The son of Miguel Kingpin Orejuela, who was Columbia's drug lord, accused streaming service Netflix of misrepresenting him in the crime drama series "Narcos."
William Rodriguez Abadia insisted on his innocence during an interview with el Nuevo Herald. He also added that he did not act as a hitman for his father. Instead, he said he was a lawyer who stood in battles in the US government.
"I was not an assassin for my father. I cannot accept their portrayal of me as a criminal, ruthless assassin and psychopath," Abadia said. He admitted that he had a hand in the Cali drug cartel, though it involved him running the drug organization and bribing government execs from 1995 to 1997, the time the US government was stepping up on a "string of counter-drug proposals" in Columbia. In the end, the American government got everything, he explained.
He also claimed that there were more than 10 false accusations aired on the "Narcos'" third season, which were enumerated and detailed on his website. He explained that he could not fight the company because of lack of finance. With this, the confessed drug trafficker explained that his focus was to "clarify misunderstandings." His lawyer tried to talk with the company, but Netflix explained that facts were gathered from public documents such as court proceedings and that he was a prominent personality.
Aside from the misrepresentation of his persona in the series, he also denounced "Narcos," saying that the series "glorified" drug kingpins by treating them as "heroes." The series' third season, which premiered on Sept. 1, centered on Pablo Escobar and the Cali drug cartel, where Abadia was portrayed by Arturo Castro. Abadia was renamed in the series as David Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, Abadia was just the latest to air his concern over the show or Netflix. Escobar's brother Roberto De Jesus Escobar Gaviria accused the company of intellectual property violations and asked the company to pay $1 billion.
