José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha

José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha (May 14, 1947 – December 15, 1989), also known by the nickname El Mexicano, was a Colombian drug lord who was one of the leaders of the notorious Medellín Cartel along with the Ochoa Brothers and Pablo Escobar. At the height of his criminal career Rodríguez was acknowledged as one of the world's most successful drug dealers. In 1988, Forbes magazine included him in their annual list of the world's billionaires.

Early years

José Gonzalo Rodríguez was born in May 1947 in the small town of Vergara near Pacho in Cundinamarca. He came from a poor family of modest pig farmers, and it is said that his formal education did not extend beyond grade school. As a youth he developed a fearsome reputation while employed as a hired killer for numerous organizations. In the early 1970s, Rodríguez moved to Bogotá and linked up with Verónica Rivera de Vargas, a pioneering drug trafficker who became the first queen of cocaine by murdering the family of her main rival.