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Sunday, December 6, 2015

Kingpin Escobar lives on in heart of top hitman Popeye

Posted by DD republished from Yahoo News

Written by;  


He parted ways with Escobar's blood-stained Medellin Cartel in 1992, and, after serving a 23-year prison sentence, says he is trying hard to be a new man.


  But this self-confessed killer of hundreds of people still harbors fond memories of the man who took him aside three decades ago and invited him into a world of glitz, intrigue, violence and wealth he could only have dreamed of.
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"Pablo Escobar Gaviria was a murderer, a terrorist, a drug trafficker, a kidnapper and an extortionist. But he was my friend," said Popeye, whose real name is Jhon Jairo Velasquez.

"He had an incredible magnetism," he told AFP in an interview in Medellin, the city from which Escobar ran a massive cocaine trafficking operation that made him the world's seventh-richest man.

Popeye was Escobar's chief "sicario," or hitman, during the bloodiest period of the Medellin Cartel's reign in the 1980s.

He met the feared kingpin while working as a bodyguard for a Colombian beauty queen. Escobar invited her to his house one night, and Popeye went along.


"He came up to talk to me and asked me to come work for him. I was 23," Popeye said.
Simple as that, this cattle farmer's son from the small village of Yarumal was employed by the Medellin Cartel.

Popeye, who is 53 today, is unabashed by his crimes.

He estimates he killed "at least 250 people, maybe 300," and ordered the killing of some 3,000 others.

"At that level, you don't count anymore. I didn't make a little hash mark every time I killed somebody," he said, seated on a bench in front of Escobar's austere tomb in the Itagui cemetery perched above Medellin.

"It was a brutal war. The Medellin Cartel against the Cali Cartel, against the government, against the Americans... But the problem with war is that there are innocents, there are pregnant women who fall," he said with a sigh.
 
- 'I'm not a psychopath' -

Popeye quit Escobar's outfit one morning in July 1992, knowing he would be arrested. He was 30 years old.

"I was in love. I wanted to live. I gave him my pistol. We hugged and I left him, alone," he said.

Escobar was killed in a rooftop shootout with police in Medellin the following year.

Popeye for his part was sentenced to 30 years in a maximum security prison. He was released last year on parole, nearly seven years early.

He went into therapy while he was in prison.
 
- Cult of Escobar -
 He is not alone.  Every year in Medellin, Escobar's admirers celebrate the anniversary of his birth and death -- December 1, 1949 and December 2, 1993.  People come from across the country and even overseas to visit his grave. 
 
"Pablo Escobar was a god," said 28-year-old Jorge Londono. "Even if he did a lot of harm to Colombia. He was a complex character, capable of loving and hating with the same strength."

Irene Gaviria, 88, thanks the fallen drug lord for giving her a decent roof over her head -- one of the thousands of colorful houses he built for the destitute people who lived at the Moravia garbage dump.

The neighborhood is today called Barrio Pablo Escobar.

"He did a lot of good things for us," said Gaviria.

The reverence for Escobar extends to Popeye, who gamely signed autographs on 2,000-peso bills (worth about 60 US cents) for visitors to the drug lord's grave.

"People like me, they support me," he said.

But Popeye is glad to distance himself from the past.
"I'd never been free before. I was with Pablo Escobar and then I was in prison," he said.

"Today I'm the owner of my time, my life."

53 comments:

  1. I wonder if some day, perhaps the son, or someone related to an individual he killed, will show up and kill him, finally gaining the peace they were looking for all along.

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    Replies
    1. You really think it gives you peace? I'm telling it to you straight: No it doesn't.

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  2. He is a scumbag cockroach mass murderer who needs to be put down like the POS he is.

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  3. Just when I thought BB had become a Popeye-free zone. DD, why drag this guy out again?

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    Replies
    1. Cause that's how it goes around here in Borderland Beat,we're international just in case you ain't noticed,if you ain't feeling certain report just skip it playa,simple as that :)
      From Chiraq.

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    2. Thank you, Chiraq. Now, about those Dr. Mireles T shirts we were talking about the other day...

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  4. Pablo Escobar came up to me and asked me for work? He said it himself in one of his interviews that after dropping her off, he went over to Pablo and told him "give me work or kill me"..

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  5. Much respect to this man he was loyal to escobar but at the same time smart because he new if he wanted to live he had to turn himself in , i wonder what popeye thinks abouth chapo guzman who pass escobar influence and power and even DEA agents call him the Godfather in The drug Trade

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    1. Guzman is running and hiding like a rat just like Escobar did before they killed him . Escobar was considered the 7th richest man on earth . Don't know if shorty ever got there .

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    2. Shorty wanna be a thug

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  6. "self confessed killer of 100's of people..." and now he's free...what is wrong with this scenario ??

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    1. Confessions alone cant put or keep a person in prison..its a well known fact ppl admit to crimes they didnt commit for whatever strange reason..He may even be telling the truth but if the authorities cant prove it you can not lock him away.

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    2. During, his incarceration,  Popeye's first book is published. His confessions are chilling. I have followed Popeye since he began granting interviews and met him, briefly, one afternoon during the 1970's in Medellin. My children would have been on the Avianca plane the cartels blew up had they not decided to spend a couple more days in Bogota. Like him, or hate him, what Popeye has to say is important for Colombia asit turns out. He's the first to admit he's already a walking dead man, because as he puts it, "el colombiano doesn't forget or forgive."

      Like, so many others on the legendary drug lord's payroll, "Popeye" saw the world through el Patron's hyper focused lens. Generalissimo and saviour, Escobar, the punishing deity. This strange mix of violence, blood, paternalism and philanthropy lured his multi-tasking groupies into fighting for home and hearth, paisa style, armed with cocaine, bullets, bombs  and cash. Popeye's active run with his omnipotent boss coursed three decades before it stopped in 1992 -- the year before Escobar got taken down on a Medellin roof top, presumably, by el Bloque and the Delta troops. "Popeye" chose incarceration in Bogota's notorious prison system for his own protection from Escobar's  enemies. And, to prevent his extradition to the US. Jhon Jairo handed himself in to the Colombian authorities in 1992. In 2014, he was released on "Conditional Liberty."

      There are important cases in Colombia that were able to see a measure of justice because of Popeye's testimony. One example being a former justice minister who masterminded the assassination of a presidential candidate
      was finally convicted, 23 years after the fact.

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  7. and we read this guys bullshit why?

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    1. Nobody forced you Josie. Go read Tigerbeat.

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    2. "We" sounds like too many people, josie...
      --I'd rather read youses magna operas

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    3. sounds like everybody else thinks the same like me on here except u 2 DORKS!!! lmao!!!!! lmao!!!!

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    4. Leave alone "my girlfriend josephine"

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  8. How much did he spend to build all those crapy houses? He could had done better with all those billions, being the king of coke in the 80's....All for what? Just to end up eliminated? & all those billions who knows on what hands now. ... Yes he definatly could had done better ! But he choosed not to ! So there you have it !

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    1. Pablo Escobar's money and business was all "they" wanted, and under guise of war against drugs and drug traffickers, "they" got it, and "they" still got it...
      --the war on drugs has always been between drug traffickers for each other's business and money...
      --with the US partners of the trade at the top of it...

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    2. 3;35 You don't think they may of wanted Escobar gone in part do to all the bombings and assasinations of presidential candidates ? I forget how many judges and public officials he took out . He was about as dangerous as the U.S. was in Afghanistan . Come on now . Lots of people needed him dead in order to stay alive themselves . He planned on toppling the Columbian government and taking over himself . This guy was one of the top one hundred menaces of the 20th century . A pure evil deviant that was very rich

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    3. DON PABLO EMILIO ESCOBAR GAVIRIA was not murdering by the dozen, or bombing or murdering ministers or legislators until the competitor drug traffickers, colombian, american cuban and other minorities started facking around with him for his business, which he started just like the father of Carlos salinas de gortari and Ricardo salinas pliego and emilio azcarraga trafficking electronics from the US, to cover up for his dirty deeds and weapons trafficking from the US also...

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    4. Pauly-The-Paisa-Shithead had a long list of murders to his credit, before 1985, when Colombia signs its extradition treaty with Washington D.C. . Barry Seal is dead the next year. From September to December, 289 attacks left 300 dead and 1,500 injured
      from 100 bombs that destroyed government and bank buildings in Bogotá, Medellin, Cali, Cartagena, Bucaramanga, Pereira, Barranquilla. The dark days in September started off with bombs that blew through El Especdador 6 years after the newspaper's publishing editor's assassination by Escobar hitmen. 9 police stations were dynamited that month. There was an attack on the Cartagena Hilton, and a political assassination on the 11th.

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  9. I'm surprised no ones took him out yet...Its a good thing and I'm glad he's out just thought someone with a grudge would have took him out by now..he did a lot of talkn while doing his time if you look at interviews he's done..

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    1. same thing i thought.. surprised he out moving around freely without worry

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    2. He still has money from his days with Pablo and he still knows the right people. He will be fine as long as he doesn't leave me dell in or someone who doesn't give a fuck comes along.

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  10. I guess he wasn't that bright after all, or maybe all of that cacaina messed up his head or something, I would had retired with all those billions for sure....He could had created lots of companies to employ decent ppl, but no... Now he is dead and without the dollars.

    Like how many millions does that Popeye has? Could it be hundreds?

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  11. Wow . Cant believe he is being let live . A man that admits to being involved in 3000 murders and did 250 to 300 personally ? Now Rehabilitated ? 'I'm not a psychopath' ? Only a psychopath . Could admit to this and state 'I'm not a psychopath' . I guess if he only kills a half dozen more people It would be a improvement .
    This dumb ass psychopath is trying to get recognition and publicity . Mark my words . He will have to leave or die . There were victims and sooner or later he will be taken out.

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  12. Not this guy again, this dude is a media whore, always trying to bring attention to himself. You are old news and you ain't shit anymore, please stop trying to make yourself seem important.

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    1. Soy el popeye y a mi me la peyiscan todos. por eso sigo vivo y rico. ustedes nomas comiendo sopitas huevonas y koolay. ya no hablen mal de mi papi. el gran hombre de colombia se respeta.

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    2. Jhon Jairo,
      Heche cuadro, no Jonás.

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  13. He should be kneeling to who ever put him in jail because he'd be dead by now!

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  14. I always wonder about the surenos down there. In boxers book, he says bat and popeye wanted to take over the AFO even if it meant killing the brothers. I can't imagine they're that close to power anymore....and are mexican poor kids still emulating la cholos, or at least the 80's and 90's version

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  15. Free? Who's to say he won't be killed in retaliation just like Griselda Blanco?

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  16. Respect to the fullest, did the crime, did the time!!

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    1. 9:20 this man didnt do nearly enough time for the crimes he ADMITTED to such as murdering 3000 or more ppl..Those he will deal with in the next life..

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  17. Walk around clueless all you want. Someone is going to pay this guy back. look at Griselda Blanco who thought all was forgotten with her dirty deeds. He is advertising himself like he is a celebrity, but he is a murderer and I would think people there want payback. I will wait for the BB headline "Popeye Murdered."

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  18. Not this lambehuevos again someone shoot this piece of crap already wasnt this guy gay or in love with escobar his secret lover

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  19. There are some math problems here:
    The reverence for Escobar extends to Popeye, who gamely signed autographs on 2,000-peso bills (worth about 60 US cents) for visitors to the drug lord's grave.

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  20. Agile mijo, gracias.

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  21. What a looser! Stfu already pop eye.

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    1. Hey mathaphakas leave Popeye alone, he may donate pablo's billions to BB some day, I've be happy if he ever said and talked and told:
      WHO WAS PABLO ESCOBAR'S ENEMIES THAT BEAT HIM AT HIS OWN GAME and if they still have more candidates and very possible winners for president of Colombia...

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  22. This pop eye the sailer is a true Columbian hero. However, 00.60$ US seems a little steep.

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  23. One last thing . I bet Popeye is only kissing the ground on Escobar's grave because he enjoys the scent of urine and feces it collects on a regular basis . Has to be a weirdo to do all he has done .

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  24. Thanks for reminding us you were pablos top sicario I nearly forgot you never mentioned it for a couple of hours now please STFU until tomorrow

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  25. Griselda Blanco wasn't in the same league as this guy. There's way too much revisionist history on Escobar in mainstream media and people are fools for eating it up. No joda.

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    1. Was she higher? Lower?

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    2. Lower. Distributor w/ killer attitudes.

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  26. Popoye quote from the movie, Blood in/Blood out: "Hey Cinderella, Get yourself a fella". LOL that's all I could think of after seeing this Fool trying to kiss up to Pablo Escobar's grave. Obviously, he is posing for the camera. Lambe guevos!

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