![pablo escobar the drug lord wikia pablo escobar the drug lord wikia](http://www.themost10.com/wp-content/uploads/Pablo-Escobar-700x400.jpg)
The number of Colombian Cartel Leaders actually taken into custody as a result of these operations, was very few. Evidence would be gathered, compiled and presented to a Grand Jury, resulting in indictments, arrests and prison sentences, for those convicted.
![pablo escobar the drug lord wikia pablo escobar the drug lord wikia](https://hips.hearstapps.com/esq.h-cdn.co/assets/16/35/2048x1024/landscape-1472486453-wagner-moura-narcos.jpg)
![pablo escobar the drug lord wikia pablo escobar the drug lord wikia](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/15AB6/production/_114585788_gettyimages-499638336.jpg)
Once authorities were made aware of "questionable activities", the group would be put under Federal Drug Task Force surveillance. This drug trade has made the Cartel richer than most undeveloped nations. The total amount of money made by the Cartel was in the tens of billions, and very possibly the hundreds of billions of dollars. It was founded and run by Pablo Escobar together with the Ochoa Vázquez brothers Jorge Luis, Juan David, and Fabio.ĭuring the height of its operations, the Cartel brought in more than $60 million per day, with Pablo Escobar making at least half a million dollars a week. The Cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and even Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Colombia is one of the places where coca plants grow naturally, making cocaine production easy. The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. Some historians and politicians claim that the War on Drugs has caused more casualties than the entire War on Terror. The War on Drugs still continues today, and is one of the most controversial policies in US history. However this increased hostility against drugs was a double edged sword creating racial tensions, political instability, poverty, political corruption, violence and prison overpopulation on a massive scale while drug usage overall has not decreased. The USA sometimes justified this by claiming that the cartels were supported by communist nations, which in some cases they were to destabilize American allies. The USA would even assist other American nations by sending the US military to invade land operated by the criminal cartels. Originally designed to be a crackdown on drug trafficking and usage in the USA, the War on Drugs devolved into a literal war involving military operations and militarization of police within North, Central and South America. Nixon along with every president who succeeded him (including most noticeably Ronald Reagan) continued the War on Drugs. The term 'War on Drugs' was originally coined after a press conference given on June 18, 1971, by United States President Richard Nixon.