pablo escobar

His reputation grew after a well known Medellín drug dealer named Fabio Restrepo was murdered in 1975, reportedly by Escobar, from whom he had purchased 14 kilograms of cocaine, after which all of Restrepo's men were informed that they were to work for Escobar. In May 1976, Escobar and several of his men were arrested after returning from a drug run to Ecuador. As the case against Escobar was being made, he tried to bribe the judge but was unsuccessful. After many months of legal wrangling, Escobar had the two arresting officers killed and the case was dropped. Here began his pattern of dealing with the authorities by either bribing them or killing them.

In 1982, Escobar was elected as a deputy/alternate representative to the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia's Congress, as part of the Colombian Liberal Party.

During the 1980s, Escobar became known internationally as his drug network gained notoriety; El Cartel de Medellín controlled a large portion of the drugs that entered into the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic with cocaine brought mostly from Peru and Bolivia, as Colombian coca was initially of substandard quality. Escobar's product reached many other nations, mostly around the Americas, although it is said that his network reached as far as Asia.

Escobar bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians. He often personally executed uncooperative subordinates and had anyone else he viewed as a threat assassinated, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of individuals, including civilians, policemen and state officials. Corruption and intimidation characterized the Colombian system. He had an effective, inescapable policy in dealing with law enforcement and the government, referred to as "plata o plomo", which in Colombian slang loosely translates to "money or bullets". This policy refers to the options of the victim in either receiving a bribe (money) or facing a violent death (bullets) at the hands of the Medellin Cartel. He was responsible for the murder of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, one of three assassinated candidates who were all competing in the same election, as well as the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 and a Bogotá security building in 1989. The Cartel de Medellín was also involved in a deadly drug war with its main rival, the Cartel De Cali, for most of its existence.

It has been claimed that Escobar was behind the 1985 storming of the Colombian Supreme Court by left-wing guerrillas from the 19th of April Movement, also known as M-19, which resulted in the murder of half the judges on the Court. Some of these claims were included in a late 2006 report by a Truth Commission of three judges of the current Supreme Court. one of the included claims was made by "Popeye", a former Escobar hitman. At the time of the siege, the Supreme court was studying the constitutionality of Colombia's extradition treaty with the U.S. Former M-19 leaders that did not participate in the events have denied that the druglord was behind the assault on the Supreme Court

At the height of his empire, Forbes magazine estimated Escobar to be the seventh-richest man in the world, with the Medellín cartel taking in up to $30 billion annually and controlling 80 percent of the cocaine market.

While seen as an enemy of the United States and Colombian governments, Escobar was a hero to many in Medellín (especially people from the slums); he was a natural at public relations and he worked to create goodwill among Colombia's poor. A lifelong sports fan, he was credited with building football fields and multi-sports courts, sponsoring also little league football (soccer) teams as well as Atletico Nacional. Pablo Escobar was also responsible for the construction of many churches in Medellín, which gained him popularity inside the local Roman Catholic Church. He worked hard to cultivate his Robin Hood image and frequently distributed money to the poor. He would also build houses for the poor, gaining followers on his way. The population of Medellín often helped Escobar by serving as lookouts, hiding information from the authorities, or doing whatever else they could do to protect him.

After the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, then a current presidential candidate, the administration of César Gaviria moved against Escobar and the drug cartels. Eventually, the government negotiated with Escobar, convincing him to surrender and cease all criminal activity in exchange for a reduced sentence and preferential treatment during his captivity.

After declaring an end to a series of previous violent or terrorist acts meant to pressure authorities and public opinion, Escobar turned himself in. He was confined in what became his own luxurious private prison, La Catedral. Before Escobar gave himself up the extradition of Colombian citizens had been prohibited by the newly approved Colombian Constitution of 1991, that was controversial as it was suspected that Escobar or other druglords had influenced members of the Constituent Assembly.

Accounts of Escobar's continued criminal activities began to surface in the media. Escobar brought the Moncada brothers to La Catedral and murdered them, accusing them of stealing from the cartel. When the government found out that Escobar was continuing his criminal activities from La Catedral, it attempted to move Escobar to another jail on July 22, 1992. Escobar escaped (or more accurately walked out), fearing that he could be extradited to the United States.

In 1992 United States Delta Force operators (and later Navy SEALs  joined the all-out manhunt for Escobar. They trained and advised a special Colombian police task Force, known as the Search Bloc, which had been created to locate Escobar. Later, as the conflict between Escobar and United States and Colombian governments dragged on and the numbers of his enemies grew, a vigilante group known as Los Pepes (people Persecuted by Pablo Escobar, financed by the Cali Cartel and Carlos Castaño (among others), carried out a bloody campaign fueled by thirst for vengeance in which more than 300 of Escobar's associates and relatives were slain and large amounts of his cartel's property were destroyed.

Some observers claim that members of the Search Bloc, and also of Colombian and United States intelligence agencies, in their efforts to find and punish Escobar, either colluded with Los Pepes or would have been moonlighting as both Search Bloc and Los Pepes simultaneously. This coordination would be conducted mainly through sharing intelligence in order to allow Los Pepes to bring down the organizational mountain that protected Escobar and his few remaining allies, but there are reports that some individual Search Bloc members May have directly participated in missions of the Los Pepes death squads. This brings into question the role the United States played in gathering intelligence on Escobar's organization, because some of this information was later used by the Los Pepes organization in its crusade of retributive executions. one of the leaders of Los Pepes was Diego Murillo Bejarano (also known as "Don Berna"), a former Medellín Cartel associate who became a drug kingpin and eventually emerged as a leader of one of the most powerful factions within the AUC. Some have speculated that Murillo would have admitted to his organizations' potential connections to the U.S. if it were not for some unforeseen circumstances. There is still some debate on what reactions and responses this testimony would create within the two countries.