In spite of being one of Colombia’s most feared criminals in history, slain drug lord Pablo Escobar’s top hitman, “Popeye”, was robbed at gunpoint in Medellin on Monday.
According to Popeye, two men on motorcycles pulled him over near a shopping center in Medellin’s Poblado neighborhood, pointed a gun at him and robbed him of his designer glasses, cell phone and gold bracelet.
Medellin crime and violence statistics
The former assassin, who has admitted to killing more than 300 people while a member of the now-defunct Medellin Cartel, claimed that three months ago he fended off a similar attack, though police say he did not report the incident.
Following the incident Popeye, whose real name is Jhon Jairo Velasquez, criticized Medellin mayor Federico Gutierrez on the state of security in the city, saying “the mayor is an idiot, this city is totally in the hands of these motorcyclists,” reported BBC.
Gutierrez tweeted in response, “It’s disconcerting that someone who caused so much damage should now lecture me about morality. We are fighting the illegality that he helped create.”
Velasquez was released from prison in 2014 after serving 22 years for murder.
He has confessed to killing 300 people and playing a role in the murder of 3,000 more in the 1980s and 1990s while working with Escobar’s Medellin cartel.