In 2015, Murphy and Pena’s manhunt and capture of Pablo Escobar served as part of the backbone to the Netflix series Narcos, which tells the story of Escobar’s rise and fall. After about 18 months on the job in Colombia, Murphy returned to the United States in June 1994. Murphy was on hand for the final capture. The hunt came to conclusion on December 2, 1993, when the CNP shot Escobar dead in Medellin. Murphy and Pena were also a part of the search. More than 600 CNP, as well as Navy SEALs, scoured the country for him. In June 1992, Escobar escaped the prison, setting off one of the world’s largest manhunts. But in true Escobar fashion, his prison was one of his own construction, and it came complete with luxury accommodations. increased pressure on Colombia to extradite him, and in 1991 Escobar surrendered to the government. When the origin of Escobar’s wealth became an issue of public debate, the U.S. Teaming with fellow DEA agent Javier Pena, Murphy worked the Colombian landscape carefully to cultivate informants and track down leads for the Colombian National Police (CNP). His terror campaign claimed the lives of politicians, civil servants, journalists and ordinary citizens. Rich - he had an estimated net worth of $30 billion - and brazen, Escobar used terror to influence Colombian politics towards a no-extradition clause and to grant amnesty to drug barons in exchange for giving up the drug trade. Tracking Pablo Escobar With Javier PenaĪt the helm of Colombia’s drug trafficking monopoly was Pablo Escobar, head of the dangerous Medellín Cartel. At the time, Colombia was known as the center point for the world’s drug trade and a very dangerous place for DEA agents, where some had $300,000 price tags on their heads. Murphy worked in Miami for four years, much of it undercover, before the DEA transferred him to Bogota, Colombia. Following his graduation in 1987 he was stationed in Miami, Florida, where the cocaine trade, along with gangs and a high murder rate, had consumed the city. DEA AgentĮarly on in his career in law enforcement, Murphy developed an interest in narcotics investigations and eventually enrolled in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) academy. From there, he interned with the Mercer County Sherriff’s Department, before taking a full-time job as a patrolman in Norfolk, Virginia. Murphy’s start with the police came as a 19-year-old intern with the Bluefield Police Department. He graduated from the school in 1981 with a degree in criminal justice and an eye on a career in law enforcement. He managed a year at WVU before transferring to Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia. He graduated Princeton High School in 1974 and in the fall of that year enrolled at West Virginia University. At a young age he moved with his family to Princeton, West Virginia, where his parents, Marvin and Betty Murphy, operated a carpet store. Stephen Murphy was born in 1957 in Tennessee. In 1991 Murphy was transferred to Bogota, Colombia to track down Escobar. In the mid 1980s he joined the DEA and was assigned to Miami, Florida, home to an exploding cocaine trade. Murphy began his law enforcement career in his home state of West Virginia. The real-life history of Los Pepes is incredibly fascinating as it not only reveals everything about the paramilitary group that was left out in the show but also what became of its members after Pablo Escobar's death.Steve Murphy is a former DEA agent involved in the successful manhunt for narcotics kingpin Pablo Escobar, and his story formed part of the backbone for the Netflix series Narcos. Overall, while Narcos does a great job exploring who Los Pepes were and what their role was in the downfall of Pablo Escobar, it only highlights a specific moment in time. However, the AUC quickly became not only the largest paramilitary group in Colombia but also one of the biggest drug cartels in the world. Serving as a military death squad, the purpose of the AUC was to hunt down and eliminate communist rebels that were seen as a threat like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) (via The Guardian). Leaders like Fidel, Carlos, and Vicente Castaño later went on to found and lead a military group called the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) with several members of Los Pepes joining the organization as well. After the death of Pablo Escobar, Los Pepes disbanded since they had fulfilled their goal of killing the Colombian drug lord, and thus had no reason to continue existing.
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