List of Famous Drug Lords

Juan Ramón Matta-Ballesteros is a former major narcotics trafficker who has been credited with being one of the first to connect Mexican drug traffickers with the Colombian cocaine cartels. This connection paved the way for a major increase in the amount of cocaine smuggled into the United States during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. Matta was indicted for operating several major cocaine smuggling rings in United States in the early 1980s. He was also one of the narcotics traffickers accused of the kidnap and murder of American DEA agent Enrique Camarena in 1985.

Héctor Manuel Beltrán Leyva was a Mexican drug lord and leader of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, a drug-trafficking organization. He was the brother of Arturo Beltrán Leyva (deceased), former leader of the cartel. Héctor was the second-in-command and rose to the leadership of the criminal organization after his brother's death on 16 December 2009 during a confrontation with Mexican marines.

Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff is an American convicted former drug lord and gangster from Queens, New York, United States.

Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, commonly referred to by his alias Z-40, is a former Mexican drug lord and leader of the criminal organization known as Los Zetas. Considered a violent and dangerous criminal, he was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords until his arrest in July 2013.

Ng Sik-ho, also known as "Crippled Ho" or "Limpy Ho" was a prominent Hong Kong drug lord and triad boss.

Ma Sik-chun was a Hong Kong businessman, media mogul and, along with his brother Ma Sik-yu, co-founder of the Oriental Daily News.

José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, known as El Marro, The Sledgehammer and the The Brown, is a Mexican suspected drug trafficker and huachicolero. Between 2017 and 2020, he served as the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL), a criminal group based in Guanajuato, Mexico. He was wanted by the Government of Mexico for his active participation in fuel theft. By June 2020, El Marro's cartel had lost all "soldiers" and was not active in organized crime, due to heavy losses received in the war against CJNG. On 2 August 2020, he was captured by state and federal authorities in Juventino Rosas, Guanajuato and was transported to the maximum security federal prison Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1, also known as the "Altiplano".

Zhenli Ye Gon is a Chinese-Mexican businessman currently under suspicion of trafficking pseudoephedrine or ephedrine precursor chemicals into Mexico from Asia. He is the owner and legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México, as well as various other Mexican corporations. From 2002-2004, Unimed had been legally authorized by the Mexican government to import thousands of metric tons of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products into Mexico, as a part of its vast importation business. Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products at the time were widely used in over-the-counter cold medications such as Sudafed, but could also be used by manufacturers of methamphetamine.

Leroy Nicholas Barnes was an American crime boss, active in New York City during the 1970s.

Martín Arzola Ortega, commonly referred to by his alias "El 53", was a Mexican convicted drug lord and former high-ranking leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal group based in Jalisco. He worked under Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the alleged top leader of the CJNG. Arzola Ortega began his criminal career in 1998 as a cargo truck thief and eventually joined the Milenio Cartel, the predecessor group of the CJNG. After several of his bosses were arrested and/or killed, he founded the CJNG with other defectors in the 2010s.