Kingpins

Forced out of Thailand by his Thai benefactors and the Americans, Khun Sa retreated back to Burma. Once again, he wasted no time in rebuilding his empire and making deals with the Burmese military dictatorship. But in the early 1990s, the various Southeast Asian countries decided that they had had enough of Khun Sa, forcing him to make one final deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Suddenly under arrest, Khun Sa was forced to rebuild his empire from behind prison walls in Manderlay. He solidified his position as one of the leading drug lords in the Golden Triangle with a daring escape, rebranding himself in the process as a Shan nationalist fighting for separation from Burma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the early 1950s, the teenaged Khun Sa was already a militia leader in war-torn northeast Burma (present-day Myanmar). Over the next decade, his power as a warlord only increased. When the Burmese government came to him with an offer of allyship, he set himself up to become the “Opium King” of the Golden Triangle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1993, Warren handily beat a drug trafficking charge brought against him by British authorities. He spent the next three years rebuilding—and expanding—his empire, importing and exporting drugs all over the world, until Dutch authorities helped bring him down.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a five-year stint in prison, Curtis Warren emerged stronger, sharper, and more connected. By 1989, he was selling cocaine and ecstasy in Liverpool, and building a network that included the biggest names in the Turkish mafia, Moroccan cartel, even the Triads…  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the Federation dissolved, his son murdered, and law enforcement closing in, El Chapo fled to where he knew he’d be protected: the mountains of Sinaloa. When he finally decided to re-enter society, a special forces unit was ready.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From inside prison, with his partners on the outside running logistics, El Chapo turned the Sinaloa Cartel into one of the most successful drug cartels of the 1990s and 2000s. And when he made a daring escape, he only added to his growing folklore.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before he became the most powerful drug cartel leader in the world, building tunnels to evade authorities and growing his power even from inside prison, Joaquín Guzmán Loera was a small-town marijuana farmer in Sinaloa, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now a made man, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano believed he was destined for success. But as the 1980s rolled around, he became disenchanted with the leadership of the Gambino crime family. And after throwing his support toward the more media-happy John Gotti, he had a crisis of faith that led him to make the ultimate betrayal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A fierce fighter, Salvatore Gravano proved to members of the Colombo family and the Gambino family throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s that if there was ever someone fully dedicated to La Cosa Nostra, it was him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He saw himself as an enigmatic spy and went so far as to try to play both sides of the FBI and the CIA. Richard Cain’s later career in international espionage in the 1960s nearly crossed paths with Fidel Castro before once again returning to the mayhem of Chicago—and the mob.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was an infamous Chicago police officer and mobster in the 1950s and 60s. The mean streets of Chicago shaped a young Richard Cain during the Great Depression, and landed him on the radar of mob boss Sam Giancana.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At the start of the 1980s, Barry Mills wanted to turn the Aryan Brotherhood into more than just a prison gang; he envisioned a nation-wide criminal syndicate that trafficked in drugs. Little did he realize that as his empire was booming, the Federal government was monitoring his every move. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the mid-1960s, as prisons throughout Southern California were in the midst of desegregation, prison gangs began to form as means for protection across racial lines. One of the gangs was the white nationalist Aryan Brotherhood. And it would go on to be co-lead by a man who very few people knew named Barry Mills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re taking a look at a quote from Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The once-leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, Guzmán used his crime syndicate to sell billions of dollars worth of drugs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices