attorney general who sided with pablo escobar

by Camilla McClure PhD 10 min read

Gustavo de Greiff Restrepo (b.

What happened to Pablo Escobar’s partner?

Mar 04, 1993 · March 4, 1993 Colombian Attorney General vows to protect Escobar family BOGOTA, Colombia -- Attorney General Gustavo de Greiff says his government is obliged to protect the family of fugitive drug...

Who was Pablo Escobar’s right-hand man?

They used brutal tactics, much like Escobar, because they didn’t fall under the morality of the legal system. According to Steve, the Attorney General of Colombia assigned Don Burnas to help them after the incident in La Cathedral. Steve said: “We went to Colonel Martinez and said ‘who is this guy (Don Burnas)?’

Who plays Pablo Escobar in El General Naranjo?

Jun 17, 2020 · MIAMI -- Pablo Escobar's crime partner and one of Colombia's pioneering “cocaine cowboys” has been released after a long prison sentence in the U.S. and been deported to Germany, his lawyer ...

Who is Pablo Escobar Gaviria?

Oct 03, 2016 · Escobar’s right-hand man was called Popeye, and he had a lot of blood on his hands. In his career with Escobar, he killed over 300 people and ordered the deaths of 3,000 to ensure that Escobar’s reign of terror continued. Vasquez was another hitman employed by Escobar, and he was in charge of murder and torture.

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Feb 07, 2020 · A man who had oversight over a web of assassins working for the infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar is dead. ... The Colombian Attorney General’s Office had opened an investigation against ...

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Who was Pablo Escobar?

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria ( / ˈɛskəbɑːr /; 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel.

Why did Pablo Escobar leave the Liberal Alternative?

Earlier in the campaign he was a candidate for the Liberal Renewal Movement, but had to leave it because of the firm opposition of Luis Carlos Galán, whose presidential campaign was supported by the Liberal Renewal Movement. Escobar was the official representative of the Colombian government for the swearing-in of Felipe González in Spain.

What was Pablo Escobar's drug network?

Escobar quickly became known internationally as his drug network gained notoriety; the Medellín Cartel controlled a large portion of the drugs that entered the United States (including Puerto Rico ), Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Spain. The production process was also altered, with coca from Bolivia and Peru replacing the coca from Colombia, which was beginning to be seen as substandard quality than the coca from the neighboring countries. As demand for more and better cocaine increased, Escobar began working with Roberto Suárez Goméz, helping to further the product to other countries in the Americas and Europe, as well as being rumored to reach as far as Asia.

How old was Pablo Escobar when he married?

In March 1976, the 26-year-old Escobar married María Victoria Henao, who was 15. The relationship was discouraged by the Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior; the pair eloped. They had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela.

How much money did Pablo Escobar make in 2021?

When questioned about the essence of the cocaine business, Escobar replied with " [the business is] simple: you bribe someone here, you bribe someone there, and you pay a friendly banker to help you bring the money back." In 1989, Forbes magazine estimated Escobar to be one of 227 billionaires in the world, asserting that he had a personal net worth of approaching US$3 billion (~$6.4 billion in 2021 money), while his Medellín Cartel controlled 80% of the global cocaine market. It is commonly believed that Escobar was the principal financier behind Medellín's Atlético Nacional, which won South America 's most prestigious football tournament, the Copa Libertadores, in 1989.

How much white paste did Pablo Escobar have?

In May 1976, Escobar and several of his men were arrested and found in possession of 18 kilograms (39 lb) of white paste, attempting to return to Medellín with a heavy load from Ecuador. Initially, Pablo tried to bribe the Medellín judges who were forming a case against him and was unsuccessful.

What was Escobar's first job?

In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom . In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes into the United States.

How many people did Escobar kill?

It is widely believed that Escobar is responsible for over 4,00 deaths, officers, judges and politicians among them.

What did Escobar build?

As part of turning himself in, the Colombian government agreed to allow Escobar to build his own prison, which housed a nightclub, soccer field, waterfall, and other personal luxuries.

How did Steve and Javier get along?

Steve and Javier got along very well with all of the special operations soldiers and Seals, despite being on two different wave lengths.

What forces did Steve and Javier have?

But Steve and Javier weren’t alone. They had some of the worlds most elite fighting force alongside them, the Army’s Delta Force and Navy Seals.

Was Escobar cruel?

Although Escobar himself was cruel and evil, you can’t forget about the influence he had on the younger population and what he turned some of them into.

Did Steve and Javier fight narcoterrorism?

Violating policy is not usually encouraged, but Steve and Javier were in uncharted territory fighting narcoterrorism. They had to get the job done somehow and now have created the blueprint for fighting narcotraffickers around the world.

Was Los Pepes unavoidable?

The subject of Los Pepes was unavoidable.

Who was the leader of the Medellin cartel?

Lehder, 70, was one of the leaders with Escobar of the Medellin cartel that dominated the global cocaine trade in the 1980s.

Who didn't represent Lehder?

Arroyave, who didn't represent Lehder at the time of his arrest, said federal sentencing guidelines make it very costly for defendants who fight charges and lose in a jury trial.

How long was Carlos Lehder sentenced?

In today’s world, there are drug traffickers far bigger that Carlos Lehder who pay five to six years.". Lehder was originally sentenced to 135 years plus life, but after agreeing to testify against former Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega, he had his sentence reduced to 55 years.

Where is Carlos Lehder?

Carlos Lehder left on a flight for his new home in Berlin on Monday after being released from a U.S. prison in Florida, where he had been held as part of the government's witness protection program, attorney Oscar Arroyave told The Associated Press. Lehder, 70, was one of the leaders with Escobar of the Medellin cartel that dominated ...

When did the Colombian narcos get extradited?

His extradition to the U.S. in 1987 kicked off a period of intense U.S. targeting of Colombian narcos, who at the nadir of the bloody cartel turf wars managed to bribe and threaten their way out of prosecution in the South American country.

Is Pablo Escobar in prison?

MIAMI -- Pablo Escobar's crime partner and one of Colombia's pioneering “cocaine cowboys” has been released after a long prison sentence in the U.S. and been deported to Germany, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Did Pablo Escobar go to jail?

Escobar, his partner turned rival, never saw a U.S. jail cell, dying in a shootout with police in Medellin in 1993. But thousands of Colombian drug traffickers have since gone to U.S. prisons, many of them serving far less time than Lehder.

How did Pablo Escobar deal with the authorities?

He was intolerant when it came to people trying to ruin his fun or take him away from his career goals. Pablo’s approach to authorities was “plata o plomo” which means silver or lead. People took the silver, or they would get the lead. He always tried to bribe officials if he got in trouble but it didn’t always work. If he couldn’t bribe the officials, he would kill them. Throughout his career, he killed hundreds , probably thousands of police officers that weren’t willing to be bribed . All these officials were murdered on orders given by Escobar, and all they were doing was their job. Many families were destroyed because a rich man was determined to get even richer and more powerful.

Why did Pablo Escobar want to go to jail?

Pablo Escobar feared more than anything that he would one day be extradited to the United States for his crimes. With the DEA and DAS involved in trying to bring him down, he worried that it would one day happen to him. It was the last thing that he wanted, and he often talked about going down in a blaze of glory if it ever came to that. He would rather die than be extradited since he knew that the United States would not go easy on him. Due to his mounting fear of extradition he unleashed many horrors unto Colombia in the hopes that the government would be too afraid to do anything about him. He wanted to avoid jail time in America so much that he even offered the Colombian government money to clear off their national debt. The last amount on record that he offered the government was $10 billion dollars.

Why was Pablo Escobar so powerful?

Pablo Escobar was a powerful man for a reason and his wealth amassed quickly because he controlled a lot of the drugs in the trade. He smuggled such a large quantity of drugs that he often had to buy bigger planes just to get them over to the United States. At the height of his drug trafficking career, he was responsible for bringing in 80 percent of the cocaine into the United States. This was why the DEA zeroed in on him, desperate to take him down. Without him in the picture, smuggling would almost disappear. The '80s were a big decade for cocaine smuggling; it was a drug that was in high demand. Four out of five people who were snorting a line of cocaine were probably snorting from Pablo’s supply. It was because of his cocaine supply that Wall Street kept on trading as well as it did during that time.

How old was Pablo Escobar when he ransomed?

He stole whatever he could to sell it, as he planned on being a millionaire by the time he was 22-years-old. He once kidnapped and ransomed off a Medellin executive for a whopping $100,000.

How did Pablo Escobar get cocaine?

Pablo Escobar was a genius and employed various ways of getting cocaine into the US, such as soaking jeans in liquid cocaine and then shipping them through customs. You get to see how he rose to the top to become a drug lord and the overwhelming fear he caused in many people.

What was Pablo Escobar's life like?

When Pablo Escobar first rose to power, his family enjoyed a life of luxury. They had a fortune; money they would never be able to spend. Helicopters, a private zoo, a mansion, $500,000 in Christmas gifts, whatever his family wanted they got it. Yet at the height of Escobar’s career, the noose started tightening around his neck as the FBI came closer to catching him. Life became a lot less fun for his family once they started to go on the run. As officials searched for him, they had to travel from safe house to safe house. Although they had millions of dollars, they were starving to death while on the run. With all the money in the world, they couldn’t leave their home. Escobar was starting to learn that being a drug lord wasn’t all that he dreamed it was and he regretted putting his family through the hardship.

What did Pablo do to the tombstones?

As if being a murderer and a drug lord wasn’t bad enough, Pablo, as a student, used to steal tombstones from the local graveyards and sell them to Panamanian smugglers. He would take the tombstones and sandblast the names off of them before selling them.

What happened to Pablo Escobar?

Pablo Escobar. At the same time, a political push began toward extraditing drug traffickers to the United States, leading to outrage and panic among the country’s drug trafficking organizations. In the midst of this political storm, on April 30, 1984, the audacious Justice Minister was gunned down in his car.

Who was the President of the United States when Lara was murdered?

Lara’s murder pushed President Belisario Bentancur’ s government to immediately implement the “lightening crusade,” authorizing the extraditions of drug traffickers to the United States, and an indictment of Pablo Escobar for murder.

Who was the successor of Pablo Escobar?

If you had told members of the Medellín Cartel in the late 1980s, when the group was at the height of its power, that Diego Murillo Bejarano, alias "Don Berna," would be the successor to their boss, Pablo Escobar, the response would have been one of total incredulity and perhaps not a little ridicule.

How did El Patron break down the door?

They broke down the door with a sledgehammer. El Patron, deep into his phone call, did not hear the noise. The only man who accompanied him, alias El Limon, shouted: 'El Patron, they have found us' and ran out the back door of the residence. Pablo did the same, but his movements were slow because he was so overweight. He went to the second floor because there was a small window overlooking the roof to a neighboring house. Pablo was running across the roof when my brother came to the window, took aim and shot him in the head with his 5.56 M-16 rifle. 1

How many phone taps did Berna have?

In 2003, Colombia's Inspector General's Office revealed that GAULA had orchestrated more than 1,800 illegal phone taps between December 1997 and February 2001, while under the watch of Berna's longtime ally, Gen. Santoyo. 132 At the time of the accusation, Santoyo was the chief of security for President Uribe, and the case was dropped for "lack of evidence." But just one month after his retirement from the police in 2009, Santoyo was charged in the United States for drug trafficking and in 2012, he was sentenced to 13 years in a US prison.

What was Berna's job?

According to a later testimony, 4 he went to Medellín to study law, but there is no evidence he ever spent a day in class. Instead, in the mid-1980s, he started washing cars for an important businessman and mafioso in the municipality of Itaguí, on the outskirts of Medellín. This man was Fernando Galeano who, along with his brother Mario, was a close friend of Escobar's and part of the Medellín Cartel.

Where did Rodrigo 00 escape?

For his part, Rodrigo 00 had escaped Colombia after Berna's and the army's all out assault on him and his Bloque Metro in 2003. He was later debriefed by both the CIA and the DEA in Panama. However, defiant and determined to undermine Berna, he had returned to Colombia by 2004. 130 But he was careless, and Berna's vast intelligence network tracked him down by following one of his girlfriends from Medellín to the coastal city of Santa Marta where he was hiding. The former member of the PEPES, the founder of the ACCU and AUC, and former Bloque Metro commander was assassinated in May 2004, just a month after Berna had Rodrigo's friend, Carlos Castaño, murdered.

Who was Don Berna?

Don Berna was to place himself at the heart of this criminal-bureaucratic elite alliance that proved pivotal in the battle against Escobar. Berna and his PEPES colleagues used these connections to track Escobar's family and associates, killing many of them with impunity, isolating El Patrón and pushing many of Escobar's forces over to their side. The police used Berna for information, which led to captures of key Escobar figures, seizures of properties and the freezing of Escobar's bank accounts.

Was Berna a master negotiator?

While he was not a charismatic man, and his physical appearance was not the most appealing -- even before he took 17 bullets to his body and lost one of his legs -- Berna was a master negotiator and regulator. All markets, particularly illegal ones, need regulators, systems of protection so that transactions are honored and business can function. In the cocaine world, where the stakes are high and loyalties fragile, the regulator needed to be utterly ruthless and totally reliable. This was Berna's skill.

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Early Life

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Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on 1 December 1949, in Rionegro, in the Antioquia Department of Colombia. He was the third of seven children of the farmer Abel de Jesús Dari Escobar Echeverri (1910–2001), with his wife Hermilda de Los Dolores Gaviria Berrío (d. 2006),an elementary school teacher. Raised in the nearb…
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Criminal Career

  • Cocaine distribution
    In The Accountant's Story, Roberto Escobar discusses how Pablo rose from middle-class simplicity and obscurity to one of the world's wealthiest men. Beginning in 1975, Pablo started developing his cocaine operation, flying out planes several times, mainly between Colombia and …
  • Rise to prominence
    Soon, the demand for cocaine greatly increased in the United States, which led to Escobar organizing more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the country. He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder w…
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Personal Life

  • Family and relationships
    In March 1976, the 26-year-old Escobar married María Victoria Henao, who was 15. The relationship was discouraged by the Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior; the pair eloped. They had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela. In 200…
  • Properties
    After becoming wealthy, Escobar created or bought numerous residences and safe houses, with the Hacienda Nápoles gaining significant notoriety. The luxury house contained a colonial house, a sculpture park, and a complete zoo with animals from various continents, including elephants, …
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Death

  • Sixteen months after his escape from La Catedral, Pablo Escobar died in a shootout on 2 December 1993, amid another of his attempts to elude the Search Bloc. A Colombian electronic surveillance team, led by Brigadier Hugo Martínez,[unreliable source?] used radio trilateration technology to track his cell phone transmissions and found him hiding in Los Olivos, a middle-cl…
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Aftermath of His Death

  • Soon after Escobar's death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the cocaine market became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders were either killed or captured by the Colombian government. The Robin Hoodimage that Escobar had cultivated maintained a lasting influence in Medellín. Many there, especially many of the city's po…
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in Popular Culture

  • Books
    Escobar has been the subject of several books, including the following: 1. Escobar (2010), by Roberto Escobar, written by his brother shows how he became infamous and ultimately died. 2. Escobar Gaviria, Roberto (2016). My Brother – Pablo Escobar. Escobar, Inc. ISBN 978-06927063…
  • Films
    Two major feature films on Escobar, Escobar (2009) and Killing Pablo (2011), were announced in 2007.Details about them, and additional films about Escobar, are listed below. 1. Blow, a 2001 American biographical film based on George Jung, a member of the Medellín Cartel; Escobar wa…
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External Links

  • "The Abandoned House of Pablo Escobar". noaccess.eu. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
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