1,713, This story has been shared 1,650 times. "His span was incredible. This time, however, we hear the voice of a Spanish- and English-speaking woman telling us whats what. With its bustling border crossing that sees billions of dollars in cargo cross each way every year an economic engine that leapt into overdrive with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement Jurez was the crown jewel in the constellation of smuggling routes into the United States. Amado Carrillo Fuentes (center) with other members of the Juarez cartel in the 1980s. He traveled to Chihuahua with nothing more than a sixth-grade education and began to learn the ins and outs of drug trafficking from his uncle. But in 1997 Amado Carrillo Fuentes died suddenly, killed by plastic surgery. Amado Carrillo Fuentes was a Mexican drug lord who seized control of the Jurez Cartel after assassinating his boss Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. After his death, the Washington Post called Carrillo one of Mexicos most mysterious men., He lived discreetly no wild shootouts, no late-night disco hopping, the paper wrote. Unfortunately for them, the military is close behind, and a high-speed chase and all-out slaughter follows. The drug lord was 42 years old. Speaking publicly for the first time, DEA agents who helped confirm his death give the full story behind one of the strangest chapters in the annals of Mexico's drug war. So, yes. Stream It Or Skip It: 'Tom Jones' On PBS, A Romance-Focused Adaptation Of Henry Fielding's Novel, Stream It or Skip It: 'Spring Breakthrough' on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Proves We Need More Keesha Sharp, Stream It or Skip It: 'Hearts in the Game' on Hallmark Just Might Be the Network's Movie of the Year. Through a contact in the Attorney General's office, or PGR, Fernandez and his partner had extensive access to sensitive information, and did their best to share intel with their counterparts. Fernandez and his partner were the lead case agents on investigations into some of Mexico's most notorious drug traffickers, and they routinely pulled 80-hour weeks, living and breathing their work, sleeping at the office. I think the man faked his own death. This dynamic within Amado's network may have played a part in the myths that sprung up so soon after his death. News of Amado's death had begun to filter out days before. It's Me, Margaret' Streaming on HBO Max or Netflix? Amado was part of an expansive family, as he had 11 other siblings. They spend days locked inside a hotel room together, making love and learning about each other. Few pictures of him appeared in newspapers or on television. 1,581, This story has been shared 1,456 times. But even for a guy with the political savvy that Amado had in spades, remaining atop the tangled web of shifting alliances and competing priorities that dictate the status quo in Mexico was a deadly game, and any number of brand-name narcos who came before him had enjoyed that sweet spot for a time before they attracted too much attention and with it their own expiration date. His boss wanted to know how certain he was that this was, in fact, Amado Carrillo Fuentes. After hanging up, he sidled over to his boss and his boss's boss, who were standing about chatting and soaking up the unique glory of a Mexico City summer day. In the middle of that scrum was Larry Villalobos, a DEA intelligence analyst who'd arrived in Mexico the year prior after a stint in El Paso building dossiers on the major drug traffickers operating in Mexico. 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Fernandez, newly married, had been working at the Mexico City office of the DEA for about a year. Is The Nurse On Netflix Based On A True Story? The powerful drug lord, Amado Carrillo Fuentes. He was the most powerful drug lord in Mexico in the 90s, thanks to his use of private airplanes . 1,456, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Does 'Yellowstone' Return Tonight? The couple was blessed with six sons and five daughters. Pablo Acosta Mugshot 1974. So when July 4, 1997 rolled around, Fernandez was looking forward to a bit of R&R, a chance to spend some time with his wife and shoot the shit with his colleagues and their families at the annual Independence Day bash at the ambassador's residence in Lomas de Chapultepec, a lavish neighborhood of rolling hills and the gated mansions of the Mexican elite. 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In the nearly quarter-century that has elapsed, a host of rumors and conspiracy theories have, unlike Amado, stubbornly refused to die even in the archives of the wire service Agence Press Press, which listed a photo of Amado's "alleged" body. Fernandez pulled the two more senior agents aside and told him what he had just heard. But when he arrived in Mexico City, he was soon stunned by the level to which drug traffickers were entangled with the state at every level, from local cops on up to judges, military officers, and members of the political and business elite. In the cavernous and gauche mansion his men are currently constructing for him, Amado gets a call from his estranged wife Marisol (Johanna Murillo), with the terrible news that their daughter has died of an asthma attack. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. And to be sure, this episode has a handful of impressive cinematic moments. and the U.S. government announced that Amado Carrillo Fuentes had died of a heart attack. I call bullshit on Amado Carrillo Fuentes AKA "Lord of the Skies" being dead irl. In 2014, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was arrested in an operation by the Federal Police and the Army in Torren, Coahuila. 5,014, This story has been shared 4,914 times. Their whirlwind romance gives Amado some respite from his otherwise hectic and violent life as the leader of the Jurez Cartel. Though it has one action-packed finale, there are still a lots of loose ends on the table, including not one but two imminent cartel wars. Amado Carrillo Fuentes was one of Mexico's most powerful drug lords Credit: AP:Associated Press. With a weak leader like Vicente running the ship and its increasingly mutinous crew aground, the idea of a vengeful Amado out there, maybe coming back some day, might have been useful for keeping people in line, according to Jess Esquivel, a veteran Mexican journalist who was one of the first reporters to break the news of Amado's death. Regardless of where one stands on the fact that Amado Carrillo Fuentes died in July 1997, no one disputes the fact that his death was a turning point, one of the periodic tectonic shifts throughout the history of the war on drugs in Mexico. Then he had this open casket funeral with a body that was totally unrecognizable? At first, it seemed that the procedure had gone off without a hitch. "He had surgery and also had surgery practiced on some poor unfortunate person to make everybody believe it was him, including the authorities.". Amado Carrillo Fuentes was married to Maria Elena Salazar, and the couple had five children together. Their announcement caused ripples of shock and disbelief. Four months after his death, the three doctors responsible for his surgery were found in steel barrels along the side of a highway. But the whole point of his plastic surgery was to disappear and retire in the first place. He may have escaped earthly justice, noted D.E.A. He filled the pockets of Mexican officials to keep them looking the other way and leveraged the threat of violence to keep people in line. While celebrating his success with the Cali Cartel in Havana, Amado meets Marta, a local singer and musician, and its love at first sight for both of them. As series co-creator Carlo Bernard takes over as showrunner (he also wrote this episode, directed by series mainstay Andrs Baiz) from Eric Newman, the introduction of a narrator who isnt part of the American governments efforts to take the cartels down is a big break from the past. As Mike gets hauled away to jail, Walt tells him he hopes hell stick with AA on the inside, and gets a fuck you, man in return. 'Succession' Season 4 Finale Date: When Is the Last Episode? They seized the casket and immediately put it on a plane back to Mexico City. And now the high-beams were focused on Amado. But a doctor doing rounds early the next morning found Carrillo deceased in bed. Maria Elena Salazar was a beauty queen and model who also worked as a news anchor. As weve covered before, Season 3 will be the last season of Narcos: Mexico. In a few short years, he had become the most influential drug trafficker in Mexico. Villalobos told Insider. Amado's family soon confirmed the story, lipo and all, telling reporters that he'd suffered a heart attack while under anesthesia. Though Victor removed one killer that has made next to no difference in this world where crime runs rampant. But Fernandez and his fellow DEA agents had worked hard to build relationships with a few key members of Mexican anti-drug units, and it was starting to pay dividends. For eight hours, he underwent surgery to drastically alter his face and remove 3.5 gallons of fat from his body. So there was always an aspect of mystery and shadow to it. The idea of Amado faking his death and vanishing into retirement flourished in Mexico's bustling rumor mills. Here, for the first time, is the most complete account of one of the strangest chapters in the annals of Mexico's drug war. 1,650, This story has been shared 1,581 times. Votes: 1,230 (None of the three is Andra, at least not yet.) 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Amado raced against the clock, warring cartels, the law . With a query like that, no, Fernandez wasn't sleeping much. At a hearing in March, DEA chief Thomas A. Constantine mused that major traffickers in Mexico "seem to be operating with impunity," and a congressional subcommittee convened soon thereafter to discuss slamming shut the faucet of foreign aid to Mexico. Our final POV character is Victor (Luis Gerardo Mndez), a crooked Jurez copthe voiceover narration explains to us that due to their ridiculously low legit pay, every cop in the city has to earn extra cash by extralegal meanswhom we meet when he leads a murderous assault on a drug safehouse, killing everyone inside and making off with drugs and cash. In a tense moment, hes forced to give up his identity to Mike in order to make the man calm down and preserve his cover for his real target. No. According to an Associated Press report a few days later, the agents had to forcibly part Amado's mother from the casket that she clearly believed held the remains of her son. Their announcement caused ripples of shock and disbelief. Yes, Amado and Marta end up together at the end of season 3. As the criminal landscape in Mexico shifted in the late 1980s following the breakup of the old guard in Guadalajara, Amado had relocated to Ciudad Jurez, a sprawling desert city just across the Ro Grande from El Paso, Texas. He amassed a net worth of $25 billion a fortune second only to Pablo Escobars ordered some 400 murders, and enjoyed torturing his victims. Whether it was negligence or homicidal intent was unclear. Amado and Marta's first encounter takes place in Havana, Cuba, where he goes to arrange a new deal with the Cali Cartel. On a show this consistent, for both good and bad, a change like that really stands out. Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Lord of the Skies, the boss of Ciudad Jurez, and arguably the most powerful criminal kingpin in the nation's history was dead and his rotting corpse was displayed for all to see. Amado Carrillo Fuentes was a smart man. Narcos: Mexico Season 1-3 is out on Netflix now. I could get used to a show thats this thoughtful in its deployment of oners, in industry parlance. Forbidden Fruit: Six Shocking Real Life Incest Stories Throughout History, Washington Dad John Eisenman Murders Daughter's Boyfriend For Allegedly Selling Her Into Sex-Trafficking, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. When Yazpik was a child, Meza decided to move the family to San Diego, California. He also sends the latter the deed to a coastal house in Chile. According to Villalobos, the FBI agent was insistent, telling him that a trusted source had recently claimed to have spotted Amado in his old stomping grounds of Ojinga, just over the border from Texas. He'd joined the agency in 1991 after serving in the Marines, and threw himself into his new vocation with a zeal inspired in part by the ravages of drug addiction he'd witnessed back home growing up in the Bronx. Before long, the news rippled out through the crowd and the DEA agents in attendance huddled up to figure out what do do next. Is The Nurse On Netflix Based On A True Story? A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Kaleena Fraga has also had her work featured in The Washington Post and Gastro Obscura, and she published a book on the Seattle food scene for the Eat Like A Local series. 1,726, This story has been shared 1,713 times. Perhaps thats why he runs into the trouble he faces in this episode. Its true, as we allude to in one of the scenes, that the doctors who performed the surgery turned up dead, murdered weeks later. The implication here is that Amado is alive and has found what previously seemed impossible for any trafficker: a life beyond the world of crime. The opening car chase, the raid on the drug house, and the murder of Aguilar are all shot in single takes, alternately immersing us in the action and giving us a gods-eye view of the violence. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider It all started to fall apart thanks to General Rebollo. A graphic video showing Carrillo in his coffin was released. The couple met in 1985 and were married in 1987. Aurora Fuentes lived in the community of El Guamuchilito, where she and her family had the Aurora . "I didn't say that it was Amado. They part ways once more, promising that they will see each other soon. Amado Carrillo Fuentes is considered one of Mexico's most notorious drug lords. After reading about the life and death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, look through these shocking photos of the Mexican drug war. He was getting death threats. 1,840, This story has been shared 1,726 times. Even now, decades later, Fernandez still speaks of Amado with the grudging respect of a guy who knows the folly of underestimating one's enemies. 1,913, This story has been shared 1,840 times. This is the life and times of the most powerful drug trafficker of his time: Amado Carrillo Fuentes, "El Seor de los Cielos" (Lord of the Skies), a man who became the head of the Jurez . Chapo and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada become the co-leaders of Sinaloa. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. He was from a new breed, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration liked to say, a low-profile kingpin who behaved like a businessman., Amado Carrillo Fuentes seems to have viewed drug trafficking as exactly that a business. And after putting everything in the balance, I truly believe that Amado Carrillo got away with it. So, yes, Amado Carrillo Fuentes is believed to be dead by the end of Narcos: Mexico. Is 'Are You There God? President Ernesto Zedillo had appointed the general to lead the fight against drugs as part of an effort to cut out the notoriously corrupt alphabet soup of police agencies in favor of the military, which despite its own legacy of corruption and human-rights abuses enjoyed a level of trust and respect that most other branches of the government had long ago squandered. Amado Carrillo Fuentes's Net Worth. Huge wreaths were delivered, including some by other alleged drug barons. The sudden death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes left a power vacuum. The head of the Juarez cartel, Carrillo earned the nickname Lord of the Skies because he used private planes to smuggle cocaine. What I said was that the fingerprints that were taken from a young man who resembles the Amado that we all know, and was fingerprinted as an illegal alien 20 years ago, is the same person as this corpse," Villalobos recalled telling the senior DEA attache in Mexico City. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed yesterday the death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the leader of Mexico's most powerful drug cartel, who died Friday . He touched Asia, he touched Europe, all parts of the world, and that's when you start to understand the vastness of his enterprise.". '", Ana Navarro Jokes About Sara Haines' White House Correspondents' Dinner Antics on 'The View': "Maybe There Will Be a Restraining Order", Sunny Hostin Opens Up About Receiving Hurtful Emails on The View: Im Not Liked By Half The Country, Sunny Hostin Shades Meghan McCain for Scathing Column About 'The View': "Our Show Is a Wonderful Place". The Mexico City home sold for more than $2m (1.6m) and the proceeds will go to Mexico's public . Indeed, allies of Amado Carrillo Fuentes didnt act as if he had simply skipped town. Amados partner, Rafael Aguilar Guajardo (No Hernndez), is blas about both Amados ordeal in the joint and his suggestion that they buy up warehouses over the border in El Paso in order to lessen the chances of all their shit getting rolled up in a single raid. But rather than tame the rumors that hed faked his death, the photo inflamed them. Amado Carrillo Fuentes in a Mexico City morgue on July 7, 1997. "So they were playing with Amado's shadow.". While the world thinks Amado tried to change his appearance through plastic surgery and died on the operating table, he slips away and reunites with Marta in Chile. So it helped that Amado's uncle was one of those traffickers. At the end of Episode 10, Ramn Arellano Flix (Manuel Masalva), one of the heads of the Tijuana cartel, tried to kill the . Amado Carrillo became known as "El Seor de Los Cielos" ("The Lord of the Skies"), because of the large fleet of jets he used to transport drugs.He was also known for laundering money via . Amado eventually realizes that his life as a drug lord and the success he has achieved arent sustainable. Here's When It Returns With New Episodes, Drew Barrymore Halts Segment After "Severely Old" Mac and Cheese Noodle Flies off Her Desk: "It's Rock Hard". On July 4, 1997, Amado Carrillo Fuentes checked into a private Mexico City clinic under the alias Antonio Flores Montes. 'Citadel' Episode Guide: When Do New Episodes Premiere on Prime Video? While other traffickers fought bloody turf battles and moved coke, weed, and heroin across remote border crossings in the desert, Amado was consolidating power and largely keeping the peace in Jurez, where he proved a reliable colleague to corrupt officials turned off by the ostentatious violence of his competitors. Amado's death wasn't the only surprise at the end of Season 3. 1,650, This story has been shared 1,581 times. It was the advent of the cocaine boom, when Mexican traffickers began to branch out from weed and dope and made use of their existing smuggling routes to move Colombian cocaine, and the cash flowing back south twisted and perverted every facet of society. July 7, 1997. 1,840, This story has been shared 1,726 times. He kind of deserves it. 6,884, This story has been shared 5,014 times. 4,226, This story has been shared 2,823 times. Amado's younger brother Vicente took the reins, but he didn't have it in him, and people didn't respect him the way they had Amado. After his plane crashes, he summons his minions to pack up and roll out with it payload of cocaine. By the mid-1990s, Amado had become the most powerful drug lord in the country. Meet Amado Carrillo Fuentes, The Powerful Mexican Drug Trafficker Who Became The Lord Of The Skies. Streaming Schedule, Season 5, Part 2 Debut Info, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved, Who Plays Daniel Buckley on '9-1-1'? Read More:Does Salgado, the La Voz Editor, Die in Narcos: Mexico Season 3? He soon earned the nickname Lord of the Skies because he chartered planes to smuggle cocaine from Colombia to the U.S.Mexico border. Hes running a sting operation on coke suppliers by pretending to be in Alcoholics Anonymous, befriending the leader of his meeting, Mike (Scott William Winters), who hooks him up with a gig hauling cocaine in a big rig. La Reforma ArchivesThe powerful drug lord, Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Stream It Or Skip It: 'White House Plumbers' On HBO, A Comedic Take On The Bumbling Team Behind The Watergate Break-In, Stream It Or Skip It: Kiss, Kiss! on Netflix, a Polish Rom-Com With an Oogy Womanizer Protagonist. This vocation earned him the nickname "el seor de los cielos," or the Lord of the Skies, and made him fantastically wealthy, with money to buy as many cops, judges, generals, and politicians as he needed to stay on the right side of things. See full summary Stars: Rafael Amaya, Carmen Aub, Wayne LeGette, Alejandro Lpez.