Popeye hitman biography. How Colombia's most famous killer became a YouTube star
And even this happens! Hired killer John Jairo Velazquez, nicknamed Popeye, complained to the police about the robbery. Popeye, who worked for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, did not get involved with the hooligans.
Popeye's Daring Robbery
The former mercenary said that a motorcycle with two armed men on it drove up to his car. On the advice of his lawyer, Velasquez did not fight back the armed robbers. He gave the bandits his phone, designer glasses and two gold bracelets.
This is the second time Popeye has been robbed by a local criminal group on motorcycles. About two months ago there was a similar incident, but then Velasquez was able to hit one of the attackers with a car.
An extremely angry John Jairo Velazquez spoke unflatteringly about what was happening in the city of Medellin.
“Our mayor is an idiot! The city is completely owned by criminals who ride around on motorcycles,” Velazquez said.
Mayor Federico Gutierrez quickly responded to the former hitman's words.
“People like Popeye created this crime that we are now fighting,” the mayor wrote on Twitter.
We would like to remind you that Popeye led the hitmen of the Medellin cocaine cartel. According to official data alone, he has more than 300 murders to his name. The mercenary was involved in kidnappings, several politicians suffered at his hands, and also participated in the preparation of a terrorist attack on a passenger plane. In 1992, Velasquez was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his actions.
On Tuesday, Colombian authorities released the most famous hitman, John Jairo Velazquez, nicknamed Popeye, from prison, writes El Pais.com.co. He worked for the brutal drug lord Pablo Escobar and personally killed hundreds of people.
Popeye was sentenced to 30 years in prison, of which he served 22 years behind bars.
According to Velazquez himself, he personally killed 300 people. And together with his accomplices, Popeye committed about three thousand murders in the 1980s and 1990s.
One of Velázquez's most famous crimes was the contract killing of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989. The politician declared his readiness to wage an uncompromising fight against drug cartels and was a favorite in the elections.
While already in prison, Velasquez testified against former minister Colombian Justice Alberto Santofimio, who organized the murder of his political rival. As a result of the previous high-ranking official was sent to prison for 24 years.
Velázquez was also involved in the kidnapping of former Colombian Vice President Francesco Santos, the kidnapping and murder of prosecutor Carlos Mauro Hoyos and the murders of others politicians. The sentence was read to him in 1992, the BBC Russian Service reports.
Before his release, Popeye, 52, was held in the Combita prison in the Boyaca department. From there he was taken to Bogota, with 200 police officers providing security for the former prisoner.
He will now be under observation for four years and four months. He is prohibited from leaving the country or changing his place of residence without notification. In addition, Popeye was required to post bail in the amount of nine million pesos (almost 4.7 thousand dollars).
Part of Colombian society does not object to the release of a terrible killer. However, some victims consider Themis’ decision to be incorrect or premature.
Let us add that Pablo Escobar, for whom Popeye worked, is considered one of the most daring and cruel criminals in the world.
Drug lord dreamed of becoming president
The future drug lord was born in 1949 into the family of a farmer and a teacher. In his youth he became the most influential crime boss in the city of Medellin, and then created a drug cartel that supplied cocaine to North America.
At the height of his power, Escobar controlled virtually all cocaine smuggling channels in the United States, and his personal fortune in 1989 was estimated at $47 billion.
The drug lord was very popular among the poor in Colombia, for whom he built cheap housing. Entire “Pablo Escobar neighborhoods” have appeared in Medellin.
In 1982, Pablo Escobar ran for office and, at age 32, became a substitute voting congressman in the Colombian Congress. In the future, the drug lord hoped to occupy the presidential chair. However, two years later he was expelled from Congress.
Deciding to take revenge for the rapid decline political career, Escobar organized the assassination of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonia. Subsequently, the drug lord launched a campaign of terror in response to the intensification of the fight against the drug mafia.
On August 16, 1989, a judge died at the hands of Escobar's killers Supreme Court Carlos Valencia. And the next day, police Colonel Waldemar Franklin Contero was killed. On August 18, 1989, politician Luis Carlos Galan, who promised to catch all drug lords and hand them over to US authorities, was shot dead at an election rally.
In Bogota, Escobar's terrorists carried out seven bombings in two weeks, in which 37 people were killed and another 400 were seriously injured.
On November 27, 1989, Escobar's gangsters planted a bomb on a Boeing 727 passenger plane, on which the successor of the murdered Luis Carlos Galan was supposed to fly. future president Colombia Cesar Gaviria Trujillo. The plane exploded in the air, killing 107 passengers and crew members, but there was no politician on board the plane, wrote Noticias Terra.
Pablo Escobar organized two assassination attempts on the head of the Colombian secret police, General Miguel Masa Marquez. In the second attack, on December 6, 1989, the bomb killed 62 people and injured about 100.
On December 2, 1993, American intelligence agencies managed to intercept a telephone conversation between Escobar and his son. For reasons of secrecy, the drug lord rarely communicated with his family, but the day before he had a birthday.
Soon the house where “terrorist N1” was hiding was surrounded by special forces. While trying to escape, Escobar was shot and killed by a sniper.
John Jairo Velazquez Vasquez(Spanish: Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez; 04/15/1962 - present), also known as Popeye(Spanish: Popeye) is a former sicario (hitman) and the right hand of the famous Colombian drug lord. According to information, in the 1980s. Popeye for a long time served as head of the punitive department - one of the largest cocaine syndicates in world history.
During the years of service in criminal structure Escobar, Velazquez killed more than 250 people and presided over the deaths of more than 3,000 people, incl. the most dignitaries. For all these crimes in 1992 he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Having served his sentence, Popeye was released in 2014 and today he is an extremely controversial figure. It's interesting that now many people don't think so scary person an outcast. On the contrary, some consider him a hero and a celebrity. Almost every day, Popeye walks the streets of Medellin and never tires of taking pictures with numerous people.
Biography. Early years
John Jairo Velasquez Vazquez was born on April 15, 1962, 70 miles north of - the city Yarumal(Spanish: Yarumal), department Antioquia(Spanish Antioquia), Colombia. At the age of 12, his family moved to the suburb of Medellin - the city. Itagui. WITH early childhood the boy started to get carried away firearms, which, after graduating from school, prompted him to join the National Police Cadet Corps, which he left after the first semester. Later the young man entered officer school Marines. It was there, due to his physical resemblance to the famous comic book hero, that he received his nickname “Popeye”.
“When I was young, I had a disproportionately wide jaw,” he recalls. “One day I was walking through my neighborhood, dressed in a Marine uniform, and one of the neighboring kids jokingly shouted: “Look, it’s Popeye!” And after that everyone started calling me that. Even after I've done plastic surgery for jaw correction, this nickname has not gone away from me.”
IN Marine Corps Velasquez also did not serve for long. Instead, he joined the local mafia. He first worked for a childhood friend, and later met Pablo Escobar and began working for him.
Criminal career
Popeye committed his first murder at the age of 18, killing a bus driver in Medellin.
“One day, the mother of Pablo Escobar’s friend fell to the ground while getting off the bus. The bus driver, instead of helping her, left her lying on the asphalt. As a result, the woman died. After this, Pablo Escobar instructed me to help him take revenge. A few days later I found this driver and shot him. To be honest, at the moment of the murder I felt absolutely nothing. No shame, no fear, no pity. Nothing but satisfaction."
In the early 1980s. Escobar, along with other leaders of the Medellin Cartel, formed an organization called Los Extraditables. Its sole purpose was to prevent the Colombian government from passing a law to extradite drug traffickers to the United States. By that time, Velazquez had become one of Escobar's main hitmen. He led operations that included assassinations, car bombings and kidnappings.
Popeye and his men killed 5, 6, even 12 people a day. The victims included police officers, judges, journalists, politicians and ordinary civilians. Incl. he organized the kidnapping of the Prosecutor General Carlos Mauro Hoyos(Spanish: Carlos Mauro Hoyos), as well as the then mayor and future president of Colombia Andres Pastarana Arango(Spanish: Andrés Pastrana Arango). He was also involved in organizing the explosion of a civilian airliner with Avianca Flight 203, which killed 110 civilians. However, Velasquez himself denies his involvement in this terrorist attack.
In total, Popeye admitted to involvement in 305 murders. “Today I realize that it was all a terrible mistake.”. In total, the cartel's men killed more than 540 police officers and wounded about 800 people, Velazquez said. The Colombian government, led by (Spanish Luis Carlos Galán) announced a reward of 10 million dollars (USD) for assistance in the capture of Pablo Escobar. A reward of almost $3 million each was offered for the capture of four key cartel fighters, including Popeye.
Surrounded from all sides, succumbing to constant pressure, in 1991 Escobar agreed to surrender to the authorities. As a result of 6 months of secret negotiations with the government (Spanish: César Gaviria Trujillo), Don Pablo agreed to plead guilty to several minor crimes and go to prison for 5 years, provided that he was forgiven for his past sins, as well as one more a small but very important caveat: he will serve his sentence in a prison built by himself - in! Popeye went to prison with his boss.
The tattoo says "Mafia General". Not included in the frame, but on the second hand - “General of Death”
However, after 13 months, Escobar and his people decided that they had had enough and fled from La Catedral. After this escape, Colombia was immediately declared the most big hunt in history. More than 600 national police officers, together with navy SEALs began to cover literally the entire country. Soon a new one joined them paramilitary organization(Spanish: Los Pepes, “People who suffered from Pablo Escobar”).
Jail
In October 1992, after just 2 months, Velasquez decided to surrender to the police. He never saw Escobar again.
“Of course, the people of the Medellin Cartel could not allow me to surrender to the authorities. After all, I was a very valuable informant. They tried to kill me seven times, with bullets and knives smeared with human feces. After all, if you strike with such a knife, a person will very soon die from a terrible infection. It’s a miracle I survived.”
15 months later, in the fall of 1993, Pablo Escobar was killed. “When I heard about Patron's death, I was devastated. My soul cried..." Popeye recalls.
At the grave of Pablo Escobar
Since 1992, Velazquez served prison term on charges of terrorism, drug trafficking, conspiracy and murder. However, despite the gravity of all these acts, Popeye was sentenced to the maximum allowable sentence of 30 years. After all death penalty prohibited in Colombia. In 2008 he was sentenced to another 12 years for other legal proceedings against him. However, on August 22, 2014, after serving 23 years and 3 months, 52-year-old Popeye was released. Important role His close cooperation with the investigation played a role in this.
Personal life
John Jairo Velazquez Vazquez was once married, with whom he has a son, Mateo.
He was once in a relationship with Wendy Chavarriago Gil(Spanish: Wendy Chavarriaga Gil), who before meeting him was Pablo Escobar’s mistress. One morning, while the couple was lying in bed, Popeye received a call from his boss. On the other end of the phone, Vasquez heard an audio recording telephone conversation between Wendy and DEA agents (Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA). She turned out to be an informant for the intelligence services and Escobar's people exposed her for this.
The patron was extremely meek and clear in his instructions: “You or she, don’t hesitate for a second. Silver or lead, love or death (orig. plata o plomo, amor o muerte). I'm waiting." Velasquez hung up and shot Wendy twice in the forehead, even though she was the woman he loved dearly. “When the shots were fired, I felt a feverish mixture of love and anger inside me.”
Our days
Since his release in 2014, Velasquez has met with some of the relatives of his victims and apologized to them for everything he did. "It was difficult time for all of Colombia. I chose my side in this war. Perhaps if I went back, I would have lived my life completely differently.” Is he sincere? Very doubtful.
Currently, Popeye is a rather controversial figure. On August 1, 2015, under the name Popeye Arrepentido, he created his channel on YouTube, which already has more than 750,000 subscribers. On his channel he adheres to extreme conservative political views, without hesitation to express hateful slogans against leftist rebel groups such as (FARC), as well as towards the socialist government (Spanish Nicolás Maduro, President
John Jairo Velazquez, who worked for Pablo Escobar, was released from prison and began new life in a new capacity.
Imagine that former boss Mafia started a YouTube channel.
Imagine if he used this channel to become an Internet star, posing as a repentant killer and entertaining viewers with stories of past crimes, as if asking for forgiveness for the murders he committed.
Seems implausible? For Colombians, John Jairo Velazquez became such a YouTube phenomenon.
He was once a mercenary for the Medellin drug cartel and boasted of having killed hundreds of people on behalf of his boss, Pablo Escobar. Velazquez, also known as Popeye, spent more than 20 years in prison for plotting the assassination of a Colombian presidential candidate in 1989.
Today Velasquez is 54 years old, and he is trying to change his image, posing as a truth-teller. Last year he started started posting on YouTube a series of Spanish-language videos through which the desire to achieve forgiveness runs like a red thread.
He is now known as Popeye Arrepentido - or "repentant Popeye". On Sunday, Velazquez said in an interview:
“The point is not to make money from my biography - I just want to tell stories, talk about what really happened. I’ve already been famous for 30 years. I just want to express my opinion because I can't stay away. I am against the Venezuelan and Colombian government. I am against Donald Trump because of his hatred of Latinos. I just want my opinion to be heard."
And it seems his audience can't tear themselves away from these videos. Velasquez has 117 thousand subscribers and 9.5 million views. The comments are full of admiration. Someone texted him “Hugs.”
But not everyone was captivated by Velázquez's charisma - least of all those who were themselves affected by the horrendous violence perpetrated by cartel members.
Gonzalo Rojas, the son of one of the victims - a man unlucky enough to be among the 107 passengers on a cartel bomb that exploded over Bogota, Colombia, in 1989 - said Velasquez's popularity had overshadowed the damage he caused to society, The Guardian reported. He believes that the former killer does not repent at all and is only reaping the fruits of the perverted popularity that he earned with his crimes.
Most killers who decide to start a second life do not go on YouTube with revelations about past sins (Gotti died in 2002 while serving life imprisonment). One expert said that Velasquez is engaged in “calculated self-promotion,” capitalizing on his notoriety. While he claims to have reformed, Velasquez glorifies drug traffickers and terrorists.
Velasquez himself says that he felt like a new person after he received parole in 2014, as stated in the description of his YouTube account:
“I created this channel with the intention that every day I would have the opportunity to talk about the progress of my return to society, as well as my sincere repentance.”
In an interview, Velasquez stated that "being a killer is not normal" and that he now "respects life and society." He assures:
“I became a normal member of society again: by changing my way of thinking, I changed my way of being.”
In one of the videos, he asks for forgiveness from a relative of one of his victims. In the comments, he is asked when “the victims of the war waged by the Medellin cartel - those who lost brothers or fathers who served in the police” - will be able to meet with him. Velasquez replies that such questions hurt him.
And yet he says: “The war is to blame for your brother’s death, but I’m not going to condone murder. I'm ready to take responsibility because your brother defended the country, state institute, and we were killers paid by drug cartels."
Velazquez, who uploads videos from his apartment in Medellin, may be worried that his “repentance” doesn’t fit well with the channel’s design, which shows shots of gunfire and bullet holes at the beginning of each video, but he doesn’t show it. He's clearly doing well in the center everyone's attention.
Some viewers welcome his return to society: “Hello, Popeye. I love your statements because they are full of honesty and courage. Hugs."
Others note his charisma and ability to talk to people: “You have the character to speak the truth in Colombian society.”
Vincent Gawronski, a professor of political science at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Ala., says, "We strangely tend to praise 'successful' criminals, even the heartless killers we see in Hollywood movies and TV shows like 'Scarface,' 'Strike.' “, “Breaking Bad,” “The Sopranos,” “Narcos.”
Gawronski notes that about a dozen “drug series” have aired in Spanish, and that there are many “narco corridos,” or ballads glorifying drug traffickers, circulating among the people. He says:
“We mythologize those who challenge authority, do whatever they want and get away with impunity. Of course, Velasquez's fame is directly related to his relationship with Pablo Escobar. The stories he tells guarantee his popularity, but they can also lead to his death.”
In one of Velasquez's videos, he recalled 1993, when authorities killed Escobar, the ruthless cocaine tycoon who ran the Medellin cartel. In response to a commentator's question about what Escobar wrote in his notebooks, Velazquez said:
“In these notebooks he simply wrote down the names of the people he wanted to kill. If he wrote your name in such a notebook, you could consider yourself dead.”
The Gotti-era mafiosi followed a strict code of silence about their criminal activity, but Velasquez doesn't seem at all worried about giving away cartel secrets.
In a video posted in October, he admitted that he would forever remain a killer. Velasquez boasted of his reputation, calling himself a living monument to the cartel, and said he would never say anything bad about Escobar. He said:
“For me, Escobar was a terrorist, a drug dealer, a kidnapper - but above all, he was also my friend; he treated me with kindness and respect. He was the type who always made eye contact and always did what he said. Everyone knows what he was like, but he treated me well. I loved Pablo. He was never in debt - not for a single shot."
Dandeni Muñoz Mosquera(Spanish: Dandeny Muñoz Mosquera), better known as La Quica(Spanish “La Quica”) - the right hand of the famous drug lord and possibly one of the main sicarios (hitmen), who at one time controlled up to 80% of the world's drug trafficking.
In Colombian slang, the nickname "La Quica" means "fat girl" - a feminine nickname that has stuck with Mosquera since childhood. It was most likely invented by his older brother Bruns, better known as "Tyson", who saw in Dendeni a strong resemblance to their own aunt.
But despite the innocent-sounding nickname, for the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, USA), La Quica was a real monster, a killing machine that had to be stopped at all costs. According to the US Department of Justice, he was responsible for more than 220 human lives, among whom were political and government officials, judges, police officers, members of criminal groups, as well as ordinary innocent people.
Criminal activity
Dandeni Muñoz Mosquera was born on August 27, 1966 in the city. It is curious that his father was a policeman, and his mother was a deeply religious person. They tried to give their children a diligent upbringing and good education, sending them to a gymnasium school. After leaving school, Dandeni joined the army, from where he returned in 1986. From then on, his first problems with justice began; they were mainly limited to armed robberies. Over the course of several years, the young man served three terms in prison.
According to other sources, he was not in any army. La Quica began working for Pablo Escobar in 1978, at the age of 12. He was brought to the cartel by “Tyson,” who knew Escobar since childhood and, according to some sources, was the head of security for Don Pablo.
After almost 10 years of thorny service in the Medellin cartel's legion of killers, La Quica has reached the top. According to intelligence reports, by 1990 he was already the head of the “punitive wing” of the cartel and was considered right hand Escobar. The Colombian government linked Mosquera's activities to the murder of more than 50 police officers, judges and other officials, including quite high-ranking officials.
According to US intelligence, La Quica's crimes included the bombing of Avianca Flight 203, a civilian airliner that killed 110 civilians.
La Quique was only 23 years old at the time of the plane bombing.
Flight 203 and the assassination attempt on DAS
In the early morning of November 27, 1989, an Avianca Airlines Boeing 727, operating flight AV203, took off from the city. The plane's flight lasted less than 6 minutes. According to a black box found in the wreckage, when the plane reached an altitude of 13,000 feet, there was a thunderous sound in the cabin, under seat 14F. powerful explosion. A few seconds later there was another explosion, which tore the plane to pieces, killing 101 passengers and 6 crew members. Pieces of the fuselage, body parts and luggage were scattered over a 3 mile diameter, killing another 3 people on the ground.
9 days after this terrible terrorist attack, a school bus filled with hundreds of kilograms of explosives was blown up in the center of Bogota. Purpose of this act There was an explosion at the headquarters of the Department of Administrative Security (DAS), the Colombian equivalent of the FBI. This explosion claimed the lives of more than 70 people, and about a hundred more were injured. Many of the victims were children.
There was no doubt about who was responsible for these bombings. So massive terrorist attacks had the obvious handwriting of Pablo Escobar, who led real war against the Colombian government, sweeping the entire country massacres, corruption, extortion and barbaric terror.
It was obvious to everyone who gave the orders to carry out these 2 bloody terrorist attacks. But the Colombian government still has questions about who was the actual perpetrator. But their American colleagues have no doubts. Almost 5 years of investigations led all traces of these crimes to one person - Dandeni Muñoz Mosquera.
Arrest
In the summer of 1991, the DEA received information that La Quica would soon arrive in the United States on an unknown mission. This information turned out to be true. On September 25, Mosquera was detained in a suitable area of Queens, New York. He did not have any weapons or any other prohibited items with him; the reason for the arrest was simple to the point of banality - the presentation of false documents.
He was immediately charged with providing false information to the federal government. official. Typically, the punishment for such an offense in the United States is imprisonment for a term of 6 months to 6 years. According to the DEA and FBI, La Quica was very " big fish"in the most vicious criminal organization on the planet - the Medellin Cartel. Prosecutors needed time to bring more serious charges against Mosquera, so a federal judge gave him the maximum possible sentence: 6 years in prison strict regime.
While he was sent to serve his sentence at the federal prison in Marion, Illinois, American intelligence agencies began actively looking for evidence of potential crimes committed by La Quica. In the summer of 1992, he was charged with 13 counts. The charges included numerous murders, illegal traffic drugs, terrorism and racketeering. All of these crimes were committed thousands of kilometers from the United States, however, the basis of the indictment was a 1986 law that provides for federal prosecution of persons who have committed terrorist acts against US citizens abroad. Death of two American citizens Carlos Andres Escobi And Astrida del Pilar Gomez, who were also passengers on the infamous Flight 203, automatically placed Mosquera under American jurisdiction!
Interestingly, in Colombia itself, La Quica was not under suspicion regarding this terrorist attack, the country's attorney general Gustavo de Griff(Spanish Gustavo de Greiff) even sent official letter to the US Attorney's Office, "with the intent to avoid a miscarriage of justice" and calling for the extradition of Mr. Muñoz Mosquera to Colombia. On the basis that the Colombian prosecutor's office does not have any evidence of his involvement in the above-mentioned terrorist attack. The prosecutor also insisted that they have another suspect in custody, who, in their opinion, is the real culprit in the plane explosion and the DAS bombing.
Indeed, a certain associate of Escobar named Carlos Maria Alzate(Spanish: Carlos Mario Alzate) confessed to committing both crimes, which he carried out on the orders of the previously killed (Spanish: José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha), better known as “The Mexican”. However, in response, the US government accused de Griff of criminal connections and conspiracy with drug dealers who “unfastened” him money for all kinds of cover-ups on his part. Years later, the Bill Clinton administration revoked the US visa of de Griff, who was then serving as the Colombian ambassador to Mexico.
Over the next 2 years, federal prosecutors and the DEA built their case against La Quica. They interrogated many people and collected sufficient quantity physical evidence of his guilt. One of the main witnesses who testified against Mosquera was former person Escobar - Carlos Botero (Spanish: Carlos Botero), who confirmed that the explosion on board the plane was organized by La Quica, who paid one of the young men to board the plane and press a button on a supposedly some kind of radio during takeoff . This guy, naturally, had no idea that it was a bomb.
La Quica: Verdict
The La Quique trial took place in the spring of 1994, when the Medellin cartel was already in ruins and Pablo Escobar himself was killed. Many of the witnesses who testified alleged a variety of violent acts by Mosquera. They unanimously argued that he was a high-ranking member of the cartel. La Quica himself did not recognize any of the witnesses, insisting that he was an ordinary car thief and never worked for Escobar, much less he was his sicario. He did not exclude only one thing: his older brother Brans was really involved in the activities of the drug cartel.
December 19, 1994, as a result of an eight-month trial, Dandeny Muñoz Mosquera was charged with all 13 counts and sentenced to 10 life sentences plus 45 years in a maximum security prison. It was the first successful federal prosecution of a terrorist for killing Americans in a foreign land.
Before delivering her verdict, Judge Johnson addressed La Quique and said: "You just terrible person because you liked what you did. If it were up to me, I would immediately send you to the electric chair!”
Upon hearing the verdict, Muñoz Mosquera responded short speech in Spanish: “I just want to say that God and the government of my country know that I am innocent. Thank you very much and may God bless you."
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