The introduction of two chefs known as the Stomach Brothers addressed Pablo's concerns about getting poisoned. He enjoyed beans, pork, eggs and rice. He'd installed exercise equipment such as weights and bikes for the prisoners to get in shape, but as they were no longer on the run and had access to endless food and alcohol, they started to gain weight.
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The Cathedral became known as "Club Medellín" or "Hotel Escobar." Hustler magazine published an illustration of Pablo and his associates partying in prison, throwing darts at a picture of President George HW Bush. Pablo obtained the illustration and hung it on his wall.
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Communications were a priority. Pablo had cell phones, radio transmitters, a fax machine and beepers. Roberto has denied allegations by other authors that Pablo used carrier pigeons.
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With the government protecting him instead of hunting him down, Pablo's cocaine business thrived. Father Garcia tried to help Pablo make peace with the Cali Cartel. He Arrange for Pablo to speak to its leaders, but little progress was made as they were too stubborn. "I don't believe a word of those two," Pablo told Roberto. A DAS agent working as prison security discovered that the Cali Cartel had bought four bombs from El Salvador, and was attempting to buy a plane to drop them on the Cathedral. From then on, the guards fired at any planes flying too close to the prison.
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To address legal problems, Pablo had thirty lawyers working for him almost full-time. He was facing an indictment for being the intellectual author of the murder of the presidential candidate, Galán. One of Pablo's men, La Quica, was arrested in New York for traveling with a fake passport, and was accused of being a player in the bombing of Avianca Flight 203. During a raid of one of Pablo's properties, the authorities found paperwork linking Pablo to the assassination of the journalist, Guillermo Cano.
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When he wasn't meeting his lawyers, Pablo was usually on the telephone or reading. He tried to learn Mandarin. At nights, he sat in a rocking chair and watched the lights come on in Envigado, while thinking about his family.
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He received endless letters from people asking for help, business advice and money. If their stories checked out, Pablo often sent them cash. A teenager sent a photo of herself in a wedding dress and a letter offering her virginity in exchange for Pablo paying her college fees, so she could become a lawyer. After her story was confirmed, he paid the fees, without taking her offer up. People also gathered at the prison gate with notes for Pablo, seeking his assistance.
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On December 1, 1991, Pablo celebrated his forty-second birthday with a party in the Cathedral, where his guests ate caviar and pink salmon while listening to live music. His gifts included a Russian fur hat from his mother. Photographed wearing it, he declared it would be his trademark.
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Pablo took trips to watch soccer games at the stadium he'd built in Medellín. The police diverted traffic to allow his vehicles access. He went Christmas shopping at a mall. He spent the one-year anniversary of his surrender at a nightclub with family and friends.
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When the government attempted to build a maximum-security prison based on the American model to transfer Pablo to, no construction company would accept the job. One said, "We're not going to build a cage with the lion already inside." Finally, a company owned by an Israeli security expert attempted to build it, with supposedly incorruptible workers from afar. Watching the work crew, Pablo's men started writing down their license-plate numbers, and eventually attacked them, causing many to quit. The project was abandoned.
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In early 1992, the attorney general's office published photos taken at Hotel Escobar, including waterbeds, Jacuzzis, big-screen TVs...The embarrassed president commissioned an investigation, but the justice minister found that the furnishings were legal because each prisoner was allowed a bed and a bathtub, and TVs were permitted for good behaviour.
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"I want all of these things taken out immediately!" the president said. "Tell the army to go in there and take everything. Escobar has to know we're not kidding."
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No government department wanted the job. "No way," the minister of defence said. "I cannot do it because I don't have the people." When it was pointed out that he had 120,000 troops, he still refused the assignment.
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Due to the deal struck with Pablo, the police couldn't do it. The DAS said that they couldn't act because they were only allowed inside the prison in the event of a riot.
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In the end, a lawyer was told to take a truck and some workers, and to go to the prison and get the goods. "What have I ever done to you?" the lawyer responded. "Why'd you give me this assignment?"
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Banking on the truck not being allowed to enter the prison, so he could turn around and go home, the lawyer set off. When he arrived, the prison gate opened and Pablo waved them in.
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Upon being told why they were there, Pablo said, "Certainly, Doctor. I didn't know these things bothered you. Please, take everything out." Pablo and his men helped them carry the goods until everything was gone.
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The lawyer rushed to his boss with photos of the bare prison. While the president was examining the photos, all of the goods were heading back to the Cathedral.
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Pablo claimed that his imprisonment was a personal sacrifice for the good of all of the traffickers - for whom he'd single-handedly got rid of extradition. Due to the benefits they were receiving, they were expected to compensate him by paying a tax. In prison, Pablo was tuned into everything going on outside thanks to his extensive communications network. Those who tried to cheat him out of the tax or were perceived to have swindled him in any way were dealt with harshly.
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Pablo's friends, Fernando Galeano and Kiko Moncada, ran two of the biggest trafficking groups that Pablo taxed. They were smuggling cocaine into America via a route that Pablo had established through Mexico. Word trickled back to the Cathedral that they'd been short-changing Pablo, who viewed their deceit as a prelude to a takeover of his organisation. Pablo learned where they stashed their money. His men confiscated $20 million. After denying Pablo's allegations, Galeano and Moncada asked for it back. He told them that he wanted to discuss it in person at the prison.
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Pablo gave Galeano and Moncada a lecture about everything that he'd done for them. According to Roberto, they were killed after they'd left the Cathedral: Popeye killed Moncada and Otto shot Galeano. Within days, their brothers were also killed. Their distraught families begged for their corpses to give them proper burials, so Pablo told them where to find them.
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Pablo wanted all of the property belonging to their organisations. Their employees were told that they worked for Pablo. Their key people were smuggled into the Cathedral through a secret tunnel to attend a meeting, many of them thinking they would die.
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"I'm declaring an emergency," Pablo said. "Your bosses are already dead. Now you'll turn over all their resources to me. If you lie, you'll die very painfully." He reminded them that he was the boss. He said that they'd all be safe provided they paid him the tax.
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The DEA recorded a version of events based on an informant's statement:
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