so if his empires worth $12 billion plus, and say $4 billion is "inventory" how do we
recover the funds from that, wonder who wants to buy a billionaire drug lords house, a buncha guns?

They gonna hold an auction where rival cartel heads bid on his drug, gun, cars, planes and houses?

Knowing the feds propensity to up sell the buy amount on any drug recovery it's probably more like a couple Billion in recoverable funds, if he has that cash hidden in banks and caves, basements etc..