| Fabio Restrepo Ochoa | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Died | Early March 1976 Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia |
| Affiliation | Gómez López Organization |
| Title(s) | Lieutenant |
Fabio Restrepo Ochoa (died early March 1976) was a Colombian drug lord and a lieutenant of Alfredo Gómez López in Medellín. A relative of the Ochoa drug clan, he was a crucial member of his boss El Padrino's smuggling operation and a key target of the authorities for these same activities: he was arrested along with several other narcotics barons in 1976 in an infamous raid on Eldorado International Airport in Bogotá, and was shortly thereafter released. However, upon his return to his native Medellín, he was killed in a hit orchestrated by up-and-coming traffickers Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa, his distant cousin, to attain control over the city's criminal underworld.
Biography[]
Fabio Restrepo Ochoa was born in Medellín, Antioquia, and he was related to a prominent Colombian family of horse breeders and drug traffickers. Through business deals he reached with his inherited wealth, he entered the narcotics and smuggling trade. He eventually began operating for the overall crime lord in the area at the time, Alfredo Gómez López, and partnered up with his other underling Jesús Emilio Escobar Fernández. After demonstrating their reliability to their leader, they both grew in importance in El Padrino's Organization and became the supervisors of the entire city of Medellín. Restrepo and Escobar Fernández were also responsible for setting up deals with the emerald miners of Boyacá and Bogotá. In February 1976, crime big Ignacio Aguirre called all the great contraband leaders of Antioquia to meet at a major conference in the Colombian capital, and the Medellín duo attended as Gómez López's delegation. The National Police caught wind of the reunion as it was concluding and arranged an operative to capture the capos as they were about to fly off from the Eldorado International Airport.
A command of policemen confronted the traffickers on the airstrip as the Paisas' plane took off, but Aguirre kept them at bay by firing at the officers with his men, in a shootout where both he and the leading commander were injured and one of Aguirre's underlings was killed. In any event, the Medellín lieutenants were detained while on the way home and taken back to Bogotá to face justice. While Restrepo, Escobar Fernández and Aguirre were transported to a detention center, their allies in the emerald business, the Murcia Fajardo brothers, arranged for an armed group led by the eldest, Héctor, to rescue the three of them by ramming into the police convoy. Despite this, the lawmen overpowered their assailants and had the brother and his people detained as well. After this extensive series of events, the four criminals went free on March 3, 1976 through appeal. Restrepo could not predict that when he returned home, new rivals would be waiting for him: young drug trafficking partners Pablo Escobar and Jorge Ochoa, Restrepo's relative, wished to take over criminal operations in Medellín after Gómez López's departure, and he was one of the main challenges in their path. Shortly after coming back to the city, he was shot dead, paving the way for the eventual rise of the Medellin Cartel.