It’s a stark reminder of the scale and power of the illegal global drugs trade. At the height of his dynasty, Escobar owned fleets of boats and planes, and was associated with the killing of judges, police chiefs and even presidential candidates.

“He wasn’t an entrepreneur, and he wasn’t even an especially talented businessman. He was just ruthless,” Mark Bowden, the author writes in the book.

Escobar of course represented the top tier of Latin American drug lords. But across the region, from the slums of Culiacán in northwestern Mexico, to the Vila Alianca shantytown in the sprawling favelas of Rio de Janeiro, there are those whose lives, though less famous than Escobar’s, are no less ruthless in the pursuit of their criminal trade.

Sunday Herald readers will already be familiar with the reports of Tom Phillips. Over the last few years he has explored the drugs underworld of Rio made famous in the movie City of God. This week, More 4 will show a powerful documentary created and co-produced by Phillips entitled Dancing with the Devil that recently premiered at the Rio Film Festival. His report this weekend provides a taste of that film, taking us inside the lives of real life characters like “Spider-man”, a 28-year-old drug lord, and Pastor Dione dos Santos, an evangelical preacher intent on ending the city’s drug conflicts.