Pablo Escobar's Kevo

Pablo Gaviria, who would become one of the richest men in the world, was born into modest circumstances in the village of Rionegro, seventeen miles from Medellin, Colombia. His reign started in the 1970s when he and two other men, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez and Carlos Lehder Rivas, started a new generation of Colombian narcotics trafficking. They came to power in Medellin where they monopolized the production of cocaine and were the first to mass market it in North America. The trio controlled every phase of the operation from manufacturing, to distribution, to political payoffs.

Gaviria was arrested in 1976 for possession of thirty-nine pounds of cocaine, but the arresting officer was soon killed, and nine judges refused to hear the case after receiving death threats. The official records disappeared from the courthouse and Gaviria was never tried. Fabio Ochoa Restrepo had formed a cartel to squeeze out independents and contain losses from drug seizures by the Colombian or U.S. governments. In the bargain, Gaviria's people controlled U.S. distribution, laboratories, transportation, and aircraft; partner Ochoa Vasquez provided muscle and bribes to officials.

At one point, the Medellin cartel controlled roughly eighty percent of the cocaine in the country, bringing coca paste from Bolivia and Peru to secret laboratories and shipping the final product to warehouses in the Bahamas, and Mexico.
Work History
1970 Gaviria came to power in Medellin, he was part of a new generation of Colombian narcotics traffickers. Gaviria monopolized production of cocaine and was the first to "mass market" it in North America. He controlled the operations from manufacturing, distribution, to political payoffs.

1982 Gaviria was elected to the Colombian Congress as an alternate representative from Antioquia, giving him immunity from arrest.

1984, the Medellin cartel controlled roughly 80% of the cocaine in the country. They brought in coca paste from Bolivia and Peru to secret laboratories in Colombia, Nicaragua, and Panama, then shipped the final product to warehouses in Bahamas, Mexico, the Caicos, and Turk Islands.