Pablo Escobar’s hitman turned into a local celebrity, happily giving autographs and selfies. After serving 23 years in jail for murdering a presidential candidate, John Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, a.k.a. ‘Popeye’ was released on parole in 2014 and launched a second career: he parlayed his criminal past into a popular YouTube channel, wrote two books and was featured in several documentaries. One year after the documentary’s premiere, Popeye was imprisoned again on charges of extortion and died 2 years later in jail. Will Popeye’s memory die together with that of the cartel, or will the harrowing record of its crimes keep the myth of «the Mafia’s general» alive?
Escobar’s Hitman
