Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and politician, who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel.

Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar was one of the wealthiest criminals in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death—equivalent to $70 billion as of 2022—while his drug cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Born in Rionegro and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín, but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on 1 December 1949 in Rionegro, Antioquia Department.

He was the third of seven children and grew up in poverty, in the neighboring city of Medellín.

His father was a small farmer and his mother was a teacher.

Escobar left high school in 1966 just before his 17th birthday, before returning two years later with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria.

At this time, the hard life on the streets of Medellín had polished them into gangster bullies in the eyes of teachers.

The two dropped out of school after more than a year, but Escobar did not give up.

Having forged a high school diploma, he studied briefly in college with the goal of becoming a criminal lawyer, a politician, and eventually the president, but had to give up because of lack of money.

Escobar started his criminal career with his gang by stealing tombstones, sandblasting their inscriptions, and reselling them.

After dropping out of school, Escobar began to join gangs to steal cars.

Escobar soon became involved in violent crime, employing criminals to kidnap people who owed him money and demand ransoms, sometimes tearing up ransom notes even when Escobar had received the ransom.

In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom.

Escobar had been involved in organized crime for a decade when the cocaine trade began to spread in Colombia in the mid-1970s.

Although the Medellín Cartel was only established in the early 1970s, it expanded after Escobar met several drug lords on a farm in April 1978, and by the end of 1978 they had transported some 19,000 kilograms of cocaine to the United States.

Soon, the demand for cocaine greatly increased in the United States, which led to Escobar organizing more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the country.

He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, an island called Norman's Cay about 220 mi southeast of the Florida coast.

His most famous kidnapping victim was businessman Diego Echavarria, who was kidnapped and eventually killed in the summer of 1971, Escobar received a $50,000 ransom from the Echavarria family; his gang became well known for this kidnapping.

In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, through Colombia and eventually into the United States.

Escobar's meteoric rise caught the attention of the Colombian Security Service (DAS), who arrested him in May 1976 on his return from drug trafficking in Ecuador.

DAS agents found 39 kg of cocaine in the spare tire of Escobar's car.

Escobar managed to change the first judge in the lawsuit and bribed the second judge, so he was released along with other prisoners.

The following year, the agent who arrested Escobar was assassinated.

Escobar continued to bribe and intimidate Colombian law enforcement agencies, in the same fashion.

His carrot-and-stick strategy of bribing public officials and political candidates in Colombia, in addition to sending hitmen to murder the ones who rejected his bribes, came to be known as "silver or lead", meaning "money or death".

The Medellín Cartel and the Cali Cartel both managed to bribe Colombian politicians, and campaigned for both the Conservative and Liberal parties.

Hence, Escobar and many other Colombian drug lords were pulling strings in every level of the Colombian government, because many of the political candidates whom they backed financially were eventually elected.

Escobar's infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine and by the 1980s it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia.

As a result, he quickly became one of the richest people in the world, but constantly battled rival cartels domestically and abroad, leading to massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians.

In the 1982 Colombian parliamentary election, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Party.

Through this, he was responsible for community projects such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented.

However, Escobar's political ambitions were thwarted by the Colombian and U.S. governments, who routinely pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the Avianca Flight 203 and DAS Building bombings in retaliation.

In 1991, Escobar surrendered to authorities, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on a host of charges, but struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President César Gaviria, with the ability of being housed in his own, self-built prison, La Catedral.

In 1992, Escobar escaped and went into hiding when authorities attempted to move him to a more standard holding facility, leading to a nationwide manhunt.

As a result, the Medellín Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44th birthday.

Escobar's legacy remains controversial; while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, he was seen as a "Robin Hood-like" figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor.

His killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people.

Additionally, his private estate, Hacienda Nápoles, has been transformed into a theme park.

His life has also served as inspiration for or has been dramatized widely in film, television, and in music.