Can you provide a link to both of these claims. I'm interested in Medellin murder rate during Escobar's height. Was the Medellin Cartel mainly had operations presence in Medellin or did they also operate in other cities/part of the country?

Edit:I found a link to Escobar's Medellin at it's height of it's killings.

"The city has earned its bragging rights. Once home to the world's most notorious and violent drug cartel, headed by Pablo Escobar, Medellín witnessed 6,349 killings in 1991, a murder rate of 380 per 100,000 people. The rate has since fallen more than 80%, thanks in part to a string of innovative mayors who laid out plans to integrate the poorest and most violent hillside neighbourhoods into the city centre in the valley below.

A cable car system, linked to the modern and spotless metro, moves tens of thousands of hillside residents each day, dramatically cutting commuting times to the city centre. Futuristic-looking libraries and schools have been set amid the makeshift homes of the underprivileged. And after decades of having to climb hundreds of stairs to their homes, residents of the Comuna 13 district can now ride an escalator 1,300ft up.

It's not just transport: education, social programmes and participatory budgets have all been leveraged to transform the lives of the most underprivileged residents in this city of 2.2 million. "The idea has been to bring institutions closer to citizens," mayor Aníbal Gaviria told the forum."

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/a...rld-urban-forum

Why was the murder rate so high? Was the Medellin Cartel fighting the Cali Cartel or what?