in the early 1990s. In 1993 a 7.3 ton shipment of his cocaine, concealed in cans of chili peppers and destined for the United States, was seized in Tecate, Baja California. In 1993 he barely escaped an ambush by the Tijuana Cartel led by Ramon Arellano Felix and his gunmen. Captured in Guatemala, he was jailed in 2001 and placed in a maximum security prison called Puente Grande, but paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates. On 22 February 2014, Loera was arrested. He is considered a folk hero in the narcotics world, celebrated by musicians who write and perform "narcocorridos," extolling his exploits. For example, Los Traviezos recorded a ballad extolling his life on the run: In July 2015, Guzman escaped a second time from a maximum-security prison through a hole in a shower floor that led to a 1-mile tunnel, ending at a nearby house. A large-scale manhunt ensued. On 8 January 2016, Loera was captured by the Mexican Marines .

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