Drug Lord Name Generator

Drug lords are named by the people around them far more often than by themselves. In Mexico and Colombia the alias is almost always a Spanish epithet that reads like a title: El Señor de los Cielos (Amado Carrillo Fuentes), El Mexicano (Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha), El Más Loco, La Madrina. The tag points at a physical trait, a hometown, a former trade or a piece of dark irony, and in print it sits in quotes between given name and surname.

American street kingpins follow a different rhythm. Nicky Barnes became Mr. Untouchable, and fictional bosses like Avon Barksdale, Nino Brown and Frank White carry one-word handles that sound like product: Kilo, Brick, Snow, Candyman, Ghost. Heroin-era figures borrowed respectability (The Banker, The Accountant, Preacher), while TV's most famous cook took a physicist's surname and became Heisenberg. Golden Triangle warlords such as Khun Sa used military titles, and Afghan opium barons go by Haji plus a given name.

The scariest name is often the plainest. Frank Lucas, Gustavo Fring and Pablo Escobar need no flourish; give the flamboyant alias to the hothead who will not survive the second act, and let the real boss be called Don plus a first name by people who fear him.