'Popeye', one-time assassin for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, dies

Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vasquez, who worked for Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and said he participated in some 300 murders, died on Thursday, the government said. Velasquez, known by his alias 'Popeye,' died of stomach cancer in the early hours of the morning, Colombia's prison institute said in a statement.

Following his release in 2014 after more than two decades in prison, Velasquez appeared frequently in the media and gathered more than 1.2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He was imprisoned again in 2018 on extortion charges.

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