WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today, we're looking 00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:05.919 at a force that became, well, incredibly powerful, 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:09.019 immensely wealthy, and so ruthlessly effective 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:13.480 it really destabilized an entire nation. It reshaped 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:16.019 the global drug trade, but also, importantly, 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:18.960 the dynamics of modern terrorism. It's right. 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:21.500 We are diving deep into the rise, the reign, 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.760 and the, frankly, revolutionary legacy of the 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:27.079 Medellin cartel. And it's... Absolutely vital 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:29.339 right from the start that we use the proper term 00:00:29.339 --> 00:00:31.879 here. Our sources, they consistently refer to 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:34.159 the Medellin cartel, not just as, you know, a 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:36.039 big drug trafficking group, but specifically 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:39.820 as a highly organized private terrorist organization. 00:00:39.939 --> 00:00:41.520 Terrorist organization. That's a key distinction. 00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:43.939 It really is. Yeah. Because their main function, 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:46.740 eventually it shifted. It moved from purely making 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:50.500 money through smuggling to systematic political 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:53.619 coercion, using fear, bombings, targeted kidnappings, 00:00:53.740 --> 00:00:56.539 assassinating judges, journalists. even presidential 00:00:56.539 --> 00:00:58.500 candidates. And that's our mission for this deep 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:01.219 dive. Right. To unpack the absolutely staggering 00:01:01.219 --> 00:01:03.759 scale of this operation, trace how it went from 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:07.000 like petty crime to this global oligopoly detail. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.379 It's brutal. It's unique war against the Colombian 00:01:10.379 --> 00:01:14.510 state. And then analyze the. Really polarizing, 00:01:14.549 --> 00:01:17.150 sometimes just bizarre legacy it left behind. 00:01:17.390 --> 00:01:19.810 And to really appreciate the scope, we need to 00:01:19.810 --> 00:01:21.709 start with the numbers, ground ourselves in the 00:01:21.709 --> 00:01:24.829 reality of it. Now, the organization, it was 00:01:24.829 --> 00:01:26.590 built around Pablo Escobar. Obviously, everyone 00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:29.310 knows the name. Sure. But the leadership, it 00:01:29.310 --> 00:01:31.709 was a real partnership. His cousin, Gustavo Gaviria, 00:01:31.810 --> 00:01:33.909 he was the main logistics guy, the shipping expert. 00:01:34.090 --> 00:01:36.109 Then you had the Ochoa brothers, Jorge Luis, 00:01:36.409 --> 00:01:40.450 Fabio, and Juan David. They handled key distribution 00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:43.340 routes. Okay. And you also had - had Jose Gonzalo 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:46.700 Rodriguez -Gacha, known pretty darkly as the 00:01:46.700 --> 00:01:49.659 Mexican, and Carlos Lader, who's a real pioneer 00:01:49.659 --> 00:01:51.760 in logistics. And when we say dominant, I mean, 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:53.760 the sources suggest this single organization 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:56.260 at its peak was supplying at least 80 % of the 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:58.980 world's cocaine. 80%. That level of market control, 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:01.159 it's almost unheard of in any industry, really, 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:04.040 let alone an illegal one. The sheer volume just 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:06.359 into the U .S. market sometimes hit upwards of 00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:11.300 15 tons of cocaine per day. 15 tons a day. And 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:14.740 the money... naturally match the volume. At its 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:17.539 peak, say mid to late 80s, the cartel was bringing 00:02:17.539 --> 00:02:22.819 in an estimated U .S. $200 million daily in drug 00:02:22.819 --> 00:02:25.900 profits. That translates to billions a year. 00:02:26.659 --> 00:02:28.860 But, and here's where it gets really interesting, 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:31.780 that kind of wealth, it presented an immediate, 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:34.960 very unique logistical challenge. Ah, the cash 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:36.580 problem. Yeah, I've read about this. It's one 00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:39.400 thing to make hundreds of millions in cash. Cash 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:41.139 you can't trace. It's another thing entirely 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:43.539 to actually deal with the physical weight and 00:02:43.539 --> 00:02:45.580 volume of all that money. Precisely. You can't 00:02:45.580 --> 00:02:48.000 just walk into a bank. The sources describe these, 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:50.740 well, frankly, absurd efforts to handle the physical 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:54.139 cash, storing it in huge high security warehouses, 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:57.080 burying millions in containers on remote farms 00:02:57.080 --> 00:02:59.870 across Colombia. spending enormous amounts just 00:02:59.870 --> 00:03:02.310 on rubber bands to bundle it, apparently, and 00:03:02.310 --> 00:03:04.569 dealing with securing it from, you know, rats 00:03:04.569 --> 00:03:06.949 chewing through it, water damage, mold, or even 00:03:06.949 --> 00:03:08.870 rival thieves. Well, they were losing money just 00:03:08.870 --> 00:03:11.050 because they couldn't store it properly. Estimates 00:03:11.050 --> 00:03:13.629 suggest they'd write off maybe 10 % to 20 % of 00:03:13.629 --> 00:03:15.849 their profits annually. Hundreds of millions 00:03:15.849 --> 00:03:18.990 of dollars just gone, spoiled, eaten by rats, 00:03:19.189 --> 00:03:21.669 lost before they could even spend it or figure 00:03:21.669 --> 00:03:23.349 out how to launder it. Which kind of explains 00:03:23.349 --> 00:03:26.129 the desperate need to spend it on these huge, 00:03:26.169 --> 00:03:29.129 visible things like massive estates, zoos, stuff 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:31.930 like that, nonproductive assets. Exactly. This 00:03:31.930 --> 00:03:34.889 whole financial empire, it operated across Colombia, 00:03:35.030 --> 00:03:37.909 obviously, had crucial hubs in Panama, the Bahamas, 00:03:38.069 --> 00:03:41.110 relied on coca paste coming from Peru and Bolivia. 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:44.009 And it just flooded major U .S. cities, L .A., 00:03:44.009 --> 00:03:46.400 New York. but especially Miami. Right. And this 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:48.960 empire basically dominated the cocaine trade 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:51.219 for roughly two decades, didn't it? From about 00:03:51.219 --> 00:03:54.699 1976 until Escobar finally died in 93. So how 00:03:54.699 --> 00:03:57.159 did this... This colossus even gets started. 00:03:57.219 --> 00:03:59.000 We have to go back to Escobar himself, right? 00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:01.400 His path before cocaine became the big thing. 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:03.479 Yeah, and it's a fascinating, almost, like you 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:06.400 said, bizarre start. His early life in crime 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.080 was really small -time opportunistic, but it 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.560 showed this early flair for fraud. The tombstones. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:14.800 The tombstones, yeah. Sources detail how he apparently 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.399 began by stealing tombstones from cemeteries. 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:20.399 Think about that. He'd allegedly sand down the 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.220 granite markers, erase the names and dates, make 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:25.639 them look fresh, and then re - sell them to funeral 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:29.379 homes. Wow. That's audacious and grim. It tells 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:31.740 you something, right? About his disregard for 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:35.319 social norms, even then. From there, he quickly 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:38.519 moved up. Highly organized car theft in Medellin. 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:41.439 Then into the really lucrative but also very 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:44.360 dangerous world of illegal cigarette and liquor 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:47.100 smuggling. Okay. This allegedly got him involved 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:49.720 in the violent Marlboro Wars. These were turf 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:52.259 conflicts over controlling the black market for 00:04:52.259 --> 00:04:54.600 contraband. It sort of foreshadowed the later 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:56.730 drug wars, you could say. And he was already 00:04:56.730 --> 00:04:59.089 using violence even then. It wasn't just about 00:04:59.089 --> 00:05:01.050 the money. Crucially, yes. He'd already embraced 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:03.250 violent extortion. He got involved in early kidnappings 00:05:03.250 --> 00:05:06.569 for ransom, notably the alleged 1971 kidnapping 00:05:06.569 --> 00:05:10.689 and subsequent murder of a wealthy Medellin businessman. 00:05:10.850 --> 00:05:14.310 So you see this progression, fraud, property 00:05:14.310 --> 00:05:18.180 crime, then violent extortion. It sets the stage 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:21.019 for the plata o plomo silver or lead strategy 00:05:21.019 --> 00:05:23.720 that would define his whole career. For Escobar, 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:26.399 violence wasn't a last resort. It was a fundamental 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:29.100 business tool. OK, so he's established in crime, 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:32.199 but how does he make the leap to cocaine? Well, 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:34.959 the transition was really driven by historical 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:38.079 timing and just simple economics. Back in the 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:40.420 1960s, cocaine wasn't a big deal in Colombia. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:43.000 The trade routes were mostly run by neighbors, 00:05:43.139 --> 00:05:46.439 Argentina, Brazil, Chile. Key ports were Rio, 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:49.079 Valparaiso. Transshipment points were Havana, 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:51.220 Panama City. And Colombia was mostly known for? 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:53.519 Marijuana. That was the big illegal export back 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:56.079 then. But then 1973 happened. Exactly. The military 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:58.819 coup in Chile. That led to these brutal crackdowns 00:05:58.819 --> 00:06:01.279 on the existing drug networks there. So suddenly, 00:06:01.379 --> 00:06:03.740 Chilean traffickers needed new, safer routes 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:06.300 north. And many look to Colombia. Creating a 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:09.079 vacuum. A perfect vacuum for ambitious Colombian 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:11.579 smugglers like Escobar and his cousin, Gustavo 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:13.879 Gaviria, to step into and fill. And cocaine itself 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.339 just had more appeal than marijuana. Oh, absolutely. 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:19.180 Logistically, it was perfect. It packs much tighter, 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:21.620 right? So you maximize your profit relative to 00:06:21.620 --> 00:06:23.920 the volume and weight you're smuggling. The profit 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:26.360 potential was just exponentially greater. Makes 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:28.319 sense. And the production importing the coca 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:30.319 paste from the Andes, refining it that could 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.300 be effectively monopolized in South America. 00:06:32.620 --> 00:06:35.459 Unlike marijuana, which was increasingly being 00:06:35.459 --> 00:06:37.699 grown closer to the North American markets anyway. 00:06:37.899 --> 00:06:40.379 Plus the demand side changed too, right? In the 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:43.259 U .S.? Definitely. By the late 70s, cocaine wasn't 00:06:43.259 --> 00:06:45.819 obscure anymore. It became a status symbol. It 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:48.180 gained this huge prestige in the U .S., especially 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:50.819 in like Hollywood circles, the big party scene 00:06:50.819 --> 00:06:54.379 down in Miami. It was just irresistible for criminal 00:06:54.379 --> 00:06:56.459 entrepreneurs. Okay, so the conditions are right. 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.750 But how did they solve the actual how? getting 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:03.329 it into the U .S. reliably. This is where Lader 00:07:03.329 --> 00:07:06.149 and Jung come in. This is the pivotal early partnership 00:07:06.149 --> 00:07:08.589 that cracked the infrastructure problem. Carlos 00:07:08.589 --> 00:07:12.009 Lader and George Jung. Boston George. The sources, 00:07:12.129 --> 00:07:14.389 they detail how they met as bunkmates in prison, 00:07:14.589 --> 00:07:17.550 FCI Danbury in Connecticut. Lader was in for 00:07:17.550 --> 00:07:20.069 car theft, Jung for marijuana trafficking. And 00:07:20.069 --> 00:07:23.439 Jung tells this story, Lader's sales pitch. Yeah, 00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:26.519 Young recounts asking later about cocaine and 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:28.660 later just casually says, you know, it costs 00:07:28.660 --> 00:07:32.459 $60 ,000 a kilo. $60 ,000? That single fact, 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:35.000 according to Young, just completely shifted his 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.420 focus. Young had years of experience flying marijuana 00:07:38.420 --> 00:07:41.079 across the U .S.-Mexico border. He knew the routes, 00:07:41.180 --> 00:07:44.160 the techniques, so he pulled his expertise with 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.480 Later. So Young had the how for North America. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.079 Later had the what's and the who back in Colombia. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.819 Essentially, yes. Young provided that critical 00:07:51.819 --> 00:07:54.319 knowledge of U .S. distribution logistics, the 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:56.839 geography of getting the product in. Later had 00:07:56.839 --> 00:07:59.220 the connections back to the source, Pablo Escobar. 00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:02.319 And this alliance led directly to the most crucial 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:04.920 early piece of infrastructure, Norman's Cay. 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:06.800 That little island in the Bahamas. That little 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:09.439 island. By 1978, Lader had somehow bought or 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:12.199 leveraged control over Norman's Cay. He transformed 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:15.480 it into this major fortified transshipment hub 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:17.839 for the Medellin operation. Fortified how? Like 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:21.800 defenses? Oh, yeah. Airstrip, radar, armed guards. 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:24.560 The works. It was a logistical breakthrough. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.860 It solved the huge problem of U .S. market access. 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:30.839 Allowed them to fly in multi -ton shipments. 00:08:31.230 --> 00:08:33.570 stored them safely, and then shuttled them straight 00:08:33.570 --> 00:08:36.269 over to Florida on smaller planes or boats. It 00:08:36.269 --> 00:08:39.230 just fueled the cartel's incredible initial growth. 00:08:39.490 --> 00:08:42.049 So with the distribution saw the money flowing 00:08:42.049 --> 00:08:44.750 like crazy, these independent smugglers started 00:08:44.750 --> 00:08:48.190 to team up. Exactly. Between about 76 and 79, 00:08:48.570 --> 00:08:51.850 these successful independent rings quickly coalesced 00:08:51.850 --> 00:08:55.450 into a genuine cartel. Mention again that term 00:08:55.450 --> 00:08:57.269 cartel. It wasn't their name for themselves. 00:08:57.370 --> 00:08:58.970 It was coined by the U .S. State Department. 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:01.649 Right. To describe this new kind of thing, it 00:09:01.649 --> 00:09:04.330 was a financial oligopoly, way more sophisticated 00:09:04.330 --> 00:09:06.470 than traditional drug gangs. It was like an official 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:08.509 recognition that this was a new kind of economic 00:09:08.509 --> 00:09:12.210 power. Pretty much. Escobar and Gaviria, they 00:09:12.210 --> 00:09:14.850 leveraged their success, their wealth, to bring 00:09:14.850 --> 00:09:17.789 in the other major players, gotcha, the Ocoas. 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:21.580 This merger, it maximized their power. concentrated 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:24.419 it, and they focused almost exclusively on cocaine. 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:27.860 That gave the organization the strong, single 00:09:27.860 --> 00:09:31.009 backbone it needed to fight Well, both its rivals 00:09:31.009 --> 00:09:34.250 and eventually the state itself. OK, so fast 00:09:34.250 --> 00:09:36.809 forward to the 1980s. The cartel is established, 00:09:37.049 --> 00:09:39.850 making billions. How did the actual business 00:09:39.850 --> 00:09:42.190 operate day to day? Well, the production chain 00:09:42.190 --> 00:09:44.730 was highly organized. It started with importing 00:09:44.730 --> 00:09:47.110 just massive quantities of coca paste from the 00:09:47.110 --> 00:09:49.649 source countries, mainly Peru and Bolivia. And 00:09:49.649 --> 00:09:52.350 the processing, the labs, not in Peru or Bolivia. 00:09:52.389 --> 00:09:54.629 No. The refinement was mostly done deep inside 00:09:54.629 --> 00:09:56.850 Colombia in these huge hidden jungle laboratories. 00:09:57.450 --> 00:09:59.769 Sources describe places like Tranquilandia. This 00:09:59.769 --> 00:10:01.710 wasn't just a lab. It was a sprawling complex 00:10:01.710 --> 00:10:04.289 like the size of a small town. Wow. Dozens of 00:10:04.289 --> 00:10:06.330 individual labs, housing for workers, power generators, 00:10:06.529 --> 00:10:08.649 even its own security networks, all designed 00:10:08.649 --> 00:10:11.070 just to process that paste into high -grade powder 00:10:11.070 --> 00:10:13.049 cocaine for mass export. And then getting it 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:15.610 out, they got creative, right? Oh, relentlessly 00:10:15.610 --> 00:10:18.490 innovative. They used every method you can imagine 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:21.519 to evade detection. You hear stories about cocaine 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:24.659 stuffed into hollowed out pellets, multilayered 00:10:24.659 --> 00:10:27.500 condoms or balloons swallowed by human mules 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.679 flying commercial. Mules. Yeah. And of course, 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:33.159 loading massive quantities onto specialized aircraft. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:35.500 The Cessnas became kind of legendary, didn't 00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:37.519 they? They did. And not because they were fancy 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:40.399 jets. They were valued specifically because they 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:45.799 could fly. slow allowed for more precise low 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:48.220 altitude deliveries to remote jungle drop zones 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:52.200 and critically it made mid -air transfers easier 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:54.980 transferring bales of cocaine to boats waiting 00:10:54.980 --> 00:10:57.679 below or even to other aircraft closer to the 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:00.480 destination especially near florida And law enforcement 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:02.340 just couldn't keep up initially. These methods 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:04.659 were just too varied, too rapid. Early American 00:11:04.659 --> 00:11:06.659 interdiction techniques, they just weren't equipped 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:09.039 to counter it effectively. Not on that scale. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:11.580 Can result back in the U .S. was. The cocaine 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:15.080 boom. It drove prices down just enough that the 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:17.460 drug became popular far beyond just the wealthy 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:20.980 elite. And that, in turn, it fueled widespread 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:24.179 addiction, massive crime waves in major cities 00:11:24.179 --> 00:11:28.059 and local turf wars. Miami. In the early 80s 00:11:28.059 --> 00:11:30.799 is the classic example, just intense violence. 00:11:30.860 --> 00:11:34.480 And the impact on Colombia's own economy. Staggering. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:38.149 Think about this. By 1982. Cocaine had actually 00:11:38.149 --> 00:11:40.389 surpassed coffee as Colombia's chief export. 00:11:40.570 --> 00:11:43.269 More than coffee. Wow. Yeah. And all that wealth, 00:11:43.370 --> 00:11:46.490 untaxed, hard to track cash. It catapulted the 00:11:46.490 --> 00:11:48.710 traffickers into positions of global influence. 00:11:49.309 --> 00:11:51.529 Escobar famously made the Forbes billionaires 00:11:51.529 --> 00:11:53.590 list for seven years straight, starting in 87. 00:11:53.870 --> 00:11:56.029 But all that money, all that power, it also created 00:11:56.029 --> 00:11:58.029 friction, right, between Medellin and the other 00:11:58.029 --> 00:12:00.409 big players like the Cali cartel. Huge friction. 00:12:00.590 --> 00:12:02.429 Initially, they were sort of strategic allies. 00:12:02.509 --> 00:12:05.009 They split turf. Medellin kind of focused on 00:12:05.009 --> 00:12:07.120 L .A. Cali took New York City. And they shared 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:08.940 the really lucrative transit points like Miami 00:12:08.940 --> 00:12:10.740 and Houston. But they had fundamentally different 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:13.379 ways of operating. Completely different philosophies. 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:16.539 And this split is really important to understand 00:12:16.539 --> 00:12:18.620 because it dictated their survival strategies. 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:23.200 Medellin, under Escobar, was all about immediate, 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.879 brutal violence and intimidation. Plata o plomo? 00:12:27.100 --> 00:12:30.820 Silver or lead? Bribe or bullet? Exactly. Violence 00:12:30.820 --> 00:12:33.240 was the quickest, most effective motivator for 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:36.070 anyone standing in their way. And their reputation 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:39.370 was horrific. They were known for murdering not 00:12:39.370 --> 00:12:41.370 just their targets, but often their immediate 00:12:41.370 --> 00:12:44.110 family members too, just to send this message 00:12:44.110 --> 00:12:47.210 of absolute terrifying finality. Whereas Cali? 00:12:47.309 --> 00:12:50.730 Cali was the business cartel, led by the Orihuela 00:12:50.730 --> 00:12:53.960 brothers, Gilberto and Miguel. They much preferred 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:56.759 institutional corruption bribery. They saw overt, 00:12:56.860 --> 00:12:59.519 messy violence like Escobar's as actually bad 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:01.919 for business, highly detrimental to their long 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:03.700 -term financial stability. Because it attracted 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:06.059 too much attention. Partly that. And their famous 00:13:06.059 --> 00:13:08.879 core philosophy was dead people do not pay what 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:11.860 they owe. Huh. That's pragmatic in a chilling 00:13:11.860 --> 00:13:14.419 way. So Medellin was fighting this very public 00:13:14.419 --> 00:13:16.960 short -term war, making headlines, while Cali 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:18.580 was trying to build something more sustainable, 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:22.809 more hidden. Exactly. Cali was quietly infiltrating 00:13:22.809 --> 00:13:25.610 every level of Colombia's professional and political 00:13:25.610 --> 00:13:28.230 infrastructure. They were hyper -professional 00:13:28.230 --> 00:13:31.029 in their own way. Sources say they required detailed 00:13:31.029 --> 00:13:33.750 application forms from potential employees, ran 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:35.970 background checks. They prioritized security, 00:13:36.309 --> 00:13:39.210 discretion. Application forms for a cartel. Yeah. 00:13:39.350 --> 00:13:41.970 They want to be seen as these discreet, powerful 00:13:41.970 --> 00:13:44.789 businessmen. Someone described their ambition 00:13:44.789 --> 00:13:47.759 as wanting to be the Kennedys of Colombia. Whereas 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:51.440 Escobar was chasing this overt populist political 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.500 power. Cali knew the more public the violence, 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:56.399 the more the U .S. would eventually come down 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:59.259 on them. And this difference terror versus corruption, 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:01.860 it also helps explain the rise of the paramilitaries. 00:14:02.059 --> 00:14:04.019 Fundamentally, yes. You had these traditional 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:06.299 guerrilla groups like the FARC who increasingly 00:14:06.299 --> 00:14:08.860 saw the wealthy traffickers as, well, walking 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:11.039 ATMs. They started kidnapping cartel members 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:14.139 for ransom. Carlos Slater got kidnapped. Martha 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:16.139 Ochoa, the sister of the Ochoa brothers. Right. 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:18.799 They demanded extortion money, sometimes a grommage, 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.600 like a tax, on cocaine production and movement 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:24.700 in areas they controlled. And the cartels weren't 00:14:24.700 --> 00:14:26.580 going to stand for that. Absolutely not. This 00:14:26.580 --> 00:14:29.139 was a direct threat to their economic base, something 00:14:29.139 --> 00:14:31.730 they'd invested billions in protecting. So this 00:14:31.730 --> 00:14:34.110 led to the formation of Muerte Sequestradores, 00:14:34.169 --> 00:14:37.830 Death to Kidnappers, or MAS, back in 1981. And 00:14:37.830 --> 00:14:40.289 this wasn't just Medellin. No, this was a broad 00:14:40.289 --> 00:14:43.009 coalition, included members from both Medellin 00:14:43.009 --> 00:14:45.909 and Cali initially, influential military figures, 00:14:46.149 --> 00:14:48.850 major industrialists, wealthy ranchers, anyone 00:14:48.850 --> 00:14:50.970 whose financial interests or land holdings felt 00:14:50.970 --> 00:14:53.330 threatened by the leftist insurgents. So it started 00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:55.909 as defense, but quickly became an offense. Very 00:14:55.909 --> 00:14:58.870 quickly. Yeah. MAS transitioned from just anti 00:14:58.870 --> 00:15:01.019 -kidnapping defense into a full... political 00:15:01.019 --> 00:15:05.279 terror apparatus. By 1983, these MAS death squads 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.559 were already linked to something like 240 political 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:09.960 killings, systematically targeting community 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.200 leaders, labor organizers, local officials. Anyone 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.399 suspected of being a subversive or sympathetic 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:17.559 to the guerrillas. And Escobar's role in this 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:21.019 grew. Massively. By the mid-'80s, Escobar was 00:15:21.019 --> 00:15:23.159 funneling enormous amounts of cash into MAS. 00:15:23.340 --> 00:15:25.700 He was effectively privatizing state -level violence. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:29.220 They bought modern military gear AKMs, FN FAL 00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:31.799 rifles, often through corrupt military contacts. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.480 And the training. I read they brought in foreign 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:37.059 instructors. Critically, yes. They hired specialized 00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:40.350 foreign trainers. British, Israeli, American 00:15:40.350 --> 00:15:43.250 military veterans, often ex -special forces guys, 00:15:43.350 --> 00:15:45.990 to teach counterinsurgency tactics, how to handle 00:15:45.990 --> 00:15:48.450 explosives, high -level assassination skills. 00:15:48.629 --> 00:15:51.149 That's chilling. Outsourcing military training. 00:15:51.409 --> 00:15:54.070 It meant the cartel's private army could operate 00:15:54.070 --> 00:15:56.450 with a level of precision and strategic planning 00:15:56.450 --> 00:15:59.590 usually reserved for actual state forces. It 00:15:59.590 --> 00:16:01.909 just completely blurred the lines between private 00:16:01.909 --> 00:16:04.990 criminal muscle and state conflict. Made the 00:16:04.990 --> 00:16:07.490 traffickers incredibly hard to fight using just 00:16:07.490 --> 00:16:10.129 normal police methods. And locally, he needed 00:16:10.129 --> 00:16:13.370 muscle too, right? For debt collection and intimidation. 00:16:13.549 --> 00:16:16.190 Right. So around the mid-'80s, he formalized 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:18.830 his enforcement wing, founded the Oficina de 00:16:18.830 --> 00:16:21.090 Envigado de Office. It was an actual physical 00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:24.269 office in Envigado, a suburb of Medellin, basically 00:16:24.269 --> 00:16:26.450 a criminal debt collection service. And if you've 00:16:26.450 --> 00:16:29.370 seen it at Cobro, it dispatched teams of sicarios, 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:32.649 hired killers, who formed the backbone of the 00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:35.470 cartel's street -level violence against anyone 00:16:35.470 --> 00:16:38.470 who didn't choose Plata when offered Plomo. This 00:16:38.470 --> 00:16:40.809 whole infrastructure became absolutely critical 00:16:40.809 --> 00:16:43.149 for the war against the government that was coming. 00:16:43.309 --> 00:16:46.009 So with the muscle in place, the war really kicks 00:16:46.009 --> 00:16:49.259 off when Escobar tries to go legitimate. Tries 00:16:49.259 --> 00:16:52.980 to enter politics. His ambition was just boundless. 00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:56.379 In 1982, he really capitalized on this Robin 00:16:56.379 --> 00:16:59.120 Hood image he'd cultivated. He actually got elected 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:02.120 briefly as an alternate member, a supplanted 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.019 to the Colombian Chamber of Representatives for 00:17:04.019 --> 00:17:06.200 the Liberal Party. How do you manage that? He 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:09.119 poured money into social projects, built housing. 00:17:09.529 --> 00:17:11.750 The famous Barrio Pablo Escobar still exists. 00:17:12.329 --> 00:17:14.750 Funded sports facilities, infrastructure in the 00:17:14.750 --> 00:17:16.970 really poor neighborhoods of the comunas around 00:17:16.970 --> 00:17:19.369 Medellin. He used all that goodwill as political 00:17:19.369 --> 00:17:22.069 capital and also as a layer of community protection. 00:17:22.390 --> 00:17:24.650 People felt indebted to him. But that political 00:17:24.650 --> 00:17:27.049 dream didn't last long. Violently short -lived. 00:17:27.630 --> 00:17:31.289 In 1983, the Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Larabonia, 00:17:31.490 --> 00:17:34.630 publicly and very aggressively denounced Escobar. 00:17:34.890 --> 00:17:37.410 Called him out as a trafficker, presented evidence 00:17:37.410 --> 00:17:40.109 linking drug money to political campaigns, including 00:17:40.109 --> 00:17:43.309 Escobar's. This pressure forced the Liberal Party 00:17:43.309 --> 00:17:46.049 to expel him, and Escobar resigned his seat in 00:17:46.049 --> 00:17:49.990 January 1984. And that public humiliation, that 00:17:49.990 --> 00:17:52.230 was the trigger. That seems to be the turning 00:17:52.230 --> 00:17:55.349 point, his political exile. Just three months 00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:59.150 later, April 30th, 1984, Laura Bonilla was assassinated 00:17:59.150 --> 00:18:02.589 by cartel gunmen on a Bogota street. And this 00:18:02.589 --> 00:18:04.869 wasn't just revenge. It was the opening shot 00:18:04.869 --> 00:18:07.569 in what became a decade long campaign of narco 00:18:07.569 --> 00:18:10.309 terrorism, specifically designed to destroy the 00:18:10.309 --> 00:18:12.670 Colombian state's ability to govern, especially 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:15.329 on one key issue. Extradition. Extradition. That 00:18:15.329 --> 00:18:17.230 was the ultimate target for the traffickers getting 00:18:17.230 --> 00:18:19.190 sent to the U .S. federal prison system. That 00:18:19.190 --> 00:18:21.109 was an existential threat. They called it a death 00:18:21.109 --> 00:18:23.730 sentence in a dark, cold cell because all their 00:18:23.730 --> 00:18:25.990 local power, their influence, their bribery networks, 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:28.009 none of that could reach them there. So they 00:18:28.009 --> 00:18:30.710 formed a group specifically to fight it. Escobar 00:18:30.710 --> 00:18:33.670 and his allies formed Los Extraditables, highly 00:18:33.670 --> 00:18:37.329 publicized. Their strategy was pure terror. The 00:18:37.329 --> 00:18:39.430 bend -or -break approach applied systemically 00:18:39.430 --> 00:18:42.190 across the judiciary, across the political class. 00:18:42.829 --> 00:18:45.390 Officials were offered a choice. Take the bribe, 00:18:45.410 --> 00:18:48.730 placa, give in to extortion, or face immediate 00:18:48.730 --> 00:18:50.849 murder, plomo. And they followed through. The 00:18:50.849 --> 00:18:53.849 list of assassinations is just... Chilling. It 00:18:53.849 --> 00:18:56.369 really is. You have the murder of Superior Judge 00:18:56.369 --> 00:18:59.529 Tulio Manuel Castro Gil in 85. He'd indicted 00:18:59.529 --> 00:19:02.049 Escobar. Supreme Court Justice Hernando by Carol 00:19:02.049 --> 00:19:04.630 Borda in 86. He was the key rapporteur for the 00:19:04.630 --> 00:19:06.930 extradition treaty. Justice Minister Enrique 00:19:06.930 --> 00:19:09.549 Lomertra in 91. The message couldn't have been 00:19:09.549 --> 00:19:12.170 clearer. Challenge extradition and you will die. 00:19:12.410 --> 00:19:14.410 Which brings us to the Palace of Justice siege 00:19:14.410 --> 00:19:16.569 in 85. That's always been linked to Escobar, 00:19:16.589 --> 00:19:18.150 but it's controversial, right? Slightly controversial. 00:19:18.670 --> 00:19:21.150 What we know for sure is that the M -19 guerrilla 00:19:21.150 --> 00:19:23.190 group. stormed the Supreme Court building in 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:26.690 Bogota in November 1985. The army's retaking 00:19:26.690 --> 00:19:29.230 operation was incredibly violent, resulting in 00:19:29.230 --> 00:19:32.309 over 100 deaths, including 11 Supreme Court justices. 00:19:32.450 --> 00:19:34.890 And the allegation is that Escobar paid M -19 00:19:34.890 --> 00:19:37.549 to do it. That's the central, deeply disputed 00:19:37.549 --> 00:19:40.049 claim. Sources allege he provided maybe up to 00:19:40.049 --> 00:19:43.769 $2 million in cash, weapons, explosives. Now, 00:19:43.769 --> 00:19:46.650 M -19 had its own revolutionary goals, but the 00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:49.289 alleged objective for Escobar was very specific. 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:52.940 intimidate the court, and crucially, destroy 00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:55.019 the extradition files stored inside that could 00:19:55.019 --> 00:19:57.619 implicate him and his associates. But it's never 00:19:57.619 --> 00:20:00.759 been definitively proven in court. It's vital 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:03.279 to stick to what the sources confirm here. While 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:05.619 the allegations are plausible, widely reported, 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:08.740 they remain legally unproven. Colombian courts 00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:11.000 have established M -19's initial responsibility 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:14.200 for the siege itself. And importantly, the state's 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:16.380 responsibility for serious human rights violations, 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:18.960 including disappearances of court staff during 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:22.000 the army's retaking. But regardless of Escobar's 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.380 direct hand in that specific event, the siege 00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:26.839 itself served as a powerful, terrifying message 00:20:26.839 --> 00:20:29.200 to the entire judiciary. And whether or not he 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:31.400 was behind the palace siege, the broader terror 00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:33.940 campaign just escalated dramatically after that, 00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:37.019 didn't it? From 87 to 89. Violently escalated. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:39.700 Agreed. The goal seemed to shift from just intimidation 00:20:39.700 --> 00:20:42.279 to full scale political disruption. Yeah. Trying 00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:44.500 to paralyze the government. And the peak was 00:20:44.500 --> 00:20:47.559 the assassination of Galan. Absolutely. August 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:51.220 1989, the assassination of the leading presidential 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:54.420 frontrunner, Luis Carlos Galan. He was shot dead 00:20:54.420 --> 00:20:57.160 at a campaign rally, an attack universally attributed 00:20:57.160 --> 00:21:00.500 to the cartel. Galan was strongly anti -drug, 00:21:00.500 --> 00:21:03.039 had vowed to reinstate extradition if elected. 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:06.240 His murder just plunged Colombia into this state 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:09.140 of national shock, a real... governmental crisis. 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:11.220 It was basically open warfare at that point. 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:13.500 Completely. And the cartel showed its willingness 00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:16.579 to inflict massive, indiscriminate civilian casualties 00:21:16.579 --> 00:21:20.519 just months later. November 1989, the bombing 00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:23.980 of Avianca Flight 203. The plane bombing. The 00:21:23.980 --> 00:21:26.500 target was widely believed to be Cesar Gaviria 00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:28.609 Trujillo. who was seen as Gallant's political 00:21:28.609 --> 00:21:30.789 successor. Luckily, he wasn't actually on the 00:21:30.789 --> 00:21:33.369 flight. But the bomb killed 107 innocent people, 00:21:33.470 --> 00:21:36.369 including two U .S. citizens. And that finally 00:21:36.369 --> 00:21:38.289 drew significantly greater U .S. involvement, 00:21:38.470 --> 00:21:40.829 counter -narcotics aid, intelligence sharing, 00:21:41.069 --> 00:21:42.750 training. And there were other major attacks, 00:21:42.890 --> 00:21:45.289 too. Oh, the list of atrocities from that period 00:21:45.289 --> 00:21:48.269 is just horrifying. The DAS building bombing 00:21:48.269 --> 00:21:51.289 in Bovita, targeting Miguel Maza Marquez, the 00:21:51.289 --> 00:21:53.690 head of Colombia's intelligence agency. That 00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:57.089 bomb killed 52 civilians. Unbelievable. Overall, 00:21:57.369 --> 00:21:59.450 estimates suggest the cartel was responsible 00:21:59.450 --> 00:22:01.930 for around 3 ,500 killings during its reign, 00:22:02.089 --> 00:22:05.049 including a devastating toll of over 500 police 00:22:05.049 --> 00:22:08.569 officers specifically targeted and murdered in 00:22:08.569 --> 00:22:11.259 Medellin alone. This wasn't just crime anymore. 00:22:11.380 --> 00:22:14.319 It was a sustained, organized war against the 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.900 very fabric of the Colombian state. So the endgame 00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:19.059 for the cartel, it actually begins with Escobar 00:22:19.059 --> 00:22:21.940 achieving a kind of twisted victory in 91. In 00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:24.799 a way, yes. The campaign of terror, it worked 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:27.640 to a degree. It resulted in this massive concession 00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:30.400 from the state. The new 1991 Colombian constitution 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:33.359 included a ban on the extradition of Colombian 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.619 nationals. Yeah. So they won on extradition at 00:22:35.619 --> 00:22:37.920 least temporarily. Temporarily. And it was widely 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.839 seen internationally as a direct result of the 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:43.039 cartel's relentless pressure and violence. And 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:45.140 under this new reality, Escobar surrendered. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:49.339 He surrendered in June 1991. But under an agreement, 00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:52.440 he basically negotiated himself. He agreed to 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:55.720 be confined. But in a prison, he essentially 00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:59.019 designed and had built La Catedra. La Catedra, 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:01.619 the luxury dorm. The absurdity of it is just... 00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:04.200 Off the charts. It was officially billed as a 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:06.619 maximum security facility, but as anything but. 00:23:06.779 --> 00:23:09.519 It was a self -designed luxury compound. It had 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:12.400 a fully stocked bar, a giant satellite dish for 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:14.720 communications, a professional -grade football 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:17.819 pitch where he hosted games, even a waterfall. 00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:20.460 And the guards. Guarded by his own hand -picked 00:23:20.460 --> 00:23:23.720 men. Sources describe him conducting cartel business 00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:26.500 from inside, receiving guests whenever he wanted, 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:28.779 basically running his empire from confinement. 00:23:28.920 --> 00:23:30.779 It sounds more like a resort headquarters than 00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:33.279 a prison. Pretty much. The sources mentioned 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.339 specific details like high -end gold bathroom 00:23:35.339 --> 00:23:38.000 fixtures, fine imported liquors, the ability 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:40.319 to order takeout from Medellin restaurants. It 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:42.200 was a complete mockery of the justice system. 00:23:42.339 --> 00:23:44.180 It allowed him to continue directing operations, 00:23:44.579 --> 00:23:47.119 collecting debts, maintaining total control of 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:49.299 his network. How long did that last? The charade 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:53.500 finally collapsed in July 1992. Escobar ordered 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:56.039 the torture and murder of two of his own high 00:23:56.039 --> 00:23:59.480 -ranking associates inside La Caradral. Kills 00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:01.400 him right there. Inside the prison. Inside the 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:04.339 prison. It proved he had total impunity, that 00:24:04.339 --> 00:24:07.220 the government had zero control. So the Colombian 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:08.980 government finally decided they had to move him 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:11.599 to a real military facility. And he just walked 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.880 out. He was tipped off, apparently, and escaped 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:15.640 with very little resistance before they could 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:18.339 transfer him. This triggered a massive nationwide 00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:21.559 manhunt that lasted 16 months. And his escape, 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:23.339 it happens around the same time this new group 00:24:23.339 --> 00:24:27.000 emerges, Los Pepes. Exactly. His escape coincides 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:29.599 with the rise of this vigilante group, Los Pepes, 00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:32.359 and that dramatically changed the power dynamics 00:24:32.359 --> 00:24:35.019 on the ground. Escobar always had enemies, of 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:37.500 course, but the internal feuding really turned 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:40.779 fatal around this time. The Cali cartel, remember, 00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:43.400 had been escalating its rivalry since Medellin 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:46.220 bombed the Monaco apartment building in 88, targeting 00:24:46.220 --> 00:24:48.640 Escobar's family. So Los Pepes wasn't a government 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.200 group. No, no. Los Pepes, it stood for Perseguidos 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:55.319 por Pablo Escobar, People Persecuted by Pablo 00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:57.960 Escobar. Officially formed around January 1993, 00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:01.640 it was this ruthless, shadowy force, largely 00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:04.500 financed, intelligence suggests, by the Cali 00:25:04.500 --> 00:25:07.799 cartel. And led by former Medellin members who 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:10.160 had personal vendettas against Escobar, most 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:12.259 famously the Castaño brothers. And they fought 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:14.819 Escobar how? They basically adopted Escobar's 00:25:14.819 --> 00:25:17.160 own brutal tactics and turned them against him. 00:25:17.769 --> 00:25:20.069 escalating the violence to unprecedented levels, 00:25:20.269 --> 00:25:22.589 targeting his family members, his lawyers, his 00:25:22.589 --> 00:25:25.049 financial associates, bombing his properties. 00:25:25.230 --> 00:25:27.170 It was essentially the cartel tearing itself 00:25:27.170 --> 00:25:30.009 apart from the inside. Wow. This vigilante war, 00:25:30.150 --> 00:25:32.670 it accelerated Medellin's internal collapse far 00:25:32.670 --> 00:25:34.710 more quickly than the stay alone probably could 00:25:34.710 --> 00:25:37.190 have managed. That, combined with the relentless 00:25:37.190 --> 00:25:39.230 pressure from the Colombian search block, which 00:25:39.230 --> 00:25:41.309 was trained and heavily assisted by U .S. technology 00:25:41.309 --> 00:25:44.490 and intelligence operatives, effectively cornered 00:25:44.490 --> 00:25:46.630 Escobar. Which leads to the final moments in 00:25:46.630 --> 00:25:49.970 December. The final hunt ended on December 2, 00:25:50.170 --> 00:25:54.390 1993, the day after Estabar's 44th birthday. 00:25:54.650 --> 00:25:57.069 He was tracked down to a middle -class residential 00:25:57.069 --> 00:26:00.170 house in the Los Levos neighborhood of Medellin. 00:26:00.289 --> 00:26:02.650 And the fatal mistake was a phone call. That's 00:26:02.650 --> 00:26:04.789 what the sources clearly indicate. He made a 00:26:04.789 --> 00:26:07.170 phone call from the hideout to his family, his 00:26:07.170 --> 00:26:09.490 wife and kids, who were being protected by the 00:26:09.490 --> 00:26:11.789 government in a hotel in Bogota at the time. 00:26:12.059 --> 00:26:14.200 And they traced it. U .S. tracking technology. 00:26:14.599 --> 00:26:17.079 They were using highly sensitive radio directional 00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:19.859 finding gear specifically deployed to monitor 00:26:19.859 --> 00:26:23.079 any transmissions he might make. They pinpointed 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:26.380 the call's origin with incredible accuracy. The 00:26:26.380 --> 00:26:28.839 search block moved in. Gunfire erupted immediately. 00:26:29.960 --> 00:26:32.180 Escobar and his one remaining bodyguard, a guy 00:26:32.180 --> 00:26:34.460 nicknamed Limon, they tried to escape across 00:26:34.460 --> 00:26:37.380 the tiled rooftops of the adjacent houses. Limon 00:26:37.380 --> 00:26:39.500 was killed almost instantly on the roof. Moments 00:26:39.500 --> 00:26:41.500 later, Escobar was hit multiple times, torso, 00:26:41.619 --> 00:26:44.319 leg, and then took a final fatal shot that entered 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:46.500 near his ear. In that last shot, the ear shot, 00:26:46.579 --> 00:26:48.220 that's the source of the controversy, right? 00:26:48.339 --> 00:26:51.559 Whether he shot himself. Exactly. That detail 00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:53.920 sparked this enduring controversy that continues 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:57.660 today. His son. Juan Pablo, has always remained 00:26:57.660 --> 00:26:59.759 adamant that his father shot himself in the ear. 00:27:00.019 --> 00:27:02.759 He claims it was consistent with a vow Escobar 00:27:02.759 --> 00:27:05.559 supposedly made never to be captured alive, never 00:27:05.559 --> 00:27:08.519 to face extradition, and a U .S. prison. So we 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:10.700 don't know for sure who fired the fatal shot. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.039 The official account says it was the search block. 00:27:13.140 --> 00:27:15.900 The family says it was suicide. The end result, 00:27:16.059 --> 00:27:19.000 though, was the same. Pablo Escobar was dead. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:21.779 The Medellin cartel as a hierarchical structure 00:27:21.779 --> 00:27:24.180 was effectively headless and its reign was over. 00:27:24.259 --> 00:27:26.660 His death marked the end of the cartel as that 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:30.259 entity. But the legacy, it's incredibly complex, 00:27:30.420 --> 00:27:32.720 isn't it? Contradictory and still really defining 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:35.119 for Colombia. Absolutely. That dual nature of 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:37.720 his public image is just profound. On one hand, 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:39.940 you have Escobar, the monster synonymous with 00:27:39.940 --> 00:27:41.660 the violence, the corruption, the terror that 00:27:41.660 --> 00:27:43.740 nearly broke the nation. But on the other hand, 00:27:43.779 --> 00:27:46.839 you have this cultivated Robin Hood image. And 00:27:46.839 --> 00:27:49.619 it still holds genuine influence among many people 00:27:49.619 --> 00:27:51.920 in Medellin's poorer districts. Thanks to that 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.140 initial very high profile funding, he did the 00:27:54.140 --> 00:27:55.859 housing, the sports fields, the infrastructure. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:58.619 And that division was visible right at the end 00:27:58.619 --> 00:28:01.339 at his funeral. Starkly visible. Despite all 00:28:01.339 --> 00:28:03.759 the horrific crimes, the terror he unleashed, 00:28:03.859 --> 00:28:06.819 sources say over 25 ,000 people turned up for 00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:09.579 his funeral at Matasacro Cemetery. apparently 00:28:09.579 --> 00:28:11.539 struggling with police just to get close enough 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:14.200 to touch the coffin. It just shows the deep societal 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:16.880 split he created. And the physical stuff he left 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:20.519 behind, the mansions, the properties, what happened 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:23.200 to them? The state's response to his massive 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:25.539 wealth, his properties, it's been a very conscious 00:28:25.539 --> 00:28:27.759 effort, it seems, to dismantle that narrative 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:31.200 of narco -glorification. Take Kassi Andanopoulos. 00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:34.900 His enormous 7 .7 square mile estate, the one 00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:36.759 with the private airstrip, the sculptures, the 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:39.279 infamous zoo, after years of being abandoned, 00:28:39.660 --> 00:28:42.460 looted, it was seized by the government. And 00:28:42.460 --> 00:28:44.940 eventually it was repurposed. It's now a family 00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:48.019 -oriented theme park. But it also includes museum 00:28:48.019 --> 00:28:51.259 spaces specifically dedicated to memorializing 00:28:51.259 --> 00:28:53.859 his victims. So the tourist attraction itself 00:28:53.859 --> 00:28:56.880 carries this anti -glorification message. Trying 00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:59.460 to reclaim the narrative. Exactly. And another 00:28:59.460 --> 00:29:03.210 really stark example. The Monaco building, that 00:29:03.210 --> 00:29:05.809 was his former family mansion in Medellin, the 00:29:05.809 --> 00:29:07.950 one that Cali cartel hit with a huge car bomb 00:29:07.950 --> 00:29:11.289 back in 88. It stood there gutted for years, 00:29:11.430 --> 00:29:13.549 becoming this kind of morbid tourist spot. Right. 00:29:13.609 --> 00:29:15.849 So in 2019, the Medellin authorities made a very 00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:19.069 public, very political statement. They demolished 00:29:19.069 --> 00:29:21.430 the whole six -story building and replaced it 00:29:21.430 --> 00:29:24.220 with a park. specifically dedicated to honoring 00:29:24.220 --> 00:29:26.140 the thousands of victims of cartel violence, 00:29:26.299 --> 00:29:28.759 including the four presidential candidates, the 00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:30.619 hundreds of police officers he ordered killed. 00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:32.880 Putting the focus on the victims, not the perpetrator. 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:35.119 As President Ivan Duque said at the demolition, 00:29:35.240 --> 00:29:38.920 the act was intended not to glorify the perpetrators, 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:42.579 but to honor the victims. It's this active, ongoing 00:29:42.579 --> 00:29:45.799 effort by the city, by the nation, to redefine 00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:48.579 its memory and firmly reject the Escobar figure. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:51.140 But then there's the other legacy, the most successful, 00:29:51.299 --> 00:29:53.599 maybe the weirdest, certainly the most uncontrollable 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:56.599 physical legacy of all that extravagance, the 00:29:56.599 --> 00:29:59.549 hippos. Ah, the cocaine hippos. Yeah. This is 00:29:59.549 --> 00:30:01.890 a truly unique story in environmental history. 00:30:02.470 --> 00:30:05.390 Escobar imported just four hippopotamuses for 00:30:05.390 --> 00:30:07.750 his private zoo at Haciendanapolis back in the 00:30:07.750 --> 00:30:10.650 80s. Just four. After he died, the estate was 00:30:10.650 --> 00:30:12.730 abandoned. The other animals were relocated or 00:30:12.730 --> 00:30:15.849 died off. But the hippos, they were just too 00:30:15.849 --> 00:30:17.890 big, too dangerous, too expensive to capture 00:30:17.890 --> 00:30:20.230 and move. So they were basically just left to 00:30:20.230 --> 00:30:22.430 fend for themselves in the lakes and rivers around 00:30:22.430 --> 00:30:24.250 the estate. And they did more than fend for themselves. 00:30:24.569 --> 00:30:26.609 Oh, they thrived. They started reproducing rapidly. 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:28.819 They dispersed out from Naples along the massive 00:30:28.819 --> 00:30:31.660 Magdalena River Basin, and they created the world's 00:30:31.660 --> 00:30:34.599 first known feral breeding population of hippos, 00:30:34.619 --> 00:30:37.940 a megafauna species outside of Africa. How many 00:30:37.940 --> 00:30:40.119 are there now? The population growth is explosive. 00:30:40.619 --> 00:30:43.339 By the early 2020s, estimates were somewhere 00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:46.420 between 80 and 120 hippos. But the population 00:30:46.420 --> 00:30:49.400 models are alarming. If they're left unmanaged, 00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:52.599 that number could potentially exceed 1 ,000 by 00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:55.240 2050. And that's bad for the local environment. 00:30:55.539 --> 00:30:58.700 Ecologically, they pose huge risks. They displace 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:01.880 native Colombian species like manatees and capybaras. 00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:04.680 They change the aquatic vegetation because they 00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:07.980 eat so much. Their waste, tons of it, fundamentally 00:31:07.980 --> 00:31:10.079 alters the water chemistry, which can affect 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:12.900 fish populations. And there are worries about 00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:15.549 them. potentially spreading pathogens to livestock 00:31:15.549 --> 00:31:18.049 or even humans. Can't they just manage them, 00:31:18.130 --> 00:31:20.410 control the population? It's incredibly difficult. 00:31:20.509 --> 00:31:22.309 The sources detail these immense challenges. 00:31:22.509 --> 00:31:24.829 Local communities, some of them actually see 00:31:24.829 --> 00:31:26.890 the hippos as charismatic, maybe even good for 00:31:26.890 --> 00:31:28.890 local tourism, which complicates efforts like 00:31:28.890 --> 00:31:33.029 sterilization or culling. There are these ongoing... 00:31:33.259 --> 00:31:36.299 Multi -million dollar international plans being 00:31:36.299 --> 00:31:39.119 discussed, trying to capture dozens of them, 00:31:39.220 --> 00:31:41.859 relocate them to sanctuaries in places like Mexico 00:31:41.859 --> 00:31:44.240 and India, just to try and curb the population 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:47.279 explosion. It's this literal biological inheritance 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:50.339 of unchecked criminal excess. So wrapping this 00:31:50.339 --> 00:31:53.920 up, we've tracked the Medellin cartel from Escobar's 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:56.579 petty criminal beginnings. Yeah, the tombstones. 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.289 Right. Through those vital logistical breakthroughs 00:32:00.289 --> 00:32:02.410 like Norman's K that really fueled the cocaine 00:32:02.410 --> 00:32:05.569 boom into that full scale narco terrorism campaign 00:32:05.569 --> 00:32:08.410 designed purely to defeat extradition. The war 00:32:08.410 --> 00:32:10.690 against the state. Exactly. Culminating in his 00:32:10.690 --> 00:32:13.250 death, the destruction of his assets. And yeah, 00:32:13.349 --> 00:32:16.130 this bizarre biological inheritance he left behind 00:32:16.130 --> 00:32:18.289 with the hippos. And the sources are really clear 00:32:18.289 --> 00:32:20.690 on this. The collapse of the Medellin cartel. 00:32:20.690 --> 00:32:22.930 It didn't end Colombia's role in the cocaine 00:32:22.930 --> 00:32:25.990 trade. Not by a long shot. It just shifted the 00:32:25.990 --> 00:32:28.779 dominance. First, it went to the more discreet, 00:32:28.779 --> 00:32:32.079 business -like Cali cartel. And then, after Cali 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:34.480 was eventually dismantled too, it fragmented 00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:36.819 into smaller, more decentralized, harder -to 00:32:36.819 --> 00:32:39.339 -track networks. The whole kingpin strategy, 00:32:39.740 --> 00:32:42.380 taking out the leader, it was effective in destroying 00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:44.990 that specific hierarchy. But the drug flow itself, 00:32:45.190 --> 00:32:48.190 the underlying criminal infrastructure, it persisted. 00:32:48.190 --> 00:32:51.289 It adapted. The sheer scale of what Escobar built, 00:32:51.349 --> 00:32:53.450 though, I mean, financing housing projects one 00:32:53.450 --> 00:32:56.130 day, ordering the murder of a presidential candidate 00:32:56.130 --> 00:32:59.089 the next, it really defined the term narco -terrorism, 00:32:59.130 --> 00:33:01.589 didn't it? And showed the terrible price a nation 00:33:01.589 --> 00:33:03.690 pays for that kind of organized criminal ambition. 00:33:04.009 --> 00:33:07.210 It absolutely did. But the ultimate, maybe profound 00:33:07.210 --> 00:33:10.069 question that the sources leave us with is, When 00:33:10.069 --> 00:33:12.490 a criminal empire like this finally falls, what 00:33:12.490 --> 00:33:14.970 actually remains? What lasts? Yeah, what's the 00:33:14.970 --> 00:33:17.690 final takeaway? Well, consider this. The cartel, 00:33:17.690 --> 00:33:21.470 as an organization, ultimately failed in its 00:33:21.470 --> 00:33:23.490 central political objective. It was destroyed. 00:33:23.990 --> 00:33:25.930 Extradition eventually happened for many others. 00:33:26.150 --> 00:33:29.069 His vast properties, they're now either memorials 00:33:29.069 --> 00:33:32.269 to his victims or family theme parks designed 00:33:32.269 --> 00:33:34.930 specifically to dispel his myth. Right, the anti 00:33:34.930 --> 00:33:38.400 -legacy. Exactly. Yet the hippos, this symbol 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:41.079 of completely unnecessary, absurd extravagance, 00:33:41.140 --> 00:33:43.319 they haven't just survived. They've successfully 00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:46.299 colonized an entire ecosystem. They're posing 00:33:46.299 --> 00:33:48.799 this escalating environmental threat that could 00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:51.480 last for centuries. So what does that say? What 00:33:51.480 --> 00:33:53.339 does it say about human control, or maybe the 00:33:53.339 --> 00:33:55.500 lack of it, that the most successful, the most 00:33:55.500 --> 00:33:57.619 self -sustaining entity to emerge from Pablo 00:33:57.619 --> 00:34:00.599 Escobar's entire multi -billion dollar empire? 00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:03.539 isn't the criminal network he founded, but a 00:34:03.539 --> 00:34:06.279 herd of invasive African megafauna thriving, 00:34:06.579 --> 00:34:09.380 basically uncontested, in the Colombian jungle. 00:34:09.500 --> 00:34:11.420 It's going to be the ultimate uncontrollable 00:34:11.420 --> 00:34:13.679 cost of a legacy built entirely on excess.