More than three decades after the death of Pablo Escobar, Colombia continues dismantling the financial shadows left behind by the infamous Medellín Cartel. On Monday, September 1, the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police announced the seizure of two properties in Medellín linked to Roberto de Jesús Escobar —the late drug lord’s brother— and Sebastián Alzate, a feared cartel hitman boss better known as alias “El Arete.”

Authorities revealed that both properties, valued at over 1 billion Colombian pesos (about US$250,000), were acquired with cartel funds and hidden under the names of frontmen. Investigators say this is yet another step in unraveling the sophisticated web of real estate and shell ownership that Escobar and his associates built to safeguard their fortune.

A Long Shadow of Dirty Money

According to the Attorney General’s Office, Pablo Escobar relied heavily on relatives and trusted associates to launder money through fraudulent property deals. “New material evidence allowed us to identify two properties in Medellín purchased with illicit profits,” authorities stated.

One of the seized assets is a building in the Aranjuez neighborhood, half-owned by Roberto Escobar since 1979. Investigators believe his share was financed through cartel operations. The second property is linked to a close associate of Alzate, acquired during the years when he commanded Escobar’s feared sicario (hitman) network, amassing wealth through cocaine shipments and terrorist attacks.

Roberto Escobar: From Cartel Accountant to Controversial Entrepreneur

Known as “El Osito,” Roberto Escobar, now 78, managed the cartel’s finances during its peak in the 1980s. Though he kept a lower profile than his brother, his role was critical. After multiple prison sentences, Roberto later reinvented himself in Medellín as a businessman, pushing the controversial Escobar Inc. brand and even opening a private museum dedicated to his brother’s legacy.

That museum, valued at 12 billion pesos (US$3 million), was also seized in 2023 after years of legal battles. For Colombian authorities, Roberto remains a symbol of how Escobar’s empire still echoes through property disputes and asset seizures decades after the cartel’s downfall.

Sebastián Alzate: The Ghost of Medellín’s Violence

Far more feared was Sebastián Alzate, alias El Arete, once one of Escobar’s closest sicarios. He is believed to have orchestrated assassinations and bombings, including the devastating 1989 attack on Colombia’s DAS intelligence headquarters. Captured in 1991, Alzate served 10 years in prison, later surviving an assassination attempt. His current whereabouts remain unknown, and he is still wanted for past crimes.

A Fight That Hasn’t Ended

These new seizures represent another blow to the cartel’s hidden fortunes, even decades after Escobar’s death in 1993. Authorities estimate that millions of dollars in cartel money remain scattered in Colombia, buried in false ownership networks and hidden properties. Each recovery is both a financial strike and a symbolic reminder of the country’s ongoing fight against the legacy of narco-violence.

For Medellín, a city long defined by Escobar’s reign of terror, each confiscation is another effort to close the chapter on its darkest past — and reclaim its future.