el patron don pablo the king of cocaine
whatever name it may be pablo escobar
still sends a chill of the spine
the deadliest and wealthiest drug lord
of all time
pablo escobar was loathed by many yet
loved by others
but what was it like to work for him
today on nutty history we're looking at
what life was like as a hitman for pablo
escobar
from first-hand accounts of his
right-hand man popeye let's see what the
job description really entails
and fair warning this man was no cartoon
character
but first be sure to hit see what i did
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watching yonyado velasquez more commonly
known as popeye or jj walk the streets
of medellin
you might think he's mother teresa he's
flocked by people asking for photos and
autographs
as if he were a local hero rather than
an assassin who's killed 250 people
and organized hits on 2500 more of
course not everyone's a fan
after spending 23 years in prison for
his crimes as a hitman for the medellin
cartel
where he says he survived seven
assassination attempts
he was well aware of many on the outside
who also wished him harm popeye who
earned the nickname during his brief
stint in the navy
considered himself a reformed man who
served his time
critics are angered by the frequent
interviews documentaries
book deals and tv shows he participated
in post prison
whatever your opinion may be popeye's
leaning toward the spotlight gives us
some of the most up-close and personal
insights
on what it was really like as a cicadio
for pablo escobar
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if popeye was a controversial figure his
boss was even more so
it might seem an easy choice to stick
the bad guy label on the drug lord
responsible for such widespread violence
and death
but for locals of medellin the situation
was a bit more complicated
pablo escobar's notorious catchphrase
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spoke to a choice many were forced to
make silver or lead
while those who fought escobar's reign
were met with the lead of a bullet
those who helped him or even just looked
the other way at the right time
earned monetary rewards escobar also put
money back into the local community
which earned the respect of poor
citizens and the nickname of the
colombian robin hood
on the other hand many of the families
and friends of his victims were also
locals
who saw him as nothing more than a
destructive murderer an intense devotion
to the boss
and demonstrated that devotion was a
crucial part of being a member of
pablo's crew
for popeye who says his deep allegiance
escobar began from the moment he met him
this meant foregoing his own personal
life and connections
for the job he met the kingpin who he
describes as
magnetic when he was just 23 years old
in an rt documentary
popeye claims he would have killed his
own father if pablo had requested it
that couldn't have made dad feel real
good he also didn't drink
or date to maintain his focus one
apparent exception to this however was
when he dated wendy
chavarria gill a former lover of pablo
escobars
according to popeye things turned sour
between escobar
and chava videga gill when she became
pregnant and pablo escobar
forced her to terminate the pregnancy
later when she was dating popeye
escobar tapped her phone and revealed
evidence that she was working with
police and other government agencies to
bring him down
feeling like a pawn popeye arranged a
hit on his own girlfriend telling her to
meet him on a date at a restaurant where
she was shot
and killed
how does popeye justify his actions he
describes medellin at the time as a war
zone
cartel versus police and the army and
the government
and the dea and the cia it was escobar
and his many friends
versus the world hitmen like popeye did
a lot of damage as he claims the cartel
killed some 540 policemen
since it was war they didn't
discriminate between good cop bad cop
anyone in uniform was their enemy of
course the police hit back
every time they left their hotel it was
open season
a handgun was popeye's weapon of choice
and after killing so many he headed down
to an arc
as he chillingly demonstrates on an
interviewer for rt
as an assassin he always kept his gun
fully assembled and
ready to go but with the safety on while
he claims amateurs fire lower into a
person's chest
he would fire two shots between the
victim's eyebrows and hairline to ensure
the kill
another popular kill method under the
cartel was bombing
bomb laden vehicles were a quick way to
take out multiple police officers at
once
and popeye recalls watching the
explosions from further back
keeping his mouth open to avoid damage
to his eardrums
i'm guessing the movie trope of walking
away from your own explosion doesn't
quite hold up
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also on popeye's to-do list threatening
kidnapping
and at times assassinating colombian
politicians and government officials
particularly after colombia entered into
an extradition treaty with the united
states in 1982
for escobar and many of his followers a
colombian grave was preferable to a u.s
prison cell where
sentences tended to be much harsher luis
carlos gallon the favorite presidential
candidate in the 1990 election
supported extradition and cracking down
on the cartels
after receiving numerous death threats
an assassination attempt was made on
galan
with a rocket-propelled grenade when he
visited medellin due to intervention
from the colombian national police the
attempt was thwarted but galan was later
assassinated when he walked into a stage
to give a speech in sochi an act that
dramatically increased violence between
the cartel and the colombian government
war had officially been declared any
judge that dared to open a case against
pablo escobar also made the lethal list
popeye describes that judges were more
vulnerable as hits without the many
protections of top politicians
in the tragic case of judge gustavo
zuluaga cerna who ordered escobar's
arrest for the murder of two security
guards
hitman and motorcycles trailed his car
and shot into the vehicle
which also held his eight months
pregnant wife gustavo was killed but
despite his wife carmelita being hit
three times
she survived and miraculously gave birth
to their daughter 40 days later
as if the family hadn't suffered enough
gustavo's son who was looking into his
father's murder
was suspiciously found dead months later
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in 1991 popeye spent a year in prison
sort of
with pablo escobar el arcade if the
cathedral sounds like a nice name for a
prison
that's because this was no ordinary
lockup pablo escobar agreed to surrender
and go to prison after the colombian
government amended the constitution to
take extradition off the table
in a very sketchy and hush-hush deal his
conditions didn't end there however
for starters the police and government
had to stay three kilometers away from
the premises
even more insane pablo escobar's prison
was built specifically to his liking
complete with a football field ping pong
billiards and a jacuzzi
pablo also hosted prostitutes to the
frat house i mean the prison
and popeye says alcohol and marijuana
use were part of their jailed bird lives
as well
not cocaine though can't be getting high
on one's own supply
as a hit man popeye was apparently never
totally off the hook
he recalls having to kill two friends at
la catedral after they betrayed escobar
it was the murders four total that were
the last straw
making the colombian government rethink
this genius idea of a fake prison
but when they attempted to move him to a
real prison pablo escobar instead
escaped
hard to believe he made it out of that
fort knox
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popeye remained close to escobar until
his arrest a year before escobar himself
was killed
despite his fast and dangerous lifestyle
popeye died of cancer in february of
2020
while pablo escobar represented evil to
so many to
popeye he was a beloved friend and
apparently he's not the only
one with conflicted emotions visitors
continue to leave messages at pablo
escobar's tomb
sometimes asking him to bless their guns
or even snorting certain white
substances off his grave
we're not here to judge but please leave
your own judgments
in the comments and thanks for watching
nutty history