Los Priscos were a criminal group affiliated with the Medellin Cartel in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. In the 1980s and early 1990s they participated in several assassinations in Colombia. They were often described as functioning like the ‘armed-wing of Medellin’. The group is named after the four Prisco Lopera brothers: Armando Alberto, Eneas, Jose Rodolfo and David Ricardo. There was a fifth brother, Conrado Antonio, a doctor. Conrado was well respected in the medical community, but he was the personal physician to

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...

. Conrado is thought to have been kidnapped and murdered on the orders of Pablo Escobar in

Cocorná Cocorná is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia. The population was 14,743 at the 2018 census. It is part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. Geography Cocorná has an extension of 210 km², with a mount ...

, in eastern Antioquia. Another doctor, Edgar de Jesus Botero Prisco, a first cousin to the brothers, was also killed. The Priscos were involved in murder and attacks that the head of the Medellin cartel, Pablo Escobar, ordered between 1984 and 1990. They have been linked to the assassinations of Justice Minister

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla Rodrigo Lara Bonilla ( es, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla; August 11, 1946 – April 30, 1984) was a Colombian lawyer and politician, who served as Minister of Justice under President Belisario Betancur, and was assassinated by orders of Pablo Escobar bec ...

, director of ''

El Espectador ''El Espectador'' (meaning "The Spectator") is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It changed from a daily to a weekly editio ...

'',

Guillermo Cano Isaza Guillermo Cano Isaza (12 August 1925 – 17 December 1986) was a Colombian journalist. Biography Guillermo Cano was the heir of Fidel Cano Gutiérrez, the founder of ''El Espectador''. As a journalist, he had worked on the paper's bullfight ...

; Hernando Baquero Borda magistrate; First Superior Judge

Tulio Manuel Castro Gil Tulio is a male given name of Latin origin (originally Tullius), which means "the one who leads". It is a fairly common given name in Spanish-speaking countries. Other popular forms are Tullio (Italian) and Túlio (Portuguese). Given name or nickn ...

; Attorney

Carlos Mauro Hoyos Carlos Mauro Hoyos Jiménez ( Támesis, Antioquia, July 26, 1939 – Rionegro, Antioquia, January 25, 1988) was a Colombian jurist and politician. He was the general inspector of the nation from September 1987 until he was kidnapped and assassi ...

, governor of Antioquia,

Antonio Roldán Betancur Antonio Roldan Betancur (1946-July 4, 1989) was a Colombian politician. He was once the governor of the department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia, from 1988 until his death in 1989. Roldan Betancur was also a medical doctor and a community sp ...

; Colonel

Waldemar Franklin Quintero Colonel Valdemar Franklin Quintero (January 26, 1941 – August 18, 1989) was the commander of the Colombian National Police in ''Antioquia Province''. Franklin had led several major raids which resulted in the seizure of multiple tons of cocaine. ...

, Colonel Jaime Ramirez, the head of the transit section of Medellin,

Mauro Alfredo Benjumea Mauro may refer to: Given name * Mauro (footballer, born 1932), Brazilian footballer * Mauro Silva (footballer, born 1978), Brazilian footballer * Mauro (footballer, born 1984), Portuguese footballer * Bruno Mauro (born 1973), Angolan footballer ...

, of the judges of the Court of that city, Alvaro Medina Ochoa and

Gustavo Zuluaga Serna Gustavo is the Latinate form of a Germanic male given name with respective prevalence in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It has been a common name for Swedish monarchs since the reign of Gustav Vasa. It is derived from Gustav /ˈɡʊstɑːv/, a ...

, and an attack on Chamber representative Alberto Villamizar, among other crimes. This criminal group was dismantled on January 22, 1991, when David Ricardo Prisco, head of the organization, died on the same day as his brother Armando, in two separate operations developed by the National Police of Colombia in Medellin and

Rionegro Rionegro () is a city and Municipalities of Colombia, municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia, located in the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. The official name of the city is "Ciudad Santiago de Arma de Rionegro". Rio Negro means "Black R ...

respectively.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Priscos, Los Organizations established in the 1980s 1980s establishments in Colombia Organizations disestablished in 1991 1991 disestablishments in Colombia Medellín Cartel Organized crime groups in Colombia Terrorism in Colombia