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Ecuador Drug Kingpin Disappears From Cell

It's not yet clear if Adolfo Macias Villamar is hiding in prison compound or got out

(Newser) - Ecuador launched a massive manhunt and declared a state of emergency after the leader of a powerful drug gang vanished from the prison where he was being held Sunday and prison riots broke out across the country. Adolfo Macias Villamar, who the BBC reports was better known as Fito, was...

Denzel Played Him. Now, a Drug Kingpin Dead at 88

Frank Lucas was inspiration for 'American Gangster'

(Newser) - Frank Lucas, the former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 movie American Gangster, has died, a relative said Friday. Lucas, who was 88, died Thursday in New Jersey, nephew Aldwan Lassiter said. Lucas had been in declining health, according to his former lawyer. Raised in North...

El Chapo's Trial Begins Without a Hug
El Chapo Trial Security
Involves a 'Secret Plan' 
the rundown

El Chapo Trial Security Involves a 'Secret Plan'

So as not to have to close the Brooklyn Bridge twice daily

(Newser) - The trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman begins in Brooklyn Tuesday, and it won't include a hug between the drug kingpin and his wife. NBC News reports his lawyers had asked that he be permitted to give the former beauty queen "a brief momentary greeting to include...

Mexico: We Killed Druglord ... Again

Nazario Moreno reportedly died in gunfight 3 years ago

(Newser) - Mexican officials say they killed a Mexican drug kingpin three years after the government supposedly killed him the first time, Reuters reports. Nazario Moreno was leader of the drug cartel La Familia when officials said he died in a two-day gunfight with government agents—but as his cartel morphed into...

End Failed Drug War: Go After Kingpins
 End Failed Drug War: 
 Go After Kingpins 
OPINION

End Failed Drug War: Go After Kingpins

(Newser) - The "war on drugs" has been an abject failure—crowded jails and a still-thriving narcotics trade prove that—and it's time for some "visionary" thinking, writes Cynthia Tucker in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The nation's not ready for legalization, but how about some concrete steps: Stop going after "...

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