Since there have been nations which have imposed tariffs there has been someone somewhere who was willing to smuggle contraband across any nations borders. Drug use is much older than the emergence of the nation state. As far back as 9,000 B.C opium was being used in medicinal form in ancient Mesopotamia. One can only assume logically that if drug use started in 9,000 B.C then the first drug dealers of merchants were in business by 8,999 B.C. The first drug smugglers in history were the Phoenicians who smuggled opium out of the middle east across the Mediterranean.

Drug use is a very human activity. The only major change in the business occurred in 1914 when the United States passed the Harrison act. This act was a logical step because during the 19th century drug use and crime associated with it was at an all time high. The ancient crop of coca had also been refined by German scientists into cocaine during the mid 1800s as well. This drug became extremely popular and led to many problems. To white America the fact that "Blacks, Chinks, and Coolies" were the main drug dealers and users was all the more reason to outlaw the various substances.

The drug trade developed simultaneously in various countries. With the illicit trade the various Organized Crime syndicates emerged. In China the triads began smuggling opium. The triads had been in the opium business for over a hundred years after being introduced to the business by Britain's East India trading company, which is histories first drug cartel as well as it's most successful. The Chinese gangster Do Yu Xien was the first to begin smuggling opium out of China into Mexico at the begging of the 20th century.

Chinese immigrants introduced the Mexicans to opium and the Mexican introduced a local favorite of theirs, marijuana. Mexican families made their living smuggling across the border with the United States. Various items were en vogue at different times. At the turn of the century guns were the contraband of choice. During the alcohol prohibition in the United States, booze became the new contraband. Chicago gangsters dealt with the Mexican military to smuggle booze across America's southern border.

When prohibition was repealed the Mexicans were temporarily lacking a major source of income. This changed when the Japanese empire attacked the United States of America. As world war 2 commenced the allies were in need of a source of opium which could be refined into morphine and used as a pain reliever for wounded soldiers. Mexico, specifically sinoloa around the city of Culiacan became the number one supplier of Opium for the allies.

When the war ended, the opium smuggling business did not, it simply evolved from a legal activity into an illegal one. The Mexican opium smugglers could not compete with the Sicilian, Corsican and American mafias at this time, however. The American Cosa nostra was the number one drug syndicate in the world from the end of world war 2 until the 1970s when the French connection was broken and followed up by the "pizza" cases.

The American Mafia restricted it's drug smuggling ventures. Cocaine also reemerged on the scene during the 1970s. New crime syndicates were formed in Columbia, Peru and Bolivia and as the popularity of cocaine grew, the profits became more substantial. By 1980 cocaine money was exceeding even the wildest dreams of even the most greedy traffickers.

The man who would take control of this new commodity was Pablo Escobar. Escobar was a middle class thug from Medellin Colombia. He began his criminal career as a car their and eventually became a marijuana smuggler. Carlos Lehder Rivas and an American named George Jung (pronounced Young) came upon the revelation that cocaine could become extremely profitable for them, Pablo Escobar was simply brutal enough to take the business from them. Jung was cut out by Lehder and eventually Lehder was all but cut out by Escobar.

Escobar became so wealthy and powerful at the time that he became a threat to the national security of both Colombia and the United States. He attempted to enter politics and was eventually elected to Colombia's senate. After his activities were exposed he was forced to resign. He took this as an insult and began to wage a terrorist campaign against the state of Colombia. When he shot down a Lufthansa airline, killing two Americans, simply to kill one enemy, he came to the attention of American authorities.

As pressure mounted on Esocobar he turned himself in. This was a farce however as he was allowed to build his own jail and leave it whenever he felt like it. His jail was in fact a mansion. When the Colombian government sought to move him to another jail he escaped and resumed his campaign of terror. Eventually with the assistance of United States special forces and the Cali cartel sponsored "Los Pepes" (which was an acronym for people persecuted by Pablo Escobar) Escobar was killed and his Medellin cartel collapsed.

During the later part of the 1990s Mexican drug Cartels began to become the preeminent smugglers of cocaine, marijuana, heroin and they pioneered the production and smuggling on a large scale of methamphetamine after learning the business from outlaw motorcycle groups.

Today the drug trade is increasingly diverse. Organized crime groups from every country are involved and no one group has a monopoly on any commodity as Escobar at one time did. This section will cover these groups and will cover the histories of many of the most colorful characters of the drug trade. Drug trafficking is perhaps organized crimes most profitable activity, it is in fact the main activity of most of the world's criminal groups. This is why in order to understand international Organized Crime, an understanding of the drug trade is essential.
This is my section of The Mafia International.Com site. I hope you enjoy. - Rico