Carlos Lehder Rivas was a German-Colombian drug trafficker and one of the founding members of the Medellín cartel.
Lehder began his criminal career as a car thief, and later smuggled marijuana into the United States using several single-seater aircraft. While imprisoned in the United States, he realized the potential market value of cocaine. He established himself in Miami sold cocaine smuggled into the United States by El Leon, one of the members of the Medellín cartel. Months later, he began flying cocaine using his aircraft.
He grew very rich, and purchased the Norman's Cay in the Bahamas as a refueling point. He gave El Leon control of the cartel operations in Miami, and spent his time partying on his private island. He returned to Colombia in the mid 1980s, and was a founding member of the MAS vigilante group. He was arrested in March 1984 by the Colombian police during the Tranquilandia raid, and was extradited to the United States in 1987 for drug trafficking.
In real-life[]
He was captured at one of his farms in Colombia after an employee revealed his location to the authorities. In 1987, he was extradited to the United States, where he was tried and sentenced to life without parole, plus an additional 135 years. He agreed to testify against Manuel Noriega, and his sentence was reduced to 55 years in 1992. However, he was released on 16 June 2020 after spending 33 years in captivity, and was transferred to Germany.