The Gangs That Inherited Pablo Escobar’s Drug Empire: Cooking with Cocaine

In Colombia, the heirs to Pablo Escobar’s drug empire are conducting business as usual — though with a somewhat lower profile. Today’s Medellin drug cartels are highly structured and run much like multinational corporations. But violent gangs operating in the city’s slums provide the muscle; known as combos, they’ve carved Medellin into fiefdoms, imposing invisible borders between gang territory — borders that, when ignored, often get people killed.

VICE News travelled to Medellin to meet gang members — along with top cartel leaders and assassins — who revealed the inner workings of the city’s modern-day cocaine industry.