Before Jon was a cocaine cowboy, his mother took this photo (1956) when he was a child obsessed with conventional cowboys. Jon later changed his name to Jon Pernell Roberts after Pernell Roberts, star of Bonanza.
JON ROBERTS

Jon’s mother, Edie, was cursed with a beauty that seemed to attract only bad men. JON ROBERTS

Jon (third from left) at a 1973 wedding in New York. It was his last wiseguy party before he fled to Miami. PETER GALLIONE

Jon with his common-law wife, Phyllis LaTorre Corso, whose colorful family background made her the perfect mate—and a formidable enemy.
JON ROBERTS

Albert San Pedro saw himself as a Cuban Al Capone. He was one of Jon’s earliest Miami coke connections and allegedly helped Jon plan the murder of Meyer Lansky’s stepson in 1977.
LOURDES VALDEZ

Max Mermelstein was the top American in the Medellín Cartel when Jon became his partner. Max’s deal to supply car magnate John DeLorean with cocaine proved to be his undoing. JON ROBERTS

Rafa Cardona-Salazar was Pablo Escobar’s top lieutenant, famous for his coke-fueled rages and who worked with Jon in Miami. JON ROBERTS

Mickey Munday, Jon’s smuggling partner, was a technical wizard who didn’t swear or take drugs. JON ROBERTS

Rafa Cardona-Salazar, Mickey Munday, Rafa’s wife, Odelia, a bodyguard named El Negro, and Max Mermelstein clowning around as old-fashioned gangsters at a county fair photo booth. SHARK BLUE

Fabito Ochoa, whose father ran the Medellín Cartel, recruited Jon to serve as the Cartel’s “American representative.” JON ROBERTS

Don Ochoa, the Godfather of the Medellín Cartel, would entertain Jon in Colombia by showing off his skills as a Paso Fino rider.
JON ROBERTS

Jon called Henry Borelli his brother-in-law even after Borelli tried murdering him in 1979. Borelli is in prison for his role in the “Murder Machine” gang. SHARK BLUE

Jon’s loyal and murderous bodyguard Bryan Carrera moonlit as the popular professional wrestler named The Thing.
JON ROBERTS

Griselda Blanco’s gang murdered as many as one hundred people while moving thousands of kilos of cocaine. Jon helped her hide out when the Cartel turned on her. JON ROBERTS

When Jon owned Mephisto Stables, many of his horses made it to the winner’s circle, as Best Game did at Tampa Bay Downs in 1982. JON ROBERTS

Meyer Lansky, the legendary Jewish gangster, whom Jon met with in 1977 to obtain permission to murder his stepson.
SHARK BLUE

Jon’s longtime girlfriend Toni Moon was the poster girl for the Ryan O’Neal movie So Fine. Jon and Toni later reenacted the photo with Jon in the place of O’Neal.
BILLY CORBEN

Jon’s mugshot taken after his arrest in the 1986 cocaine bust that unravelled his empire. JON ROBERTS

The only known published photo of Enrique “Ricky” Prado, whom Jon knew as an underworld enforcer but who later became a highly decorated CIA officer. MIKE FISTEN

Barry Seal was a former commercial airline pilot hired by Jon to fly cocaine and later weapons. When he turned snitch, Jon helped the Cartel murder him.
MDPD FILE

Detective Mike Fisten, a lead investigator on the organized-crime squad, tracked Jon in the mid-1980s, when Jon was known to the police only as the “Bearded Gringo.”
MIKE FISTEN

Jon enjoying his pool at his home in Hollywood, Florida.
EVAN WRIGHT

Jon walking his beloved dogs Sassy and Shooter near his Hollywood, Florida, home.
EVAN WRIGHT

Jon’s wife, Noemi, shortly after they met in 2003. JON ROBERTS

Jon with his son, Julian, and his sister, Judy. JON ROBERTS

Jon receiving a birthday gift from his son, Julian.
EVAN WRIGHT