Why did Pablo Escobar approved the execution of his partners Moncada and Galeano?
In this rather summarized version, I'll try to detail one of the events that can be considered as a main artifact for the downfall of the Medellín cartel:
The killings of the two "ghost-barons", associates, and possibly successors of Escobar — Luis Fernando Galeano Berrío and Gerardo Moncada Cuartas — alongside many of their family relatives such as brothers (Julio Moncada, Francisco M. Galeano and more), friends, collaborators, accountants and so forth.
Two capos and friends of Pablo Escobar Gaviria whose deaths marked the start of another period of bloodshed for the country, which had been reduced (partially) with his 'auto-incarceration'.
These events are still not clear to this day. There are many versions pointing to "x" and "y". With this in mind, this is a carefully analyzed and researched review, hopefully it can provide you all a different perspective and theories open to discussion.
Who were Luis Fernando "El Negro" Galeano and Gerardo "Kiko" Moncada?
For those who have been following the posts in the last months perhaps are tired of reading this, but for newer members:
The Extraditables weren't formed only by the names which appeared on the headlines — Escobar, Gacha, Ochoas, Lehder etc — it involved many other characters who were at most times not even known to the public eye.
Just like other associated partners, the Galeano and Moncada families were heavyweights of the infrastructure who aided with financial, infrastructural and logistical resources alongside other related activities for the organization dating back to the beginnings of the war with the state in the 80's.
While there were investigations about links and names of the so called "invisibles" of the cartel, at most times the lack of reliable proofs for building solid cases, combined with the corruption present in all judicial spheres of the system, made it incredibly difficult for the authorities to persecute these capos. And while there were arrests, poor evidence and connections always benefited the traffickers.
The Agreements
While Escobar and some of his lieutenants were at his private finca in Envigado — referred by the government as the high security facility La Catedral — other partners kept managing the business to secure their most valuable mean: money.
Since his infrastructural schemes were harshly attacked by the authorities during the first period of the war, one of the versions that stands out is that there was a system of impuestos (taxes), where it was established that Pablo would receive percentages and a route-sharing system was agreed between other traquetos (traffickers), complying autonomy, rules, management and such authorized by El Doctor.
The Cause
The conflict presumably started in the late days of June to the first days of July 1992. The vendetta was the result of the discovery and theft of a hideout with an amount of US$ 20 million dollars, located in the municipality of Itagüí south of Medellín, belonging to the Galeano brothers.
Two trabajadores (workers) of the cartel — Tití and Freddy — discovered this safe-house and stole all the money.
The 'Versions of the Cartel'
Prior to this discovery of the safehouse, it's said some of the lieutenants of the terrorist wing of the cartel were carrying a grudge not only against the Galeanos but also the Moncadas. Seeing how their patrón was now limited and others started controlling certain aspects they were not aware of in the narco-scheme. In addition to them not carrying out terrorist activities like before, having to finance their way with kidnappings, extortion, and such. Perhaps, it was all premeditated — sooner or later it would happen. The theft only served to feed the real intentions of the lieutenants.
El Pablo Escobar de la Calle
The self-assured subject who called himself "Pablo Escobar de la calle" or "El rey de los bandidos" (Pablo Escobar from the hood / The king of thugs).
Mario Alberto Castaño Molina, known as 'Chopo', lieutenant whose reputation of controlling things under the law of fear over others was notorious in the underworld, was perhaps one of the main influencers on the attacks on the Moncada and Galeano families. To have such a nickname in an organization of this magnitude can give you an idea of the kind of person Chopo was.
Mario, who carried a fat belly and was only 1.55 meters of height (5.08ft), who in his head perhaps thought he was a capo of the cartel, felt diminished and insulted by certain commentaries of relatives of the families when dealing with Escobar, saying that: "the bandidos are only here to serve their bosses" — a risky thought to be pronounced out loud when most criminals of the cartel were the ones holding power on the streets for the organization, having complete control of every criminal cell on their sights.
Treason by Galeano and Moncada, or Fantasy?
As you might know, Fidel and Carlos Castaño were active Medellín cartel members. However, the relationship between the capo and the brothers had already weakened from past occurrences. As Carlos stated:
"I knew Pablo wanted to kill me from a long time ago (prior to 1992), but until the deaths of Moncada and Galeano his relationship with Fidel was casual. After that occurrence is when we decided to openly declare war on him."
Supposedly, there were reports from informants of Pablo that Moncada, Galeano, the Castaños and other people who belonged to their infrastructures connected to the Medellín cartel were holding meetings with the capos from Cali — Escobar's nemesis.
However, it's not sure exactly if this relationship took place or if it was something spread by Escobar and his agents to distract from the real side of the story.
The 'Caleta' — The Safe-House
Coming back to the theft of Tití and Freddy: the stolen money was possibly one of the insurances held by the associates of the cartel, that could re-establish their empire with multiple 'boxes' like these in case something went wrong with the business.
In some versions, the person who discovered this money was actually a trabajador of Tití called El Ñato, who later was investigated by Arete and other agents of the Galeano's wing. There are other variants of these versions and some different anecdotes, but it's up for interpretation as always.
The version which I think seems to be more accurate, considering the person who told it: Luis Fernando Acosta Mejía, known as Ñangas, who was a direct member of the organization where Freddy, Tití, Ñato, Tarzán, Bolis and many other workers of Chopo acted.
The story goes that Tití and Freddy were in a disco as usual, and one acquaintance of them was with a girlfriend offering to pay some tragos (drinks). The acquaintance told them his girlfriend's father 'took care' of some money for a person and used to put the money on the sun, to avoid getting rotten. Whenever she could take advantage of her father's carelessness she would steal some amounts to party and for herself.
The bandidos with a vast record of crimes immediately saw the opportunity. The next day, Tití and Freddy arranged with their acquaintance a plan to steal those dollars, which at first, they never imagined how much it was. The girl didn't need much to be convinced and agreed to participate, believing she could get rich taking part in it. Getting in the house was easy with her instructions; her father was obliged to give all the money that almost didn't fit in the car.
Realizing the amount could only belong to someone very important, they murdered the woman and the father to eliminate anything that could trace back to them.
According to Ñangas, for the next days things were complicated.
Luis Fernando Galeano had personally gone to La Catedral to reason the situation with Pablo. The capo told his associate he was going to put all his combos to investigate. Other 'top dogs' of the cartel like Arete, Cuchilla, Tayson, Comanche, Pájaro started their investigations and everyone needed to respond for this theft, creating a tense atmosphere between the members.
In the middle of these investigations, one day in Envigado, Chopo organized a meeting in one of the many residences used by the cartel. Ñangas said:
"In this meeting besides me there were Chopo, Arete, Juan Kaka, Tití and Freddy. Chopo had gathered them to analyze the situation until out of nowhere Tití looked at us and said: 'Chopo! I stole this plata (money) with Freddy.' Everyone looked at him surprised, but at the same time worried. This definitely wouldn't be good for their colleagues who would either have to find a negotiated deal or would have to be killed for messing with the big fish of the cartel."
Ñangas also recalled:
"Chopo, intelligent as always, said to the guys: 'Let's go up to La Catedral and tell our patrón everything that's going on.' That day, Chopo, Freddy and Tití went to La Catedral to explain the whole situation. Other workers who already knew weren't sure of the outcome and feared for the lives of their friends. The next day, Chopo gathered the group and said: 'Get ready for the war that's gonna be. Pablo agreed and said we should leave some of that money to him and he's gonna face them.'"
Un Golpe de Estado en el Cartel — A Coup in the Cartel
Without thinking twice, Escobar and his ready-to-act mercenaries set in motion the vendetta against not only the Galeanos, but also the Moncadas, who were considered traitors as well. In the first days of July 1992 and the following weeks, the lieutenants of Escobar took part in a massive murder, kidnap, extortion, and torture streak. On official sources, about 50 people were listed as disappeared, some whose names were not even known. With that said, you can imagine the list is way larger.
"It wasn't fair for el patrón to be incarcerated and these people have massive sums of money under their belts. The agreements were also starting to get loose and they weren't following the treaties." — Chopo
The objective was to obtain as much money, properties, contacts and safe-houses as possible, killing anyone that could be considered "disposable" or people that could think of retaliation such as lieutenants and escorts.
Perhaps one of the most commented versions about these events is Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez's (Popeye) one: Pablo gathered the partners at La Catedral, explained to both why they were kidnapped and were later executed and burnt there. While this character had his protagonism alongside Escobar and the others, there seems to be more involved in all of this barbaric act.
More ghastly versions point out that Comanche, Chopo, Arete, Tayson and other trabajadores kidnapped and brutally executed Kiko and Negro. At first, it was Luis Fernando who was kidnapped and brought to La Catedral. In the words of Diego Bejarano (Berna):
"They used a nail gun multiple times in his body and made him give up all his valuable assets, for later be brutally murdered and thrown into the Cauca river."
The same theory goes for Kiko, who was kidnapped and was a victim of tortures and extortion before having his life taken.
At the same time, more cells of the trigger-happy sicarios went to their relatives' houses to continue their rebellion. Many who didn't understand what was going on were forced to get into cars and were reunited with other kidnapped members: accountants, friends, launderers — anyone that could provide contacts for routes, information, planes, boats.
Escobar wanted all related to their trafficking schemes. Collaborators of the persecuted families were brought to La Catedral to hear what was happening. The bandidos demanded the families pay exorbitant amounts of money to 'recover' the bodies of their relatives — the cases of Luis Fernando, Francisco Mario Galeano and others. Other families who were connected to the former partners were also kidnapped and killed; some disappeared, others left scattered around municipalities nearby Medellín.
The Aftermath
This event — authorized by Escobar, but orchestrated and influenced by his lieutenants of maximum trust — would make the families of the deceased seek out justice. The survivors who were relatives of Kiko and Negro, as well as other families involved, went to the attorney general and explained the situation taking place at the "prison" La Catedral.
To other mafiosos who completely disapproved of this, it was the beginning of the end of ties with Escobar — the "rat and traitor" — that would now have his former friends as enemies. The rumors and speculations, added to the pressure by the population due to the lack of authority of the government, made them organize the operation to inspect and investigate the so-called 'activities' of the maximum leader of the cartel, which resulted in his escape and a discreditable reputation for the government.
If you've been following these topics, most certainly you might have heard and read certain testimonies of Escobar's relatives implying he "never let anybody influence him", "he did whatever he thought, without considering others". I believe this brief summary can prove this to be otherwise and show that Escobar wasn't the only mind carrying out the organization.