Made famous as the openly gay drug lord depicted in "Narcos," the real-life Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera took the Cali Cartel to unparalleled heights of power and wealth in the 1980s.
RedditPacho Herrera speaking to the press in 1996.
As one of the Cali Cartel’s top men, Pacho Herrera helped create a narcotics empire that, at its peak, controlled around 80 percent of the global cocaine supply, cementing the once quiet city of Cali as the epicenter of the world’s drug trade.
He had proven himself to be a brilliant strategist, a ruthless enforcer, and a man capable of controlling the lucrative New York market, and this is why the cartel godfathers, Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela accepted Herrera into their organization – despite widespread prejudices about Herrera’s open homosexuality. This acceptance had bought Herrera’s loyalty for life. Power, he had come to realize, was the only thing that truly mattered.
The Orejuelas’ bet on him paid off. That same ruthless efficiency and strategic acumen that had enabled Herrera to gain a foothold in the criminal underworld ultimately proved to be instrumental in the cartel’s bloody war against Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel, too.
It was Herrera who masterminded the death squads that had systematically dismantled the Medellín Cartel and drove the pressure campaign that cornered Escobar and led to his death in 1993, but this de facto – albeit indirect – cooperation with Colombian authorities would not allow Herrera to escape justice, either.
How Pacho Herrera Made His Name With The Cali Cartel
Little is known about Pacho Herrera’s early life. He was born Francisco Hélmer Herrera Buitrago and grew up near the city of Palmira in Colombia. After high school, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a street vendor selling jewelry and watches – that is, until he realized how lucrative the drug trade could be.
He started small, sourcing cocaine from connections back in Colombia and selling it to a growing clientele of affluent professionals, artists, and socialites in Manhattan and Queens.
In a short time, he had managed to establish a consistent customer base. Herrera was charming, efficient, discreet, and came across as a reliable businessman.
However, with this growth came more attention from authorities. In 1975, Herrera was picked up by New York City police on charges of selling a small amount of cocaine. Four years later, he was arrested again on the same charge. Of course, both times he was eventually released.
After his second arrest, however, Pacho Herrera realized that the legal pressure being put on him was unlikely to go away. So, he strategically relocated back to Colombia – which also introduced him to the big leagues. His New York connections and proven track record gave him leverage to join up with the Cali Cartel in the late 1970s, where he would quickly rise through the ranks.
As his influence grew, so did his responsibilities. Herrera was promoted to the rank of “cacique,” making him one of the four principal leaders alongside Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela and José Santacruz Londoño. But soon, the cartel would run up against another powerful drug ring in Colombia.
Pacho Herrera Goes To War Against Pablo Escobar
Wikimedia CommonsPablo Escobar
In the late 1980s, two low-level cocaine traffickers got into a fight over a woman they were both involved with in New York City. A gun battle erupted, leaving several people dead.
The shooter ran to Pacho Herrera for protection. The men he had just killed were, after all, allies of one the most feared drug lords in the world: Pablo Escobar.
When Escobar sent out word that he wanted the shooter’s head, Herrera refused.
“Then this is war,” Escobar replied, “And I’m going to kill every one of you sons of b*tches.”
Escobar was right, and by 1990, the Cali and Medellin cartels were in the middle of an all-out war.
In 1988, an explosion destroyed an apartment building in Colombia owned by Escobar. Escobar suspected Herrera was behind it. So, in 1990, Escobar had a squad of killers dressed as policemen open fire on a crowd in which Herrera was sitting while watching a soccer game. They killed 18 people, but not Herrera. And in 1991, a group of gunmen ambushed Herrera at a resort, leaving several people dead.
JESUS ABAD-EL COLOMBIANO/AFP/Getty ImagesPolice storming Escobar’s estate shortly before he was killed.
The war only ended because the cartels decided they had a mutual enemy, the Colombian government. Making peace, the cartels worked together to coerce the government into amending the constitution to outlaw extradition to the United States through a series of killings.
With extradition defeated, the cartels went back at each other’s throats. Though it was never proven, many suspected that Herrera was heavily involved in financing Los Pepes, a paramilitary death squad that began attacking Escobar’s operations.
Thanks to the efforts of the Colombian government and the DEA, as well as the attacks from Los Pepes, Escobar found himself on the losing end of the war. In 1993, he was killed in a shootout with the authorities.
With Escobar dead, the Cali Cartel cornered the market on cocaine trafficking, at one point supplying 80 percent of all cocaine in the world. By 1993, the cartel was pulling in $8 billion a year.
RedditPacho Herrera surrendering to Colombian authorities in 1996.
But Escobar’s death had also ignited a spark in the Colombian government. They had just taken down one of the most notorious drug smugglers in the world – and they weren’t done. With strong backing from the United States, the country now turned its attention to dismantling the Cali Cartel, which resulted in a series of raids, arrests, and asset seizures that broke down the cartel’s leadership and infrastructure.
Herrera, the last of the four godfathers still at large, watched as his empire crumbled around him. Facing inevitable capture and a potential life sentence in the United States, he chose to negotiate a surrender with Colombian authorities.
This is more or less depicted accurately in the Netflix series Narcos, which had likewise turned its attention on Herrera after Escobar’s death – but how much did the show actually get right?
How The Real-Life Herrera Compares With His Portrayal On Narcos
NetflixPacho Herrera as depicted on Narcos.
Narcos has always been a blend of truth and fiction. According to showrunner Eric Newman, the split between the two is “about 50-50.”
In real life, Pacho Herrera was a calculating criminal with a gift for running an illegal trafficking operation. He developed one of the most sophisticated and profitable money-laundering operations in the Cali Cartel, according to the DEA.
As to his sexuality, there is some dispute over the matter. According to a journalist who wrote a book about the cartel, William Rempel, he was openly gay. Other writers have made similar claims. But because he was so careful about keeping his identity and operations secret, it’s hard to say for sure.
Meanwhile, his death is portrayed more or less accurately on the show.
In prison, following his surrender, he began spending much of his time playing soccer. He had originally been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, though that was later extended to 14 years, likely due to additional charges or evidence that emerged during his incarceration.
That same year, 1998, a man posing as a lawyer approached him during a break in a soccer game and shot him multiple times in the head and stomach. The shooter’s exact motives remain uncertain, but a prominent theory suggests the hit had been put on him by a rival drug lord named Wilber Varela, who was seeking to take control of what remained of the Cali Cartel. In any case, it’s safe to say that Pacho Herrera made plenty of enemies in his time as a drug lord.
As the narrator says on the show, “Vendettas in the drug game never end.”
After learning about Pacho Herrera, read about fellow Narcos subject Felix Gallardo. Then, learn the story of drug smuggler George Jung, the man who inspired the movie Blow.
