Medellin inspired chainsaw killing scene in 'Scarface'

[Judi Lynn]

Medellin inspired chainsaw killing scene in 'Scarface'
By Ralph Riegel
Thursday July 24 2008

RUTHLESS business dealings and horrific violence are bywords for the Medellin cocaine cartel in Colombia.

So powerful did the Central American drugs gang become that they were deemed a direct threat to the security of several countries including the US.

The cartel came to be personified by Pablo Escobar who insisted on living the hedonistic life of a rock star -- while making millions from one of the most ruthlessly violent drug gangs in history.

Escobar coined the cartel's infamous phrase, 'plata or plomo', Spanish for 'silver or lead' -- accept a bribe or face a bullet.

At one point, the Medellin cartel was estimated to be earning more than US$60m a month from wholesale cocaine sales -- and, by the mid-1990s, the cartel members were believed to control an empire worth a staggering $30bn.

Escobar -- a founder of the cartel -- was eventually killed after the cartel had waged a savage war against its opponents in Colombia, killing as many as 3,500 people including more than 500 police officers in Medellin alone.

More:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/medellin-inspired-chainsaw-killing-scene-in-scarface-1439085.html