Pablo Escobar’s Top Assassin, ‘Popeye,’ Is Out of Jail and Under Police Protection
In my ideal world, mass murderers would never be set free.
John Jairo Velasquez has been tied to the murders of at least 3,000 people. He has admitted to killing at least 250 as the head of drug lord Pablo Escobar’s terror squad. Among the people he had a hand in killing: His girlfriend, a presidential candidate and all of the passengers and crew on a commercial jetliner.
Now, the notorious Medellin cartel killer is essentially free — out on parole and under police protection.
“Popeye,” as Velasquez is widely known, walked out of a high-security prison in Colombia on Tuesday after serving 22 years of his 30-year sentence for his role in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan.
It was the only killing for which Velasquez was ever convicted.
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