The First American Cartel Boss
How Edgar Valdez-Villarreal aka La Barbie went from a high school football player in Texas to the top of a Mexican cartel.
Edgar Valdez-Villarreal grew up in the border city of Laredo, Texas. He came from a steady, middle-class home, where his parents raised him along with his six siblings. In high school, he was given the name Ken Doll by his football coach for his long blonde hair. The nickname progressed to Barbie and would later become La Barbie when he entered his profession. He took it in stride and the nickname stuck.
On Friday nights after a football game, La Barbie would cross the border into Nuevo Laredo and bar hop. Young La Barbie liked to play pranks on friends and was looked at as a typical American teenager. He isn’t suspected of selling drugs in high school, but he was a part of a group that would steal cattle to auction off to the highest bidder.
After high school La Barbie’s father wanted him to go to college. His grades were poor and he wasn’t interested. He then decided to look for more lucrative ventures.
The Beginning
According to the article, “An American Drug Lord in Acapulco,” written by Vanessa Grigoriadis & Mary Cuddehe for Rolling Stone, La Barbie started dealing drugs by…
