The Sicario Effect
Summary: The Sicario Effect is a new series from Exclave Media. Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vasquez alias “Popeye” was Pablo Escobar’s top lieutenant and The Medellin Cartel's chief sicario (assassin). He’s publicly admitted to having personally killed 300 people. In 2014, after 23 years in prison, Popeye was released. Rather than lay low and enjoy his new freedom, he took to the internet and became a social media star, “Popeye the Repentant”. And as we discovered, that’s just the beginning. This is a story about crime, drugs, corruption, and a country’s fight to control their narrative about the past, present, and future.
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- Artist: Exclave Media
- Copyright: ©Exclave Media 2018
Podcasts:
Preview of Episode 10. Coming Monday October 29, 2018.
By August of 1989, Luis Carlos Galan was the most popular politician in Colombia, overshadowing his rivals in the presidential election. He understood the nation's problems and offered hope for the future. Galan supported extradition and viewed narcotrafficking as a threat to the country’s stability. For Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel, preventing Galan from becoming President of Colombia was their top priority. As Pablo’s chief hitman, Popeye participated in the act that changed the country forev
Preview of Episode 9. Coming Monday October 22, 2018.
In January of 1988, over the course of eight days, Popeye directed and personally participated in a two-stage terrorist operation which included the kidnapping of then Bogota mayoral candidate, (and future President), Andres Pastrana, and the kidnapping of Colombia’s Inspector General, Carlos Mauro Hoyos. These brazen acts shocked the nation and threatened the national security of Colombia.
Preview of Episode 8. Coming Monday October 15, 2018.
If you were born in Medellin or lived there in the 1980's, odds are there was at least one person in your family connected to the Narco-trade or touched by its violence. These are just a few of those stories...
Preview Ep 7
There is a phenomenon taking place in Medellin today; Narcotourism. Fueled by shows like "Narcos" and Popeye’s “Surviving Escobar”, tourists are flocking to Medellin to hear stories and visit landmarks. Troubled by the storyline of these narcotour's, an intrepid journalism professor seeks to change the narrative, by challenging his students to create their own narcotour, one that focuses on stories of the victims.
Preview of Episode 6. Coming Monday October 1, 2018.
“Pablo Escobar was an evil machine…” Popeye gives a firsthand account of Escobar’s pattern of evil, beginning in 1986, with the killing of pilot Barry Seal, to bombing government buildings, to Avianca. Among all the violence, Pablo looked for ways to innovate his business...
Preview Ep 5
Pablo Escobar's top assassin, Popeye, addresses a number of things, from his reasons on why he became a criminal, to the war between the Medellin Cartel and the Colombian police, to international assassination plots.
Preview of Episode 4. Coming Monday September 17, 2018.
1976-Medellin, Colombia. While Popeye contemplates leaving Itagui to join the navy, miles away near the border of Peru, a determined young man is stopped and arrested while transporting 39 pounds of illegal coca paste. After unsuccessful attempts to bribe the judge, he tries a new approach: “Plata o Plomo”, “silver or lead”. Soon the paths of a group disenfranchised young men from the rough barrios of Medellin and Pablo Escobar the enterprising Paisa smuggler would soon converge.
In the poor barrios of Itagui, Colombia, Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vasquez grows up with violence all around him, including his own home. Obsessed with gangsters and guns, he quickly learns tough lessons on the streets. Searching for a way out, he finds that all roads lead back to Medellin.
