Javier Pena: DEA Agent Who Tracked Pablo Escobar/ Expert in Medellin Cartel

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Javier tells going from small bust operations in Austin, Texas to ending up on the case of Pablo Escobar in Colombia. Out of the academy he was hoping for a bigger city but ended up in Austin. After applying to go to Mexico, he was given Colombia. The eye-opening experience of dealing with Pablo Escobar who was hiding drugs in fruit and humans which we ended up on one of the biggest cases in the world!

Javier knew Pablo very well from all the studying he did such as his informants, family, drug movements, money, etc. He explains Narco Terrorism and the extent of how Pablo would get people to kill for him by buying them houses and providing for their families. Pablo placed bounties on police officers of $100 for each one killed.

In 1989 Escobar put a bomb on a commercial airline to kill a presidential candidate that killed 109 innocent people, a bus with dynamite in front of a building killed more, and the one that made him Enemy #1 in the world was he killed the presidential candidate at his rally. Extradition was eventually signed, which was the green light for Javier and his team. Was there an order to kill Escobar?

His self-surrender with his own penthouse prison and how he was later found after the DEA found his frequency that resulted in his killing by the Colombian National Police. Pablo’s motto was that he preferred a tomb in Colombia versus a jail cell in the United States. Javier said he was probably worth more than $30 Billion at the time of his death!

Javier Pena Links:

DEA Narcos Website: https://www.deanarcos.com/

Netflix Series: Narcos: https://www.netflix.com/title/80025172

Buy the book! Manhunter: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar: https://www.deanarcos.com/shop

Before the Lights Interview with Steve Murphy & Javier Pena (4-18-22): https://www.beforethelightspod.com/beforethelights-episodes/dymv1glth0ujf65z0trqocx9acplf8

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