Daniel 'Don Mario' Rendón Herrera was born 43 years ago in the village of Amalfi, sixty miles north-east of Medellín.
Following the death of Colombia's most famous drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in 1993, former enemies of Escobar formed paramilitary organizations to fill the vacuum left by the slain drug lord and to battle the leftist guerrillas of the FARC.
Rendón allegedly started his criminal career as a teenager and because of a shared hatred for the guerrillas, Rendón and his brother Freddy joined the 'Elmer Arenas' bloc of the paramilitary organization the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). The AUC was formed by the Castaño brothers, natives of the same village as the Rendón brothers.
The two brothers ran the armed branch in the western department of Chocó under the leadership of Miguel Arroyave.
Both Daniel and Freddy Rendón were reportedly very close to the supreme leader of the AUC, Carlos Castaño Gil, before he was killed in 2004.
Following the death of his example Castaño and while new AUC leader Salvatore Mancuso was discussing peace with the Government, 'Don Mario' began forming his own army, operating outside the AUC.
After the demobilization of the AUC and Rendón's 'Elmer Arenas' bloc in 2006, Freddy 'El Aleman' surrendered to authorities. Meanwhile, 'Don Mario' went underground, from where he continued to direct the drug trade and started a war with 'Los Paisas', a drug gang who he suspected of having helped murder Carlos Castaño.
Step by step 'Don Mario' took over the control of drug routes previously under control of paramilitary warlords Salvatore Mancuso, 'Don Berna' and 'Cuco Vanoy'.
'Don Mario's' control of the underworld in western and northern Colombia grew even stronger after these prominent paramilitary leaders were extradited to the U.S.
By 2008 he was considered one of the most powerful drug lords in Colombia, along with 'El Loco' Barrera and 'Cuchillo'. All three had rewards of 5 billion pesos on their heads. 'Don Mario' in return offered a '1000' dollar reward for every killed policeman.
Rumors say he wore a new Rolex watch every day.
'Don Mario' allegedly had a thousand-men-strong army and was suspected to have ties with the Águilas Negras, a new-generation paramilitary group whose fame and power rose along with that of the drug lord.
'Don Mario' was captured Wednesday together with twenty to thirty of his men.
