Ali Pasha exchanged Fotos Tzavellas with prominent Albanian leaders who had been captured by the Souliotes. Ali was keen to subjugate the latter, so he built defensive towers around their mountainous homeland and waited for famine to force them to surrender. A semblance of peace was restored when Fotos agreed to leave Souli, but first he burned his own house to ensure that no Turk would ever use it. He was imprisoned in Ioannina but was released to negotiate the permanent surrender of the Souliotes, while his wife and children were kept as hostages. Fotos refused to serve as Ali’s pawn, despite the obvious danger to his family. Eventually, the Souliotes were exiled to Corfu, where Fotos died in 1811, possibly poisoned by Ali Pasha. He left behind his wife and many children.