Narcos Mexico season 2: Is Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo still alive? What to know about him
Narcos: Mexico has now returned with its second series set in the world of Mexican drug cartels, focusing on the role played by Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo (played by Diego Luna). Gallardo was one of the most influential members of the drug cartel and became known by the alias ‘the Godfather.’
Is Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo still alive?
Netflix series Narcos: Mexico follows the story of Felix Gallardo and how he built up the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s and 80s.
Gallardo is based on the real-life convicted Mexican drug lord who operated in Mexico at the time.
As fans of the Netflix series will know, he was instrumental in building lines of drug-trafficking between Mexico and the United States of America.
He was also convicted for being involved in the murder of DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena in 1985.
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At the time, Camarena was kidnapped per Gallardo’s orders and he was interrogated and tortured for 30 hours on one of his ranches before he was killed.
The murder sparked the start of Operation Leyenda, which was a special unit of the DEA dedicated to uncovering the truth of what happened to Camarena.
This led to the arrests of Gallardo’s partners Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo who were both arrested in 1985.
For a number of years, Gallardo kept a low profile but he was eventually arrested on April 8, 1989 and charged with kidnapping and murder as well as drug trafficking.
Gallardo was sentenced to a 37-year-sentence and was transferred to the Altiplano maximum security prison in the 1990s.
However, he was later transferred to a medium-security prison in 2014 due to his declining health after his family campaigned for the move.
The now 74-year-old Gallardo is still alive and is currently serving the remainder of his sentence.
However, his associates are no longer in prison as Quintero was freed in 2013 after serving a 28-year prison term.
Upon his release he became a wanted man by the United States who offers a $20 million bounty for his arrest.
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Carrillo is still serving the remainder of his sentence but is on house arrest due to his old age.
Express.co.uk exclusively spoke to Dr Carlos A Pérez Ricart who is an expert in Mexico’s history from the University of Oxford about Gallardo’s depiction in the show.
In the series, Gallardo – the king-pin of Mexico’s growing drug trade – is portrayed by actor Diego Luna.
However, Ricart thinks the Netflix show has over-exaggerated the importance of Gallardo in Mexico’s drug-trafficking history.
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He said: “Felix Gallardo was one of many characters who ‘controlled’ the business of cocaine exports from Colombia through Mexico into the United States in the 1980s.
“The series clearly exaggerates the influence of Felix Gallardo. He was probably one of the five or six traffickers that acknowledged the opportunities offered by cocaine exports.”
But while there is certainly elements of fiction embedded into his story, Ricart is keen to point out this is usual in adaptations of true stories.
He added: “While the series is well informed about the history of the drugs trade, the story is mostly fiction, and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you aren’t expecting a history lesson!”
The new second season of the show will explore the growth of Operation Leyenda as well as Gallardo’s crumbling empire across 10 episodes.
Narcos: Mexico season 2 is available to stream on Netflix.
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