The rich and famous definitely have their own share of stories to tell. And of course, the world is curious about how they came to be as rich as they are, and it’s only natural. For Hollywood celebrities, most of the time, it’s rather obvious what their claim to all that money is or was, and if they’re careful, they can enjoy that fame and luxury for a long time, if not for the rest of their days.

But there are so many rich members of society that are rather mysterious, the rest of society unaware as to how they acquired so much and so easily; the branch of high society that comes to mind when I talk about this in particular: criminals. Criminals decide to forsake the laws of society and they make their own laws, building up fortunes that would make Bill Gates jealous. They live in the lap of luxury and no price is too expensive for whatever they want.

One name that comes to mind is Alvaro Lopez Tardon. If you don’t know the name, you should, so pay attention. This man is and/or was the biggest illegal substance trafficking kingpin since Pablo Escobar and he definitely had it all. We’re talking the best of everything: jewellery, clothes, the ladies. He had it all. But probably what interests us here at Hot cars more than anything else is the amount and the quality of cars he had in his collection.

In this article, we’ll have all sorts of insider information on what went down with Tardon. His rise, his fall and what happened to all those amazing vehicles he had in his collection.

20 Quite The Reputation As A Car Enthusiast

Nothing grabs the attention of people more than the cars he drives. Yes, a suit will do wonders for one's reputation, but the car he/she drives says it all.

Tardon was buying up real estate in Miami like nobody's business; especially in the form of high rise condos.

But the cars he purchased are what garnered him a lot of the attention he started to get. Essentially, he loved cars and more than most--he knew about them enough to purchase the best of the best and his collection could outclass anyone's in existence.

19 Seventeen High End Cars

Many celebrities in Hollywood and the music business have similar collections when compared to his, but hopefully, they were achieved of natural and legal means. Tardon's collection was indeed vast, but only 17 high end vehicles were reported when his assets were seized by the federal government and investigators at the time of his arrest and subsequent trial. And no, the list is not that much, when you think about the money he made for himself doing what he did, but it's the type of cars within the collection that will wow you in the end. Read on and discover the cars that made up his notorious collection of high end cars.

18 A Multi-Million Dollar Car Collection

The collection itself is definitely impressive, and don't worry, we'll be going into it in fine detail. We'll comb through that collection like never before and show you what millions of dollars can buy you. He didn't miss a beat and chose for himself the best of the best.

We can't say he didn't know what he was doing when choosing these cars, of course, as his selections are definitely top of the line.

Of course we can't condone what he did to get his hands on them, we can appreciate his tastes. Read on and find out just what cars he spend millions and millions of dollars on to drive.

17 His Bentley Continental

Bentley Motors have been producing high end vehicles since 1919. Their history is indeed storied, having been purchased by Rolls Royce in 1939, then by Vickers in 1980 and finally by Volkswagen in 1998. The changing of hands didn't change the fact that the Bentley name was respected by one and all and the price of the car wasn't changed at all. If anything, the care became even more of a commodity that only the rich could enjoy. Definitely a pricey car (that's putting it mildly), there was no doubt that Tardon would want one in his prized collection.

16 His Rolls Royce Ghost

Rolls Royce was founded in 1906 and finally went public in 1907. Not a long time to wait after all. They too have a history--a storied history--of producing some of the world's most expensive and decorated cars that are in fact beloved the world over, and there is good reason for it. After all, they are good, quality vehicles. The Ghost has been in production since 2009 and it was a relative new purchase for Tardon and he wouldn't have it in his possession for long, as you'll soon read. But the vehicle had a retail price of 170 000 British pounds.

15 His Maybach 57S

Wilhelm Maybach founded the Maybach automotive company back in 1909 in Stuttgart, Germany.

In 1960 the company was purchased by Dailmer-Benz and the Maybach product was repackaged and labeled an ultra luxury car, the ultra being the operative word.

Since then, the car has had the reputation of being way high end and your average Joe wasn't going to be able to acquire this car without making a few financial decisions, that was. Tardon did, but he paid the hefty price for the kinds of decisions he made, as you'll soon read on. The 57S by the way, goes for a reputed 366,934 British pounds brand new!

14 Alvaro Lopez Tardon: Chapter 1

Yeah, he looked more like a model than a king pin, that's for sure. But don't let his soap star good looks fool you. Tardon was hugely successful in the trafficking game and for good reason. Born in Spain, he moved to Miami, and many have speculated that he planned the way his life was going to go from the very beginning. This real life "Scarface," went to Miami expecting to own the world, much like the character of Tony Montana, the Cuban runaway and refugee turned mobster in Brian De Palma's hugely successful film. Well, Tardon would emulate his fellow Latino well with the life he ended up living--they only would meet different ends.

13 Alvaro Lopez Tardon: Chapter 2

And live in the lap of luxury he would. Miami is the quintessential spot for many criminals to go and enjoy the night life and culture. They can blend in well and live the lives they always dreamed of, rubbing shoulders with the highest of classes. If they splurge their millions, it won't cause too much attention to go their way, as everyone in town is throwing their money away. Tardon definitely loved to spend his money. He built up his body, spending on the most expensive of bio-engineered nutrition, had tons of plastic surgery done, fancy condos and of course, the reason we're reading this, the cars.

12 His Mercedes Benz Sedan(s)

He didn't just have 1 of these puppies sitting in his garage below the high rise condominium of his in South Beach, Florida--he had 2 of them! Just try to imagine owning one of these, for even a measly ten minutes in your life, let alone having two of them to drive whenever the mood strikes your fancy.

Well, Tardon did have two and for whatever reason, we may never know.

Maybe he liked the model? But what remains a nagging question is: if he had the money for two, why on earth didn't he choose any other vehicle, broadening his collection?

11 His 2003 Ferrari Enzo

Stereotypes are unfortunately still alive and well in our society and generalizations still thrive quite well among our parlance and our collective train of thought. This is a fact of life. The generalization that if you are a car enthusiast and you happen to come into a lot of money, you will no doubt buy yourself a Ferrari, is still a belief that is quite strong. Well, as it turns out, there are reasons for some generalizations of the sort, and that's the simple fact that some people will in fact buy something they don't really need simply because they can. Tardon was no exception to this, as he too bought himself a Ferrari, and a really good one too.

10 His Bugatti Veyron 16.4

This car, or a variant of this car has made many of our lists and articles, and precious readers, there is very good reason for that. I mean, just look at the beast. It is every car enthusiasts dream incarnate, or mechanically in existence would be the equivalent, I think. But whatever, the car is definitely on everyone's list, even people who can't drive to save their lives. No wonder Tardon wanted one, it was a toy that he could afford and enjoy at his leisure, so why not? The 16.4 specifically was in production only from 2005 until 2011, which was right about the time that Tardon's life on the outside came to an end, looks like they were both retired at the same time.

9 The Operation: Family Ties

In Spain, Tardon was already a known narcotics trafficker and did pretty well for himself. His arrival to the American shores--particularly Miami, signified a branch extension of sorts. Well, the plan seemed to be set from the get-go. Arturo operated things from Miami, sending the product home to Madrid and waiting back home with open arms and willing deep pockets was none other than his brother, Artemio. The two of them had battled former narcotics bosses and had won the war after a violent battle.

Arturo ran the operation and his crew known as "Los Miami," from Miami and his brother was his second in command, who handled all the business back in Spain.

The narcotics went from Miami to Peru to Madrid.

8 The Downfall: Part 1

Of course, when you're throwing that much money around, people start to notice. And if you become careless, a lot of people start to notice. And when this happens, it won't take long for the authorities to figure out what you're doing. It didn't take too much time for the FBI to start to figure out what was happening, and before Tardon could say: "I just bought a new car," an investigation was launched and the FBI got to work the only way that they can, uncovering his dealings and his process for laundering all that illegal narcotics money. Accused and found culpable of laundering millions of dirty money and distributing millions worth of illegal substances to Madrid, Spain from Miami.

7 His Ferrari F430

Very different from the Enzo in his collection, the F430 is in a class all its own. It was the successor to the Famed Ferarri F360, which enjoyed quite the reputation for itself. The F430 was in production from 2004 until 2009.

It of course was succeed by the 458 which was first shown to the public when the 430 went off the market.

Of course used models can still be found. Tardon seemed to like models from the early portion of the new millennium, a lot of his cars seemed to be from that era. After all, it was when he rose to power, so it definitely makes sense.

6 The Downfall: Part 2

The brothers were actually arrested on the same day, each of their compounds, one in Madrid and one in the form of a high rise condominium in South Beach raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sight was something out of an action film when the DEA finally gets the go-ahead to "move in" on the bad guys and confiscate everything they could get their hands on, and get their hands on a lot they sure did. Despite the fact that the brothers did try to hide their assets, the Feds found it all and in the most interesting of places. Read on and find out where.

5 Within The Lining Of A Jacuzzi

The money and product was found in the walls, dirty laundry baskets, under the elevator and you name it. you would have found some money there. I guess that the Tardon brothers didn't believe in the bank or maybe even a shoe box at the back of the closet. Criminals are known to hide their money in the strangest of places, but probably the most ingenious that we've ever heard is that the Tardon brothers decided to hide the money, a much as 19 million Euros between his bed and his Jacuzzi, underneath the flooring, of course.

4 His Range Rover(s)

And well, the Mercedes(s) weren't the only vehicle he had doubles of. He actually had two identical Range Rovers.

If we stop and think about that for a minute, though, these would make quite a bit of sense.

The man was in fact a smuggler and trafficker, so two sports utility vehicles of the sort definitely make sense. He probably used these for business while the sports cars were used for fun and driving around with a pretty lady of his choosing on a night on the town. Range Rovers would have definitely come in handy while he was conducting his questionable business deals, after all, it's not too hard to imagine, is it? We've all watch Hollywood movies depicting this side of the law, haven't we?

3 The Downfall: Part 3

Of course to pull down what he did, a lot of people were involved. In fact it was quite the team he had and a lot of them went down with him, and of course, as sis in the world of crime, a few worked out deals for themselves, becoming informants and are probably secure in FBI sanctioned locations, never again to resurface. As for Tardon himself, he was tried and sentenced to 150 years, and his car collection was put up for auction. All his finances were uncovered and ceased and he will be spending the rest of his days behind bars. All that's left to wonder is: does he ever wonder if he would have done things by the book and purchased his cars the hard way, he would be still enjoying them now. So sad, and honestly my heart goes out to him and the decisions he made that led him to where he is today. I hope he finds peace in what happened to him.

2 4 More Luxury SUVs

And the Range Rovers weren't all. He had other SUVs in his private garage. This of course tells us and the authorities that investigated him much more about how he conducted his business, as we've said before, these make sense for the business side of his life. SUVs are practical, after all. Especially when you're off-roading in South America in order to ship illegal substances off to Europe. It's not like you can drive a Ferrari into the jungles of Peru and there was no way he was going to let any of his cronies drive the Bentley. No, these SUVs were totally perfect enough for that. The other cars were his real babies.

1 The Auction

The federal government seizes the properties of the criminals it catches. Then they go ahead and auction the property off, and many believe that the money goes back into the system, but exactly where the funds go is a story for another time, as this is an article about cars and their infamous owner and not the fiduciary practices of the federal government. But Tardon's cars were indeed auctioned off and many of them actually sold for incredibly low prices compared to what he had originally paid for them. The auction was handled by Apple Auctioneering Company and they were able to sell 10 of the cars in Tardon's car collection.

Sources: FBI.gov, CBSLocal.com, DailyMail.co.uk