The idea of Amado faking his death and vanishing into retirement flourished in Mexico's bustling rumor mills. The PGR had invited reporters to see the body in hopes of dispelling any rumors or suspicion about Amado's fate. According to the Mexican Attorney General's office - known by its Spanish acronym as the PGR - Amado had died on the operating table while undergoing plastic surgery, to alter his appearance, andĪmado's family soon confirmed the story, lipo and all, telling reporters that he'd suffered a heart attack while under anesthesia.īut for many Mexicans, the story was almost too bizarre to believe. News of Amado's death had begun to filter out days before. It was perhaps one of the most macabre press scrums in history, and a bitterly ironic fate for a man who had so carefully seen to it that so few photos of his likeness existed. The body was clad in a dark suit and a blue-and-red polka dot tie, his deformed hands deliberately forced together at his waist to mimic a state of repose, a hideous parody of an open-casket funeral.Īmado's body was displayed on July 8, 1997, at the Judicial Police morgue in Mexico City.

Under the harsh glare and buzz of fluorescent lights, the body of one of Mexico's most powerful men lay in state, nestled within the plush white confines of a metal casket. Mottled patches of discoloration spread up his high forehead and across his cheeks. The skin on the man's hideously distended hands shone a sickening gray-green color of rot, and his long, puffy face was heavily bruised, with deep, dark circles ringing his eyes and nostrils. The departed smiled up at the ceiling, his lips pulled back to reveal a row of bright white teeth. Speaking publicly for the first time, DEA agents who helped confirm his death give the full story behind one of the strangest chapters in the annals of Mexico's drug war.Conspiracy theories about his demise have lingered for years, even getting a wink in Netflix's Narcos: Mexico.When Mexico's most powerful drug lord died an unbelievable death, a team of federal agents raced against the clock to identify his body.

Empire at war absolute corruption