Armando Mendez (1940-1984) was a Bolivian drug lord who, along with his brother Diego Mendez, presided over a large cocaine-exporting cartel during the 1980s. In 1984, they were murdered in Miami by their rival, Victor Vance.
Biography[]
Armando Mendez was born in Bolivia in 1940, the brother of Diego Mendez. The two brothers became multi-millionaires through exporting Bolivian coca into the United States through the port city of Miami, where they purchased a mansion and set up a base. In 1984, he and his brother became involved with gangster Victor Vance and his brother Lance after they convinced the Mendez brothers that they were not behind the theft of a major Mendez cocaine shipment. They earned the brothers' trust and had a brief partnership with them, but their associate Jerry Martinez told them that the Vance brothers had fooled them, as the Vance brothers had accused Martinez of being a DEA agent. The Mendez brothers retaliated by kidnapping Victor's girlfriend Louise and his brother Lance, and Victor killed Armando at his mansion before rescuing his family, although Louise was mortally wounded by Armando and died of her wounds.