Fabio Ochoa Restrepo was a Paso Fino

Paso Fino

The Paso Fino is a naturally gaited light horse breed dating back to horses imported to the Caribbean from Spain. Pasos are prized for their smooth, natural, four beat, lateral ambling gait and are used in many disciplines, but are especially popular for trail riding...

 enthusiast, rancher, businessman, and patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

 of a notorious Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n crime family

Crime family

A crime family is a term used to describe a unit of an organized crime syndicate, often operating within a specific geographic territory. The term is used almost exclusively to refer to units of the Mafia, both in Sicily and in the United States, although it is occasionally used to refer to other...

 associated with the Medellín drug cartel

Medellín Cartel

The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and...

 of Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...

.
It is generally assumed that Ochoa himself was not linked to drug trafficking, although his sons are well-known for their involvement in the trade. Jorge Luis Ochoa

Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez

Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez was a Colombian drug trafficker who helped found the notorious Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s. The cartel's key members were Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, Jorge Ochoa and his brothers Juan David and Fabio.-Early years and the founding of the...

, was at one time considered the number two leader in the Medellin cartel: In 1996 he was arrested from a five year prison sentence in Colombia. Fabio Ochoa Vázquez

Fabio Ochoa Vázquez

Fabio Ochoa Vásquez was a ranking member of the notorious Medellín Cartel, which was one of the top Colombian cocaine trafficking groups. The youngest of the three Ochoa brothers, he lived in Miami, Florida during the 1970s...

 "Fabito" (b. 1957) was extradited to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in September 2001.

"In his autobiography, 'My life in the world of Horses,' published by a vanity press

Vanity press

A vanity press or vanity publisher is a term describing a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense. Publisher Johnathon Clifford claims to have coined the term in 1959. However, the term appears in mainstream U.S...

 Mr Ochoa writes that 'Don Fabio is to Colombia's Horse world what Garcia Marquez is to Colombia's world of letters or what Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist. His works feature a figurative style, called by some "Boterismo", which gives them an unmistakable identity...

 is to Colombia's world of painting." A 1989 picture of Fabio Ochoa Restrepo shows him signing his book which he planned to send to the Pope.

He was the subject of a brief segment in Full Circle with Michael Palin

Full Circle with Michael Palin

Full Circle with Michael Palin is the title of a 1997 documentary television series produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Presented by Michael Palin of Monty Python fame, Full Circle was one of a series of programmes in which Palin made unusual and interesting trips.The series...

.

He was portrayed in the 2006 documentary film Cocaine Cowboys

Cocaine Cowboys

Cocaine Cowboys is a 2006 documentary film directed by Billy Corben and produced by Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben through their Miami-based media studio Rakontur. The film explores the rise of cocaine and resulting crime epidemic that swept the American city of Miami, Florida in the 1970s and...

, where the former Medellín Cartel associate Jon Roberts

Jon Roberts

Jon Pernell Roberts is a noted drug trafficker who operated in the Miami area and was an associate of Colombia's Medellín Cartel during the growth phase in cocaine trafficking, 1975-1985. After his arrest, he was able to avoid a lengthy prison sentence by becoming a cooperating witness and...

said of him: "As many people want to believe that Pablo Escobar was the king of cocaine, they can believe that, but the man that was really the king was Ochoa".