Ep 40: DEA NARCOS: Bringing Down Pablo Escobar

Unlatched Mind

DEA Special Agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena share their incredible story as the lead investigators responsible for bringing down Pablo Escobar. Javier and Steve join Unlatched Mind to discuss what it was like to battle the world’s first “narcotics terrorist” and how the famous case impacted their life. We also talk about the massively successful Netflix series NARCOS, based on the real-life story of Steve and Javier’s DEA career chasing Pablo.

Check out https://www.deanarcos.com

Show Highlights:

• 00:00:00 - Introduction
• 00:01:20 - Steve and Javier get assigned the Pablo Escobar case
• 00:06:00 - Glamorization of Pablo’s terror
• 00:07:00 - Pablo’s cult following and the Robin Hood analogy
• 00:08:58 - The brutality of Pablo’s regime. Silver or Lead.
• 00:13:40 - Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar
• 00:17:00 - US closes the Mexican border
• 00:19:30 - Steve & Javier fear for their life
• 00:23:25 - Things get personal
• 00:26:00 - Breaking policy
• 00:30:00 - What motivated Pablo Escobar?
• 00:33:25 - What Pablo feared most
• 00:36:20 - The death of Pablo Escobar
• 00:45:45 - The success of Netflix NARCOS series
• 00:49:55 – What’s next for Steve and Javier