By the mid-1980s the Rodriguez brothers are shipping industrial quantities of coke to the US. ibid.
These are the gentlemen of Cali with friends in high places. ibid.
Escobar’s Medellin cartel in the north; and the Cali cartel in the south. ibid.
Operation Phoenix: Miguel’s and Giberto’s [Cali cartel] elaborate plot to kill Escobar, fails. ibid.
‘They were the only game in town.’ ibid. DEA agent in Colombia
‘I ain’t never found the right track since, I don’t think.’ Drug Lords s1e3: Frank Lucas & The Country Boys: Heroin Kings of New York, Lucas
‘I wanted to be the richest black man in the world.’ ibid.
New York 1971: Addicts and prostitutes roam Times Square. But American Gangster Frank Lucas is at the top of his game … the king of Harlem heroin. ibid.
‘I was doing the most dope of anybody in the world.’ ibid. Lucas
‘I’m good at cutting.’ ibid.
As Frank’s reputation grows, so does his list of enemies. ibid.
Demand is so high that Frank can hardly keep up. ibid.
The Country boys are out of business. ibid.
‘I wasn’t allowed to talk to the police. That is the code of the Australian underworld.’ Drug Lords s1e4: The Pettingill Clan: Australia’s Heroin Dynasty, Kath
Melbourne 1985: Australia’s second largest city is in economic and financial overload. But a rapid heroin epidemic is sweeping the city of three million fuelled by a nearly endless supply of cheap product from south-east Asia. Kath Pettingill and the lawless members of her offspring are capitalising on the thriving market. ibid.
‘I was never aware that Dennis was a police informant.’ ibid. Kath
One of the traffickers was summoned to Sinaloa in the mountain. As he was being driven up the mountain to meet El Chapo it was 100 degrees out. And there were people chained to the trees all the way up. Some may have been dead, some were going to die, but that was all about intimidation, it was all about, hey, you’re gonna come work for me, I’m gonna pay you, and if you don’t, I’m gonna kill you. Drug Lords s2e1: El Chapo, Jack Riley DEA, Netflix 2018
Chicago 2013: Crime in the city is reaching fever pitch. And it’s down to a drug cartel 1,600 miles away in Mexico and its head, El Chapo. El Chapo and his Sinaloa Cartel are flooding the States with millions of dollars of narcotics from Mexico and beyond every day. And US authorities mark their man Public Enemy Number One. ibid.
Tunnels will become El Chapo’s calling card. ibid.
Mexican police put out Wanted posters offering a $5 million dollar bounty for each man. ibid.
The authorities capture El Chapo after 13 years on the run. ibid.
‘The high on crack cocaine was better than sex … I made millions and millions of dollars. I wasn’t afraid of nothing and nobody. I wasn’t afraid to die. So they made me queen-pin.’ Drug Lords s2e2: Jemeker Thompson: Crack Queen of LA, Jameker
The crack business is booming and Jameker’s lifestyle shows it. One of the richest and most feared drug lords in LA. ibid.
‘I just never got enough of it.’ ibid. Jameker
‘Within two weeks I was going like two, three K [a day].’ ibid.
Cheap to make and even easier to distribute. ibid.
One of the most powerful, wealthiest drug lords in the United States. ibid.
But the DEA agents aren’t the only ones monitoring Jemeker. ibid.
‘Drugs are always a big business in Jamaica. And Christopher Coke was president.’ Drug Lords s2e3: Christopher Coke: Jamaica’s Narco Prince, old dude
‘The violence was always there.’ ibid.
May 2010 Kingston, Jamaica: The Caribbean island is racked by gang wars. ibid.
‘20% of the cocaine going into the USA was trafficked through Jamaica.’ ibid.
The Shower Posse … Coke’s war against the police will bring Jamaica to its knees. ibid.
The Don reaches hero status in Kingston. ibid.
He’s tried to turn himself into the Americans. ibid.
‘Klaas was seen as a serious player.’ Drug Lords s2e4: Klaas Bruinsma: Europe’s Hash King, lady
Amsterdam 1990: The playground for one of Europe’s most cold-blooded drug lords … ‘Bruinsma was the biggest drug lord in Europe.’ ibid.
In the early 1970s there’s nobody better to push drugs than Amsterdam: Europe’s dope capital. ibid.
‘Big quantities of Hash imported from Lebanon.’ ibid. news of biggest seizure
This last big job would have been 45,000 kilos of prime quality Pakistani hash. ibid. Klaas
Escobar is wanted by American authorities for his alleged role in smuggling thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States. Dope s1e1: In This Business You Have No Friends Only Enemies, news, Netflix 2018
Pablo Escobar was the first to use the Caribbean to traffic cocaine into the USA. Now with US demand for cocaine soaring, trafficking through the Caribbean is exploding once again. ibid. captions
The amount of cocaine seized by customs in Florida rose by 61% in 2016. ibid.
In 2016 smugglers shipped up to 120 tons of cocaine into the Dominican Republic. ibid.
A kilo of cocaine in the Dominican Republic: $10,000. ibid.
In 2016 AMO seized 37,627 lbs of cocaine in Puerto Rico and surrounding waters. ibid.
Puerto Rico has been used as a stepping stone for cocaine headed to the US mainland for decades. ibid.
Indiana: Where Bible Belt meets Corn Belt the living dead are walking. Home-brewed meth has hooked a generation. But a super-meth has hit the streets: Crystal. And the cops are bracing themselves for the apocalypse. Dope s1e2: You’re Too Innocent For This Game
Shake n Bake lab: home-cooked in sealed bottles; Nazi lab: home-cooked in open container. ibid.
Detroit: famed for its downtown raves. Home to a multi-million dollar trade in party drugs. And the scene of a feeding frenzy among dealers. Dope s1e3: I’m Gonna Get Me That White People Money
One E-pill should contain around 0.1 grams of MDMA … On the East Side E-pills have a reputation for patchy quality. ibid.
Up to 60% of E-pills contain no MDMA at all. ibid.
One of the largest heroin hubs in the US. Gangs are moving in and taking over. Bringing violence and a deadly new opioid to the streets of Atlanta. Dope s1e4: Feeling Rather Groovy Like a $2 Movie
The boom in Atlanta’s drug trade has caused a spike in violent crime. ibid.
There’s one product that’s always more lucrative than any other: heroin. ibid.
Bloods in other cities have started cutting their low-grade product with a deadly opioid – Fentanyl. ibid.
Fentanyl deaths are up 540% in the last three years. ibid.
Overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50. ibid.
In Oakland, California, a drug war is raging. Sheriffs and dealers are locked in a daily struggle. The reason … cocaine. Dope s2e1: America’s Cup of Coffee, Netflix 2018
The city’s downtown is on the up. Dot.com companies are moving in, bringing workers with expensive tastes. New bars and clubs are opening up. ibid.
Cocaine use in the US is at a 10-year high. ibid.
Baltimore: the heroin capital of America. In 2015 Freddie Gray died in police custody sparking riots across the city. Looters raided dozens of pharmacies hunting for synthetic opioids. Two years on, an overdose epidemic is raging. Dope s2e2: Once You See It, You Can Never Unsee It
Fentanyl is the new killer ingredient that’s responsible for America’s current overdose epidemic … The addition of Fentanyl effectively hides the other cheap chemicals he uses to bulk out the raw heroin. ibid.
80% of heroin users become addicted through the use of opiates. ibid.
In 2016 over 600 people died of drug overdoses in Baltimore, double the murder rate. ibid.
Carfentanyl is an elephant tranquillizer. ibid.
January 2016: El Chapo, head of the Sinaloa cartel, is arrested. Rival factions fight for control of his empire. The Sinaloa cartel still smuggles thousands of tons of illegal drugs into America. They traffick heroin, cocaine and meth but their biggest earner is … marijuana. Dope s2e3: Even If They Didn’t Pay Me, I’d Still Do It
Mexican cartels earn up to $29 billion a year from the US drug trade. ibid.
May 2017 was Mexico’s deadliest month since records began with 2,186 killings. ibid.
In 2016 CBP [Customs & Border Protection] seized over 600 tons of marijuana. Half the weed seizures along the south-west border were in the Tucson sector. ibid.
Chicago, Illinois: last memorial weekend 64 people were shot. At the heart of the violence: drugs. Dope s2e4: Is It Dangerous? Absolutely It’s Dangerous
1,862 people were shot on the west side in 2016. 226 died. ibid.