The true story of Narcos’ Cali drug cartel, the multi-billion dollar drug gang which handled 90% of Europe’s cocaine and set death squads on their own people
While all the attention was on Escobar's cartel, his equally-ruthless but less well-known rivals were on maneuvers behind the scenes
PABLO Escobar's well-known Medellin drug cartel ruled the Colombian underworld with an iron fist, right up until the legendary drug baron's death at the hands of the police in 1993.
But while all the attention was on Escobar's cartel, his equally ruthless but less well-known rivals were making moves behind the scenes.
The Cali cartel, which features heavily in the upcoming third series of Narcos, earned a reputation as a fearsome crime gang after Escobar's death.
Named after the Colombian city in which the cartel is based, Cali's drug lords were at war with Escobar in the bloody years leading up to the end of his reign.
Unlike their showy Medellin rivals, Cali gangsters kept themselves to themselves, using their low profile to gain more power and influence in Colombian high society.
The Cali cocaine barons weren't interested in assassinating politicians who got in their way - instead they won them over and bribed their way into helpful alliances.
This deliberate, cautious approach to organised crime made them even more dangerous than Escobar's band of loud hooligans and hitmen.
In fact, the Medellin cartel's rivals were so feared that the DEA dubbed them the Cali KGB, after the brutal Russian spy agency.
Many Colombians had hoped that Escobar's death would end the violent scourge of South America's drug trade.
But like a weed whose roots hadn't been destroyed, the sinister Cali drug cartel emerged to take the place of Escobar's own operation.
The gang was headed up by a "board of directors", lead by brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, former kidnappers turned drug barons.
The other two members of the board were José "Chepe" Santacruz-Londoño, a brute who allegedly murdered his first wife, and sadistic torturer Hélmer "Pacho" Herrera.
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By the mid 90s, just years after the Medellin cartel collapsed, the Cali cartel was handling 70 per cent of the lucrative American cocaine trade.
Meanwhile, as much as 90 per cent of all the coke in Europe was being handled by the Cali cartel.
Back in Colombia, phone operators, cabbies, cops and politicians were secretly working for the gang, which employed death squads to murder prostitutes, gays and homeless children on their turf.
But while the DEA had tolerated the cartel while they were fighting Escobar, the end of the Medellin cartel made the Cali coke barons a new priority for the Americans.
Directors Gilberto and Miguel were eventually arrested and sent to the US, where they are still serving 30-year jail terms.
"Chepe" met his match during a police shootout in 1996, while "Pacho" was killed by a prison rival in 1997.
But even after the death of the Cali masterminds, the bloody drug trade continued to blight Colombia, with new cartels taking Cali's place the same way Cali took Medellin's.
And now that gruesome story of Cali's rise and fall will be brought to life once more, through the third series of Narcos.
In the TV show, the Cali cartel can be seen lurking in Escobar's shadows, constantly waiting to step into the void left after the inevitable collapse of the Medellin cartel.
In season two, they come into the foreground to vie for power with Escobar's own gang, adopting outcasts from the Medellin cartel into their own ranks.
The ruthless rival cartel even forge an unlikely alliance with the DEA and military to overthrow Escobar's operation.
And now, season three of the Netflix show, kicking off today, will focus entirely on the DEA's fight against the all-new threat: a Cali cartel with a monopoly on the Colombian drug trade.
Previously, we took you inside the warped world of Carlos Ledher, the Hitler-obsessed drug smuggler who turned on cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.
We also told how Narcos fans can now stay in Escobar's luxury mansion, which has been converted into a hotel.