In Colombia, the heirs to Pablo Escobar’s drug empire are conducting business as usual – though with a somewhat lower profile. Today’s Medellín drug cartels are highly structured and run much like multinational corporations. But violent gangs operating in the city’s slums provide the muscle. Known as combos, they’ve carved Medellín into fiefdoms, imposing invisible borders between gang territory – borders that, when ignored, often get people killed.

VICE News traveled to Medellín to meet gang members – along with top cartel leaders and assassins – who revealed the inner workings of the city’s modern-day cocaine industry.