Medellin Cartel

The Medellin Cartel is a large Colombian cartel. It was formed in the city Medellin by 7 businessmen. This included Pablo Escobar, Jose Gacha, Gustavo Gaviria, Carlos Lehder, Jorge Ochoa, Fabio Ochoa and Juan Ochoa. They formed the cartel after the fall of the Maldeira Cartel, which held slight influence over Colombia. Over time, it also started severely rivalling the Cali Cartel, Cartel de la Sierra, Autodefensas and Los Pepes.

History

The Maldeira Cartel was in control of Colombia. However, eventually the Maldeira Cartel started losing influence due to Giovanni Maldeira's newly formed alliance with the Black Hand, an Italian Mafia group. Pablo Escobar commenced drug production together with various other businessmen.

Founding Members

A major drug lord was Jose Gacha. He was well known for killing his associates. However, this did not halt Pablo's alliance with Gacha. Jose Gacha grew rich through emerald mines and with that could fund his drug operations and eventually the operations of the Medellin Cartel. Jose Gacha eventually grew mistrusting of Pablo and split off. He formed his own cartel, Cartel de la Sierra. He co-founded it with various other individuals but Jose Gacha was the main don.

Together with his cousin, Gustavo Gaviria, Pablo formed the Medellin Cartel. Gustavo was in charge of the cartel's finances and trade routes. Gustavo was regarded as the cartels second in command, though Jose Gacha was also widely regarded as second in command during his asssociateship.

One of the other founding members was Carlos Lehder, a Germanic-Colombian drug trafficker. At age 24 he started aviation classes. He created some routes from Colombia to the Germanic Zone of America and the Neutral Zone. He was also known to have extreme right wing ideas.

Three Ochoa brothers served the Medellin Cartel. Two of which were Jorge and Juan Ochoa, who were the co-founders of the Medellin Cartel. Fabio Ochoa joined the cartel as well and eventually was reported to be the chief executive of the family business. The three brothers grew mistrusting of Pablo over time. Their distrust increased after Jose Gacha left the cartel. Following Gacha's leave, the Ochoa brothers were visited by the Cali Cartel don, Pacho Herrera. Pacho informed the Ochoa brothers that Pablo was planning a surrender and didn't include the brothers. With help of the Cali Cartel, the Ochoa brothers made a deal with judicial system to get away with their crimes in exchange for five years of prison time.

Establishment of the Cartel

The Maldeira Cartel was the largest cartel to exist. It also ruled over Colombia. Various drug lords worked for the Maldeira Cartel. A primary example is Jose Gacha. The Maldeira Cartel started aligning with the Mafia, particularly the Black Hand. Giovanni Maldeira, the ruler of the Maldeira Cartel, started replacing the widely regarded skilled Hispanic leaders with Italian leaders. This was widely disliked by many members of the Maldeira Cartel. In Mexico, cartels started revolting against Maldeira. The Sinaloa Cartel was the first one to do so. This inspired many members of the Maldeira Cartel to start doing the same.

Giovanni Maldeira divided his territory and allowed certain people to represent him in those areas. In Colombia, Vito Changretta and Arnold Rothstein were put in charge. Jose Gacha severely disliked them. Other drug traffickers like the Gentlemen of Cali also disliked the Italians. They threatened Arnold Rothstein. Jose Gacha however disliked them so much he sent two hitmen to kill Arnold at the airport he was headed. Arnold attempted to flee the country but was ambushed by Gacha's hitmen. Arnold was accompanied by three guards, all three of which were killed. Arnold fled the scene and survived. It came as a shock to Colombia and the Maldeira Cartel. The Gentlemen of Cali were terrified of receiving the blame, though it was Jose Gacha who ordered the assassination.

Pablo Escobar and his cousin Gustavo Gaviria liked Jose Gacha. They wanted to form a cartel with him. Jose Gacha was known for murdering associates, but Pablo didn't mind. Pablo, Gustavo and Gacha started collaborating. The Ochoa brothers and Carlos Lehder also started collaborating alongside Pablo. The Medellin Cartel was formed.

Growth of the Cartel

Swiftly, the Medellin Cartel started growing. They made most cops in Medellin corrupt. They sided alongside other groups to grow stronger. The Medellin Cartel created large amounts of labs in jungles. Pablo Escobar made himself the leader, with the other leaders funding his operations.

George Jung, well known as El Lion or the Lion, was the chief smuggler and smuggled most of the cocaine into Miami. Another member of the Medellin Cartel was Mateo Moreno. He was the chief chemist, who was in charge of the labs and production of the drugs. Roberto Ramos and Jairo Velasco are the heads of security. Gerardo Moncada and Diego Murillo are capos.

Pablo Escobar's Publicity

Pablo Escobar wanted to become president of Colombia. He became extremely popular. He made himself popular primarily amongst poor people. However, Pablo was exposed for being a drug trafficker. The other members of the Cartel opposed Pablo becoming president. After Pablo's exposure the Colombian Police went after the Medellin Cartel.

Vito Changretta and Arnold Rothstein attempted to flee Colombia. They went to a different airport this time. Vito Changretta was immediately attacked by the two hitmen. A large gunfight erupted between the bodyguards of Vito Changretta & Arnold Rothstein and the hitmen. A large amount of civilians were killed. The hitmen ended up being killed as well. Vito Changretta and Arnold Rothstein left the country regardless.

Following the escape of Vito Changretta and Arnold Rothstein, the Maldeira Cartel had little left in Colombia. A mafia boss, Bonito Changretta, seized control of the remaining Maldeira's forces in Colombia. He was keen to take revenge. He attacked local gangs. He also urged Luca Changretta to seize control of the Maldeira Cartel.

Due to Pablo's publicity, Bonito Changretta started targetting him. Pablo arranged a meeting of all leaders of the Medellin Cartel at a hotel. Bonito Changretta found out about this and together with a large amount of mafiosi they raided the hotel. They taunted Pablo Escobar and his associates. They also killed a few sicarios. Bonito Changretta gathered about 250 mafiosi and shot up several labs and hotels belonging to the Medellin Cartel. None of the dons were harmed. However, high amounts of casualties were still made, many of whom were sicarios, wives and children of sicarios or dons and numerous civilians. Bonito's mafiosi and he himself left the country. This was considered a big hit to the Medellin Cartel.

The leaders of the Medellin Cartel were startled by the attacks. However, the mafiosi already left Colombia, effectively ending the Maldeira Cartel influence in Colombia. Regardless, Jose Gacha severely disliked Pablo Escobar's publicity stunt and decided to leave the cartel. He formed his own criminal organization, Cartel de la Sierra. Cartel de la Sierra immediately attacked large amounts of labs and killed a large amount of sicarios as well. This was the second large setback for the Medellin Cartel.