Javier F. Peña (born 1958) is an American former

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...

agent who investigated

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...

and the

Medellín Cartel The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered ...

. Peña worked as a consultant on the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Narcos ''Narcos'' is an American-Colombian crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are based on the story of Colombian narcoterrorist and drug kin ...

''.

Biography

Peña graduated from Hebbronville High School and was raised in

Hebbronville, Texas Hebbronville ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Jim Hogg County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,558 at the 2010 census. In 1918, Helen Sewel Harbison became the first woman in Texas to cast a ballo ...

, and attended

Texas A&I University Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

where he studied sociology and psychology. Peña served as a deputy sheriff for

Webb County Webb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 267,114. Its county seat is Laredo. The county was named after James Webb (1792–1856), who served as secretary of the treasury, secreta ...

sheriff’s office in Laredo from 1976 to 1984, and then continued his service with the DEA until his retirement. Following the investigation of the Medellín Cartel, Peña worked for the DEA with additional assignments in Puerto Rico, Texas and Colombia. Peña was promoted to special agent in charge of the San Francisco office in 2004, the Caribbean office in 2008, and finally the Houston office in 2011, before retiring in 2014. In 2019, he published ''Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar'' with Stephen Murphy.

In popular culture

Peña is one of the main characters in the three seasons of Netflix TV series ''

'', in which his character is portrayed by

Pedro Pascal José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (born 2 April 1975) is a Chilean and American actor. He began his career guest-starring on various television shows before rising to prominence for portraying Oberyn Martell on the fourth season of the HBO fantasy ...

. Peña himself worked as a consultant on the show. He makes a cameo appearance in the last episode of Season 2, "Al Fin Cayó!", alongside Murphy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peña, Javier 1958 births Date of birth uncertain Drug Enforcement Administration agents Living people People from Kingsville, Texas Texas A&I University alumni