Blow | Bruce Porter

Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million With the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All

Extended Synopsis

Blow is the unlikely story of George Jung's roller coaster ride from a middle-class high school football hero to the heart of Pablo Escobar's Medellín cartel—the largest importer of the United States cocaine supply in the 1980s. Jung's early business of flying marijuana into the United States from the mountains of Mexico took a dramatic turn when he met Carlos Lehder, a young Colombian car thief with connections to the then newly born cocaine operation in his native land.

Together, they created a new model for selling cocaine, turning a drug used primarily by the entertainment elite into a massive and unimaginably lucrative enterprise. If legal, their earnings would have ranked the cocaine business as the sixth largest private enterprise in the Fortune 500. The ride came to a screeching halt when DEA agents and Florida police busted Jung with three hundred kilos of coke, effectively unraveling his fortune. Featuring a riveting insider account using unprecedented eyewitness sources, Bruce Porter chronicles the lurid world of international drug smuggling and the super-charged drama of one man's meteoric rise and desperate fall.

About the Author

Bruce Porter is an accomplished journalist and author known for his deep investigative work. Through extensive research and unprecedented eyewitness interviews, Porter masterfully chronicles the hidden underworlds of organized crime and drug smuggling, bringing true crime narratives to life with journalistic integrity.

Reader Targeting

• True crime enthusiasts seeking an insider account of 1970s and 1980s drug smuggling.
• Readers fascinated by the history of the Medellín Cartel and figures like Pablo Escobar.
• Fans of character-driven biographies exploring the rise and fall of modern criminals.

Bibliographic & Physical Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is George Jung?
George Jung was an American drug trafficker and a major figure in the United States cocaine trade during the 1970s and early 1980s. He helped establish the American market for Colombian cocaine alongside the Medellín Cartel.

How did George Jung get involved with the Medellín Cartel?
Jung was introduced to the Colombian cocaine trade by Carlos Lehder, a fellow inmate he met during a brief prison stint for marijuana smuggling. Lehder had connections to Pablo Escobar's emerging cartel.

Is this the book that inspired the movie?
Yes, this critically acclaimed true crime classic by Bruce Porter served as the basis for the popular 2001 film adaptation starring Johnny Depp.