14 Facts About Medellin cartel

The Medellin cartel operated from 1970 to 1993 in Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Central America, Peru, the Bahamas, the United States, as well as in Canada.

At the height of its operations, the Medellin Cartel smuggled multiple tons of cocaine each week into countries around the world and brought in up to US$60 million daily in drug profits.

At its height, the Medellin Cartel was the largest drug cartel in the world and smuggled three times as much cocaine as their main competitor, the Cali Cartel, an international drug-trafficking organization based in the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia.

Traditionally, Pablo and the Medellin Cartel had an arrangement with the Cali Cartel that resulted in Medellin controlling the cocaine trade in Miami, Cali controlling New York City, while both of them agreed to share Los Angeles and Houston.

The abduction of Carlos Lehder as well as the 1981 kidnapping of the sister of the Ochoas led to the creation of Medellin cartel-funded private armies that were created to fight off guerrillas who were trying to either redistribute their lands to local peasants, kidnap them, or extort the gramaje money that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attempted to steal.

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Medellin cartel is reported to have stashed his cash in “hidden coves, ” allegedly burying it on his farms and under floors in many of his houses.

However, very few Colombian Medellin cartel leaders were actually taken into custody as a result of these operations.

Mostly, non-Colombians conspiring with the Medellin cartel were the "fruits" of these indictments in the United States.

However, by 1993 most, if not all, Medellin cartel fugitives had been either imprisoned, or located and shot dead, by the Colombian National Police trained and assisted by specialized military units and the CIA.

In 1985, the DEA, knowing about Barry Seal ties with both the Medellin Cartel, made the pilot take pictures of the cartel's landing stripes in Nicaragua.

However, the Medellin cartel applied a "bend or break" strategy towards several of these supporters, using bribery, extortion, or violence.

Some claimed at the time that the Medellin cartel's influence was behind the M-19's raid, because of its interest in intimidating the Supreme Court.

In 1993, shortly before Escobar's death, the Medellin cartel lieutenants were targeted by the vigilante group Los Pepes.

DEA agents considered that their four-pronged "Kingpin Strategy", specifically targeting senior Medellin cartel figures, was a major contributing factor to the collapse of the organization.