José Santacruz Londoño

Chepe Santacruz
Santacruz in a 1977 mugshot
Born	José Santacruz Londoño (1943-10-01)1 October 1943 Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Died	5 March 1996(1996-03-05) (aged 52) Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Alma mater	University of Valle
Organization	Cali Cartel
Associates	Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela Hélmer Herrera Buitrago

José Santacruz Londoño (1 October 1943 – 5 March 1996), also known as Chepe Santacruz, was a Colombian drug lord. Along with Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, Santacruz was a leader of the Cali Cartel.

Biography[]

Cali Cartel[]

Santacruz and the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers formed the Cali Cartel in the 1970s. They were primarily involved in marijuana trafficking. In the 1980s, they branched out into cocaine trafficking. At some point, the cartel supplied 80% of the United States' and 90% of the European cocaine market.^{[citation needed]}

The Cali Cartel was less violent than its rival, the Medellín Cartel. While the Medellín Cartel was involved in a brutal campaign of violence against the Colombian government the Cali Cartel grew. The cartel was much more inclined toward bribery than violence. After the demise of the Medellín Cartel, the DEA and Colombian authorities turned their attention toward Cali. The campaign began in the summer of 1995.

Capture and escape[]

Several Cali Cartel leaders were arrested during the summer of 1995; Gilberto was arrested on 9 June, Santacruz on 4 July, and Miguel on 7 August. However, Santacruz escaped on 11 January 1996, from La Picota prison in Bogotá. His motives for escaping were attributed to a number of reasons.^[1]

He was in charge of consolidating the network of hitmen and armed men of the cartel, for which he established an alliance with old members of the Medellín Cartel; he was to exert more control over some of the smuggling networks, which had begun acting more independently after the cartel's leaders were incarcerated; and he coordinated the assassination of about 27 potential witnesses against him and some of the other capos of the cartel, and apparently was arranging for the assassination of important figures of the government.

Death[]

According to the official version of Santacruz's death, police had tracked him down to Medellín, and they received an anonymous phone call on 5 March 1996, informing them of Santacruz's presence in a shopping mall. He was followed after he left the mall and killed while attempting to flee, after the police stopped his car.^[1]

A second version of his death became known after Javier Antonio Calle Serna, a drug-trafficker and leader of the Los Rastrojos organization who is in prison in the United States, published his memoir, in which Calle Serna argued that Santacruz's death was orchestrated by paramilitary groups at the instigation of Danilo González, a Colombian police colonel who had originally fought against Pablo Escobar before he became an associate of the Cali Cartel.^[2]

In popular culture[]

• Londoño is portrayed by Nestor Alfonso Rojas in 2010 Caracol TV Series El Cartel as the character of Ignacio 'Nacho' Sotomayor.

• In 2012 Caracol TV Series Escobar, el patrón del mal is portrayed by Hermes Camelo but being a minor role.

• In 2013 RCN TV series Tres Caínes is portrayed by Carlos Congote as the character of Giuseppe 'Pepe' Santamaría.

• In 2014 RCN TV series En la boca del lobo is portrayed by Bruno Díaz as the character of Pepe de la Cruz.

• In Narcos and Narcos: Mexico, Santacruz was portrayed by Portuguese actor Pêpê Rapazote.

References[]

Footnotes[]

Sources[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to José Santacruz Londoño.

• Works about José Santacruz Londoño at Open Library
• Works about José Santacruz Londoño at WorldCat Identities