How drug lord Otoniel took Pablo Escobar’s bloody crown by killing villagers with chainsaws & ‘using heads as footballs’

ARMING his men with chainsaws and using victims' heads "like footballs", his thirst for blood even outshone his infamous predecessor.

Bu Otoniel, the ruthless Colombian drug lord touted as the successor to Pablo Escobar, has now finally been caged after a breathless manhunt that stretched over a decade.

The 51-year-old - whose real name is Dairo Antonio Usuga - was arrested in 2021 and extradited last year to face drug trafficking charges in the US, before being sentenced to 45 years behind bars this week.

A new documentary tells how his men chopped off the limbs and heads of innocent villagers suspected of supporting a rival organisation.

When his brother Giovanni was shot dead by the authorities, Usuga responded by offering to pay $1,000 for every police officer that was killed.

Otoniel’s fearsome Gulf Clan firebombed trucks and buses and shot at any citizen who dared to come out onto the streets as he wreaked revenge.

The US authorities offered a $5million reward for his capture and more than 1,200 troops and police were involved in the manhunt.

Hundreds of security forces are believed to have been killed by his Gulf Clan, including the 17 police officers who died when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed searching for the boss in 2015.

Otoniel eluded elite forces and a team of international secret agents by travelling through the northern mountains on the back of a donkey and not using a mobile phone.

Finally in October 2021, in an operation that needed 22 helicopters and a force of 500, he was captured during a shoot out.

Afterwards Colombia’s then president Ivan Duque said: “This criminal is only comparable to Pablo Escobar - he is not only the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world but also a murderer of social leaders, an abuser of children and adolescents, a murderer of police officers, and one of the most dangerous criminals on the planet.”