(Spanish: Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, 12/01/1949 - 12/02/1993) - a famous world terrorist, a Colombian drug lord who earned fabulous money in the drug business and went down in world history as one of the most brutal criminals of the 20th century.
In 1989, according to Forbes magazine, he took 7th position in the ranking of the richest people on the planet. His personal fortune was $25 billion USD.
According to experts, in total, Escobar is responsible for about 10 thousand human lives. At the same time, he was a criminal with a code of honor. For example, it was at his expense that numerous football fields for children were built in Medellin, as well as an entire neighborhood for the poor.
Childhood
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born in 1949, 40 km. from (Spanish Medellín) - the city of Rionegro (Spanish Rionegro) department of Antioquia (Spanish Antioquia), .
He became the third child in an ordinary peasant family. Little Pablo loved to listen to heroic stories about the legendary Colombian “banditos” (Spanish: banditos): how they robbed the rich while helping the poor. As a child, he decided that he would definitely become just such a “banditos” when he grew up. Who would have thought that in just a couple of decades the romantic dreams of a little boy would turn into a national nightmare.
Start of criminal activity
When Pablo was 12 years old, the family moved to the suburb of Medellin, the town of Envigado. The teenager soon became interested in marijuana. And at the age of 16, the future drug lord was kicked out of school. From that day on, Pablo began his career as a “banditos,” stealing tombstones from the local cemetery for resale. Then, having created a small group, he began stealing expensive cars and selling them for spare parts. Then Escobar came up with another “brilliant” idea: he offered his protection to potential victims of the hijacking. Anyone who refused to pay the gang would soon lose his “steel horse” - this was a real racket.
Further, from theft and racketeering, Pablo moved on to committing more serious crimes - kidnappings and murders. By the age of 21, Pablo had many associates. The crimes of Escobar's group became more and more ruthless, cruel and sophisticated.
El Patron
In 1971, people from Pablo Escobar's gang kidnapped a wealthy Colombian landowner-industrialist Diego Echevario (Spanish: Diego Echevario), who was killed after prolonged torture. This atrocity was enthusiastically received by the local poor peasants, who hated Echevario. The poor people of Medellin celebrated the death of Diego Echevario and, as a sign of gratitude, began to respectfully call Escobar " El Doctor"(Spanish: El Doctor). Meanwhile, “El Doctor” took over the production of cocaine from the Chileans, turning it into a fabulously profitable business, from which he became fantastically rich, becoming one of the major criminal authorities in Medellin, and his rating in the city grew day by day. It was during this time that the young "El Doctor" became " El Patron"(Spanish: "El Patron"), and he lived with this nickname until his death.
Pablo Escobar - drug lord
The new generation of American hippies of the 70s. was no longer content with marijuana alone. A new, stronger drug was needed - cocaine. Pablo Escobar began to build his criminal business on it. He bought cocaine from producers, then resold it to smugglers for transportation to the United States. The lack of “brakes”, Pablo’s constant readiness to kill, manic cruelty - all this put him beyond competition. When Escobar heard rumors of some lucrative criminal business, he simply seized it by force. Anyone who stood in his way, even somehow threatening his activities, immediately disappeared without a trace. Soon he was in charge of almost the entire cocaine business of the country: without his permission, not a single drug dealer could take his goods out of the country, he withdrew a 35% tax from each shipment of cocaine, ensuring its delivery. Escobar's drug career was more than successful - El Patron was literally swimming in money, having finally lost all respect for the law.
In 1976, Pablo was caught trying to smuggle cocaine, and a few years later the police officer who arrested him and the judge who issued the arrest warrant were killed on his orders.
Personal life or Women of Pablo Escobar
In 1974, when Pablo Escobar was 24, he began dating 13-year-old Maria Victoria Henao Vellejo. When the girl's parents tried to separate them, the couple fled to Palmyra. In March 1976, the young people got married, and soon, when Maria was not even 15 years old, they had a son, and after another 3.5 years, their beloved daughter.
From that time on, the patron became vulnerable, because the family is always an obstacle when conducting criminal cases.
Throughout his life, Escobar had a huge number of extramarital affairs. He was famous for his love of pedophilia, preferring underage girls. Especially young virgins. It is known for certain that the drug lord had more than 400 mistresses, in fact, concubines. An entire small closed town was built for them. Each of his mistresses (among whom were actresses, beauty pageant winners and fashion models) had a personal cottage with a swimming pool, fountains, various porticoes and elegant gazebos; each house was unique in its architectural design and landscape design.
For the first time in Colombia, an official of such a high rank was killed by bandits. From that day on, drug mafia terror began to spread throughout the country, to which the state responded with an all-out war.
Terrorism
Pablo Ecobar created the terrorist group “Los Extraditables” (Spanish: “Los Extraditables”), whose bandits carried out raids on officials and police - everyone who was against the drug trade.
After the daring murder of the minister, an arrest warrant was issued for the drug lord. Therefore, he was forced to “lay low.”
To show that he was not broken, Escobar hired a large group of guerrillas to commit sabotage, arming them with machine guns, grenades and portable rocket launchers. The saboteurs, suddenly appearing in the center of the capital, captured the Palace of Justice, inside of which there were several hundred people. The partisans opened indiscriminate fire and destroyed all documents related to the extradition of criminals from the drug mafia. Large army and police forces were urgently brought into Bogota. But only assault battalions, supported by tanks and combat helicopters, managed to recapture the Palace of Justice, killing more than 100 people.
Meanwhile, authorities continued their offensive against the drug cartel. In 1986, an operation began to search for one of the leaders of the drug cartel (Spanish Jorge Luis Ochoa), who offered a $4 million reward for the murder of the American Ambassador Tambs. In 10 days, about 2.5 thousand people were arrested in the country, 2 tons of cocaine, 10 tons of cocaine paste, 48 tons of coca leaves, 11 aircraft, more than 200 automatic weapons, 38 thousand cartridges, 11 tons of acetone, 100 tons were confiscated various chemicals, 1 thousand sticks of dynamite.
In 1987, a US court sentenced one of the bosses of the Medellin Cartel (Spanish Carlos Lehder) to life imprisonment and another 135 years.
Even while underground, Pablo Escobar unleashed global terror in the country in order to show everyone who was the real boss here. In less than 2 years, the number of victims of mercenaries reached 1000 people. Among them were judges, journalists who spoke out against the drug mafia, and about 600 police officers. On the orders of a drug lord who had his mouth in his mouth, an airliner with 107 passengers on board was blown up. Escobar's target was (Spanish: César Gaviria Trujillo), the future president of Colombia, who was planning to fly on this flight, but canceled the flight at the last moment. In the assassination attempt on secret police boss Miguel Marquez, organized by El Patron on December 6, 1989, more than 62 people died from a bomb explosion and 100 were seriously injured.
War declared on the Colombian drug mafia
The US authorities joined the war against the Colombian drug mafia and offered to expel drug lords to be kept in their prisons, where ransoming was excluded. Thanks to American financial assistance, Colombian law enforcement agencies managed to organize a counter-offensive against the cocaine cartel; then, as a result of just one operation, 989 houses and farms, 367 aircraft, 710 cars, 5 tons of cocaine and 1,279 military weapons were confiscated from Escobar. For every blow from the government, the criminal cartel responded with a counterattack: burning houses, killing political officials, blowing up party headquarters, publishing houses, and banks. Thus, in September 1989, the central office of the liberal newspaper El Espectador (Spanish: El Espectador) was blown up, in November a plane flying from Bogota to Bogotá burned down, and on Christmas Eve the headquarters of the state police in the country's capital was blown up. Before the elections, the terror of the cocaine cartel acquired unprecedented proportions: dozens of people were killed by killers every day.
A Colombian drug lord topped the US's most wanted list. He was hunted by an elite special forces unit, which was faced with the task of catching or destroying Escobar. The Colombian authorities created a “Special Search Group”, which included the best specialists from the special services, the army and the prosecutor’s office. Soon, several people close to him found themselves behind bars.
Escobar's gang took several influential people in the country hostage. The drug lord believed that, under pressure from wealthy relatives of the abducted, the government would cancel the agreement with the United States on the extradition of drug traffickers. The drug king's plan was a success and the extradition was cancelled. But, surrounded on all sides, on June 19, 1991, he himself surrendered to the authorities. Pablo Escobar agreed to plead guilty to only a few crimes on the condition that he be forgiven for his past sins.
Imprisonment behind bars
Even the punishment turned out to be unusual: the most brutal terrorist in the world served his sentence in the prison “” (Spanish: La Catedral), which he himself built, where there was a swimming pool, a discotheque, a jacuzzi, a sauna and even a large football field. The patron was visited by friends, associates and women, and the family visited Escobar at any time. At the same time, the “Special Group” did not have the right to approach “La Catedral” closer than 20 km. He himself left and came as he pleased, regularly visiting Medellin nightclubs, restaurants and football matches.
Moreover, Pablo Escobar was still in charge of the drug business. There was a case when one day, having learned that his partners were stealing money from him, he ordered his henchmen to bring it to La Catedral, where he personally subjected the offenders to sophisticated torture, drilling the victims’ knees and tearing out their nails, then giving the order to kill them and remove the corpses further.
La Catedral prison
The escape
When these facts became public, on July 22, 1992, President Gaviria ordered the cocaine baron to be transferred to a real prison. When Pablo Escobar found out about this decision, he decided that he had already “had enough” and ran away. But there were few places left where he could find refuge for himself. The governments of Colombia and the United States were determined to put an end to the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and its leader, and his friends abandoned him. However, Pablo continued to consider himself a more significant figure than he actually was. He still had enormous financial resources, but he had already lost real power. The drug lord tried to reach an agreement with the government by making a deal with the justice system. But the President of Colombia and the US authorities did not want to enter into negotiations with him and decided to capture and eliminate Escobar.
A $10 million bounty was placed on the head of the cocaine king. This was an amount equivalent to the salary of the President of Colombia for almost 200 years! At that time, this was the largest reward for the capture of a criminal.
Meanwhile, while free, the drug lord made another attempt to intimidate the government with brutal terror. On January 30, 1993, he organized an explosion on a crowded street in the capital. As a result of the terrorist attack, more than 20 people were killed and about 70 were seriously injured.
The Hunt for Pablo Escobar
With this merciless terrorist attack, the drug lord brought disaster upon himself - a new organization “” (“People who suffered from P.E.”) entered the fight against him. The day after the explosion in Bogota, members of Los Pepes burned down Pablo Escobar's house. On his orders, the relatives of the victims began a hunt for members of the drug cortel and his relatives. They acted as brutally as the cocaine mafia, instilling deep fear in her.
Los Pepes began to persecute everyone who was in any way connected with Escobar and his cocaine empire: they were all simply killed. In a short time, the organization caused great damage to the cartel, many of his associates were killed, opponents persecuted the drug lord's family, and burned his estates. In the fall of 1993, the Medellin cartel collapsed. Pablo himself was more worried, he was seriously alarmed, because if the family were discovered, Los Pepes would destroy it without sparing anyone.
The Death of Pablo Escobar or the End of the Era of the Cocaine King
While in hiding, he did not see his wife and children for more than a year, and, knowing about constant surveillance, he spoke extremely briefly even on the phone. On December 1, 1993, “El Patron” turned 44 years old, and this time his nerves gave way: the next day, December 2, 1993, he called his family, as if he wanted to say goodbye. The last person he spoke to was his son, they remained on the line for almost 5 minutes, 2 times longer than required by security measures. This time was enough to spot Escobar in the Los Olibos district of Medellin.
Soon the house where he was hiding was surrounded by special agents, two of them knocked down the door and rushed inside. The former leader of the Colombian drug mafia knew they were coming. But everything happened so quickly that he didn’t even have time to put on his shoes. Pablo Escobar himself, his devoted sicario, was in the house Alvaro de Jesus Agudelo(Spanish: Alvaro de Jesús Agudelo) nicknamed Lemon (Spanish: El limón), who was killed first, and the owner of the house is the drug lord’s own aunt. Firing back, Pablo climbed out the window, trying to escape pursuit across the rooftops. The sniper's bullet (or El Patron himself | not proven) caught up with him, hitting him in the head. The drug king died instantly. The rest immediately went up to the roof to take a photo with the expensive “trophy”; later this photo spread throughout the world.
The scene of his death was depicted in a famous painting by a Colombian painter.
“A grave in Colombia is better than a prison in the USA” © Pablo Escobar
On December 3, 1993, thousands of Colombians took to the streets of Medellin. Some came to mourn him, and others rejoiced.
But today, when asked who Pablo Escobar was, not a single slum dweller in Medellin will say a bad word about him. Although the patron was one of the most malicious terrorists and brutal criminals on the planet. His portraits are sold next to his portraits. In some places he is revered as a saint, and pilgrimages are still made to his grave. The legend of the "King of Cocaine" is one of the main reasons for Medellin's tourism success, and its museum is visited by tens of thousands of tourists every year.
Today many people are interested in the question, where is pablo escobar buried? His grave located in the Montesacro cemetery (Spanish: Cementerio de Montesacro) in the south of Medellin. Dozens of people visit Escobar's grave every day. Many of them leave lit candles or notes for Pablo at its base. And some even smoked marijuana cigarettes. They say that some people often come here to take a dose of cocaine, rolling out trails of white powder right on the drug lord's tombstone. By the way, Escobar’s grave is guarded around the clock. The reason is not only the vandals who can violate the grave, but also the large number of hunters for the bones of the “Cocaine King”. Moreover, there have already been similar cases when various groups of people tried several times to dig up the remains of Pablo Escobar from the ground.
Pablo's grave
Narcos
In 2015, the American film studio Netflix released the acclaimed television series NARCO. Its plot, of course, focuses on Escobar's rise to power as head of the Medellin cartel.
The role of Pablo was played by a Brazilian theater and film actor. Wagner Manisoba de Moura(port. Wagner Maniçoba de Moura).
The second season of the series was released in September 2016.
Some rules of life for Escobar
(Quotes from the drug lord’s statements and excerpts from his suicide letter)
- I am a modest person, I just export flowers.
- Those who have something to say are more likely to remain silent.
- I know that many people find my lifestyle excessive. But what should I do with my money?
- In this life I can find a replacement for any thing. But I will NEVER be able to find a replacement for my wife and children.
- Every person is a saint for someone.
- Although many people say that I am a terrorist, I have always acted as a man of duty. I believe that every person should fight for his family and his property. And if he needs a weapon for this, so be it.
- You can consider me God! Because if I decide that someone is destined to die, he will die on the same day.
- For some reason, many people forget how much I have done for the poor. I am very proud to have been called the Robin Hood of all the "paisas" (people of northwestern Colombia). Even government officials cannot deny that I have done more for the poor than all of them combined in all my worthless lives.
- I would rather rot in the soil of Colombia than live in a US prison.
- America is 200 million idiots led by 1 million special agents.
- All empires are always built on blood and fire.
- There is nothing worse than a person in power who has personal problems.
- Everything in the world has its price, and the most important thing is the ability to correctly determine it.
- In our world, money is NEVER pure.
- I did not earn my fortune and achieve power in order to exist like a rat.
- Every year it becomes more and more difficult to predict the future.
- Never trust anyone, especially yourself.
- There is nothing more valuable than a given promise. There is nothing more shameful than breaking it.
- The best way to deal with your enemies is to simply stop noticing them.
- No creature can ever catch me, I am capable of killing them all.
- Death cannot be deceived, but you can make friends with it.
For three years, British photographer James Mollison documented the legacy of cocaine king Pablo Escobar, who left thousands of victims and admirers in Colombia.
Most Colombians consider Pablo Escobar a criminal who plunged the country into chaos for a decade, but in the poor neighborhoods of his native Medellin they call him Robin Hood. The drug lord donated millions of dollars earned from supplying cocaine to the United States to public housing, churches and football grounds.
Many Colombians remember the free tours of the zoo at Escobar's estate, Hacienda Napoles, where elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses, hippos and exotic birds were kept. The area rebuilt in Medellin with the money of the cocaine king is still called the Pablo Escobar quarter: the walls of the houses here are decorated with portraits of the drug lord and the inscriptions “Saint Pablo”, and his grave is visited by thousands of people, despite the struggle of the authorities with the cult of the former “master” of the city.
1. In the image of the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (left). Wax figure from the collection of the Police Museum (right)
2. Pablo on his first communion, 1956
Drug business
Escobar, the son of a farmer and a schoolteacher, began his criminal career by stealing tombstones from a Medellin cemetery. At the age of twenty, he was already at the head of a gang that was engaged in car thefts. When cocaine began to replace marijuana on the global market in the 1970s, Escobar took up drugs: he started as a supplier, reselling Colombian cocaine to dealers in the United States, but soon controlled the entire chain. He opened his first laboratory in Medellin, and then a whole network of factories appeared in tropical forests throughout the country.
In 1977, Escobar founded the Medellin cocaine cartel, and a year later his partner Carlos Leder bought one of the Bahamas - where passenger flights from Colombia landed, loaded with cocaine, which was then transported on a private plane to Georgia and Florida. Two submarines were also used for smuggling.
3. Structure of the Medellin Cartel, 1989
In a short time, the cartel managed to capture about 80% of the cocaine market in the United States and practically monopolized drug trafficking to Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Spain. During its heyday, Escobar's cartel earned about $60 million a day, and Forbes magazine estimated the drug lord's personal fortune at three billion dollars in 1989.
4. Seized drug cargo (left). Jungle runway (right)
5. Fake license plates and masks of the kidnappers (left). Florida homes bought by Escobar in 1981 (right)
6. Cartel money seized during a search, 1989
Policy
In 1982, Escobar was elected to the position of alternate member of the Colombian Congress, received parliamentary immunity and represented the country at the inauguration ceremony of Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez. But the following year, Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonia publicly accused Escobar of drug trafficking and organizing a criminal gang: based on the data he collected, the cocaine king was expelled from Congress in January 1984. A few months later, a ministerial Mercedes was shot at point-blank range with a machine gun, Lara Bonia died on the spot.
That same year, Colombian authorities ratified a treaty with the United States on the extradition of drug cartel leaders. In response, the leaders of the Medellin cartel created the Los Extraditables group, which began to carry out intimidation actions: attacks on officials, police officers and politicians.
7. A wall in one of the houses in Escobar’s quarter (left). Meeting with voters, 1982 (right)
8. Debate in Congress after Escobar was accused of drug trafficking
9. Escobar at his inauguration as Prime Minister of Spain, Madrid, 1982
Family
In 1976, Escobar married his girlfriend Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo, soon they had a son, Juan Pablo, and three years later, a daughter, Manuela. Since 1979, they lived in the Hacienda Napoles estate, purchased for $63 million, covering an area of three thousand hectares.
It is known that, even while on the wanted list, the drug lord tried to spend all family holidays and birthdays with his children. In 1993, when members of a rival gang launched a hunt for the relatives of the cocaine king, he hid with his family in the mountains and one evening burned two million dollars in a fire so that Manuela would not freeze.
After Escobar's murder, his family fled to Mozambique and then to Argentina, where Juan Pablo took the name Sebastian Marroquín. In 2009, he publicly apologized to the children of politicians killed by order of the leader of the Medellin cartel, and in 2014 he published a book of memoirs and launched a line of T-shirts with his father’s image. Two books about Escobar were also written by his brother Roberto and one by both sisters.
10. Photos in the house of Escobar's mother Hermilda Gaviria, 2005
11. With his wife Maria Victoria, early 1980s
12. In a prison cell with his wife and daughter, 1992 (left). With his sister on her 31st birthday, 1980 (right)
13. Son’s birthday, Hacienda Napoles estate, 1989
Terror
After the passage of the law on the extradition of drug cartel leaders to the United States, Escobar began sponsoring the militant group MAS (Death to Kidnappers). In addition to an impressive arsenal of weapons, it had its own aircraft with 30 pilots, and the militants were trained by American, Israeli and British instructors. In 1989, the leader of the Medellin cartel offered the Colombian government a deal: he would surrender to the police if the extradition law was repealed.
Having received a refusal, Escobar launched a reign of terror: within a year, the headquarters of the Administrative Department of Security, the country's main intelligence service, as well as the editorial offices of the newspapers El Espectador and Vanguardia Liberal, were blown up in Bogotá; a Supreme Court judge, a police colonel and presidential candidate Luis Carlos were killed at the hands of killers Galan.
14. In addition, militants blew up a Boeing 727 plane - as a result of the terrorist attack, 110 people were killed.
15. Bombed building of the security department
16. Victim of attack
17. Mother of a murdered policeman with photographs of her son
18. Miguel Masa, director of the Administrative Department of Security from 1982-1991, survived seven attempts on his life by Escobar
Charity
In 1979, Escobar established the social assistance system "Civic Responsibility in Action", under the auspices of which health centers for low-income families were founded in Medellin, green spaces were created and sports facilities were built. The drug lord's most famous charitable program was the Medellin Without Slums project, which involved the construction of thousands of houses in the poorest region of Moravia.
The Pablo Escobar quarter was rebuilt in the city, which is now inhabited by almost 13 thousand residents. The program received the blessing of the Catholic Church, and in the slums of Medellin the drug lord was often seen distributing money to the poor in the company of two priests.
In 1989, the local football club Atlético Nacional, sponsored by Escobar, won the Copa Libertadores, becoming the best team in South America.
19. Celebration in honor of the first anniversary of the construction of Escobar's quarter, 1985
20. At the opening of the football field, 1982
21. Fundraising for the Medellin Without Slums program, 1983
22. Eight hippos from Escobar's zoo, 2004
23. At the Hacienda Napoles Zoo, 1980s
Death
In 1991, by agreement with the government, Escobar surrendered to justice; shortly before this, Colombia adopted a new constitution prohibiting the extradition of its citizens.
The drug lord was placed in the La Catedral prison, built with his own money, which had a bar, a football field and a jacuzzi. It was completely controlled by the Medellin cartel.
26. Left: Escobar's call intercept map, 1993, right: Escobar's personal phone
27. La Catedral prison, 1992
28. Security room
In response, the head of state established a special search group led by Colonel Hugo Martinez, who coordinated efforts with American intelligence agencies. Los Pepes, a group of his competitors in the drug business, far-right guerrillas and victims of terror launched by the Medellin cartel, also joined the search for Escobar. Within a year, Los Pepes killed more than 300 cartel members and destroyed much of its property.
After fifteen months of searching, on December 2, 1993, a special team intercepted Escobar's call to his son and established his whereabouts. On the same day, he was shot dead on the roof of a house in Medellin.
29. Soldiers of a special search group with Escobar’s body
Pablo Escobar is one of the most famous and brutal drug lords of the 20th century, not only in Colombia, but throughout the whole world. The notorious criminal used many methods of drug trafficking, one of his ingenious ideas was to soak jeans in liquid cocaine and then ship them to the United States. Despite brutal reprisals and even the destruction of civilian aircraft, Escobar was popular among young people and the poor.
15. Army of assassins
Escobar did not like to get his hands dirty, so all his orders were carried out by hired killers. So, killer John "Popeye" Vasquez, ordered by a drug lord, killed more than 300 people! Among his victims was even the main presidential candidate of Colombia, who did not inspire confidence in Escobar.
14. Elimination of competitors
Cocaine had astronomical demand in the United States in the 70s and 80s of the last century, and Escobar did not want to share the market with anyone. The first competitor Pablo killed was a well-known Medellin drug dealer named Fabio Restrepo.
13. Bombed building of the Colombian Security Department
Trying to kill police general Miguel Masa Marquez, the drug lord blew up the building of the Colombian Security Department in 1989. The bomb explosion killed 52 people and injured more than 1,000 of varying degrees of severity. That year turned out to be especially terrible for the country: at the hands of the drug lord, 12 judicial officials and 110 passengers on the Avianica plane, in which Escobar planted a bomb, died.
12. Fear turned him into a monster
The drug lord's greatest fear was extradition to the United States. And fear forced Escobar to commit even more daring and terrible crimes. He was so desperate to avoid imprisonment in the United States that he even offered to pay off the Colombian government's entire foreign debt. At that time, the criminal offered the authorities 10 million dollars.
11. Anything for the sake of killing
In 1989, Escobar decided to get rid of future president Cesar Gaviria. Having learned that the politician would fly on a passenger plane of the Colombian airline Avianaka, the drug lord planted a bomb. Three minutes after the airliner took off, a powerful explosion was heard on board. 110 people died. As it turned out later, Cesar Gaviria canceled his flight at the last moment.
10. The most dedicated assassin
Escobar had many hired killers, but the one he trusted most was John "Popaw" Vasquez. He took about 300 lives with his own hands and sentenced another 3,000 people to death. Popeye's most famous crime was the murder of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989. Vazquez has already served his time in prison, but still admits: "If Pablo Escobar was born again, I would follow him without hesitation. We loved him. He taught us to fight and gave us everything."
9. Tombstone theft
Young Pablo began his criminal activity by stealing tombstones from a Medellin cemetery. He erased the inscriptions and sold the tombstones to Panamanian dealers.
8. Thirteen-year-old wife
In 1976, 27-year-old Pablo married 13-year-old Maria, and two years later she gave birth to his son, and three years later - a daughter. Despite her husband's constant infidelities, Maria lived with him until the end of his life.
7. Kidnapping
In the struggle for money and power, Escobar kidnapped people more than once. So, in 1971, Pablo’s people kidnapped the wealthy Colombian industrialist Diego Echevario, who was killed after prolonged torture. The criminals tried to obtain a ransom, but failed and, after strangling their victim, threw the body into a landfill.
6. Bribery of police officers
In 1976, Escobar was arrested for drug possession, but he managed to bribe police officers and go free. After that incident, the drug lord began almost openly giving bribes to officials.
5. The "Silver or Lead" principle
Having become the undisputed authority of the cocaine world and the absolute leader of the Medellin cartel, Escobar bribed police officers, judges, and politicians. If bribery did not work, then blackmail was used, but basically the cartel acted according to the principle: “Plata O Plomo” - in other words, “silver or lead.” Either the person agreed and took the bribe, or a bullet was waiting for him.
4. Incredible influence
At the peak of his criminal career, Escobar controlled 80% of the cocaine traffic in the United States. It was estimated that around 70-80 tons of cocaine were shipped from Colombia to the United States in the 1980s. At the age of 30, Pablo became one of the richest people in the world.
3. Through the circles of hell
For a long time, the drug lord's family lived in luxury: helicopters, a personal zoo, a mansion, and endless funds. Everything changed when the FBI got involved with Escobar. Pablo was under surveillance, and he was forced to go into hiding with his family. Now the drug lord was worried about the well-being of his children. Despite millions of dollars in their accounts, the family could no longer lead their previous life and live peacefully in their own home.
2. Not Robin Hood at all
To enlist the support of the population, Escobar launched extensive construction in Medellin. He paved roads, built stadiums and erected free houses for the poor. He himself explained his charity by the fact that it hurt him to see how the poor suffered. Despite these good deeds, it was Escobar's men who planted a powerful car bomb in 1993 near a bookstore on one of Bogota's crowded streets. As a result of that terrorist attack, many children and adults died. And in general, the drug lord without regrets killed anyone who in any way stood in his way.
1. Killing people
According to some estimates, the cocaine king is responsible for about 10 thousand human lives. He walked over heads and got rid of enemies cruelly and without regret. Pablo Escobar went down in world history as the most daring, merciless and powerful drug lord of all time.
Pablo Emilio Escobar is a notorious Colombian drug lord and leader of one of the most powerful criminal organizations the world has ever seen. At the peak of power in the 1980s, he turned his drug cartel into a real empire, which terrified not only competitors, but also entire states, and its field of activity extended over the entire globe. According to contemporaries, Escobar made billions of dollars from drug trafficking, kidnappings and contract killings, and under his command was an army of soldiers recruited from hardened criminals and equipped no worse than many national armies of that time.
But despite his wide field of activity, Pablo Escobar still went down in history under the title “King of Cocaine” or, if closer to the original, “King of Coke.” So far, no one has managed to surpass him in the scale of cocaine trafficking. According to US intelligence agencies, more than 80% of the total volume of cocaine smuggling in the world was carried out by Escobar and his cartel. According to the full inventory, which was carried out after the collapse of the Medellin cocaine cartel and the elimination of its key players, the net value of all assets, as well as movable and immovable property, amounted to about $30 billion! And caches of money and jewelry hidden in houses that once belonged to Escobar are periodically discovered today.
Childhood and early years of the future “King of Coke”
Young Pablo EscobarPablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on December 1, 1949 in the small Colombian town of Rionegro in the family of a modest peasant and a school teacher. According to the recollections of those who were familiar with this quite respectable family, young Pablito was an ambitious boy and dreamed of a political career, and he even told all his friends and family that he wanted to become president. However, the unenviable financial situation of the family obviously put an end to these endeavors, and the boy, despite his age, understood this very well. Driven by the desire for a better life, he followed the path of the legendary Colombian “banditos”, about whom numerous legends were then formed. This is how the criminal career of the future “King of Coke” began. Pablo Escobar made his first money by reselling tombstones stolen from local cemeteries. Finding this work too difficult and thankless, he soon moved on to petty street theft and car theft. Here the young criminal made his first important contacts, which helped him get a more serious job - smuggling contraband. Possessing an extraordinary mind and a natural commercial spirit, he quickly established a business and took a strong position in the smuggling cigarette market.
According to historians, it was this period of his life that became the very training ground that tempered Escobar and gave him the experience and skills for his further development as the future king of the drug mafia.
Medellin is the city where the career of the “King of Coke” began Already by 1971, Escobar led a large gang, which was put together from people from the city of Medellin, where the future drug lord now spent most of his time. Along with smuggling cigarettes, they engaged in murders and kidnappings. So, in the same 1971, Escobar and his assistants kidnapped and killed one of the largest Colombian industrial magnates, Diego Echevario. Interestingly, the local residents, most of whom were poor peasants, expressed great gratitude to Escobar and gave him full support, despite the cruelty with which the crime was committed. He devoted himself entirely to expanding his smuggling business and taking over the local drug market, which was then controlled by the Chileans.
The Making of an Empire - Plata o Plomo
The next bright episode of his life occurred in 1976, when, on the orders of Escobar, the police officer and the judge who issued a warrant for his arrest were eliminated. This happened after he was caught smuggling almost 40 pounds (18 kg) of cocaine. Shortly before, a local drug lord named Fabio Restrepo was killed on Pablo's orders, and Escobar took his place, joining forces with three other influential drug traffickers and creating the famous Medellin cocaine cartel. According to the CIA, he took about 80% of the total cocaine turnover in the world, subjugating almost all competitors and imposing a 25-30% “tax” on them. At the same time, the cartel actually turned into a mini-state with its own intelligence service, armed forces, research laboratories, and even an air and submarine fleet. This was a unique phenomenon, since before Escobar no one had ever used submarines for systematic drug smuggling.
Young Escobar with his wife Thus, by the beginning of the 80s, Pablo Escobar became perhaps the most influential person in Colombia, in fact having complete control over all government bodies, including local authorities, congress, police and courts. Thanks to this, despite the obvious criminal origin of his wealth, no official claims were made against Escobar.
Photo taken in one of the Medellin police stations, August 12, 1981 However, many simply had no choice, because, taking advantage of the weakness of the state machine, Escobar acted rudely and harshly, giving his victims an ultimatum: “Silver or lead” (“Plata o Plomo”). Simply put, those who did not want to take money and provide assistance died a difficult and painful death. Soon there were practically no people left willing to resist. In 1982, Escobar was elected to the Colombian Congress. Since then, he has actually concentrated economic, criminal and political power in the country in his hands, almost realizing his childhood dream.
Going underground and the Great Terror
However, Escobar's triumph did not last long. By January 1984, Justice Minister Rodrigo Bonia managed to expel the odious congressman from parliament, and then Escobar, who had been deprived of a significant amount of political power and, most importantly, the dream of the presidency, organized large-scale terror to show who the real master of Colombia was. . The first step was to eliminate the main culprit in Escobar's exclusion from politics - Rodrigo Bonia, who was shot in his car. After this event, the failed politician and part-time bloodiest gangster in Colombia was placed on the “Most wanted” list, and the police received an official warrant for his arrest.
Once underground, Escobar was no longer shy in choosing methods to counter his opponents and began to openly support the terrorist group Los Extraditables. Over the next two years, they managed to send to the next world more than five hundred police officers alone, while the total number of victims was in the thousands. Their number included both competitors and public figures, journalists and everyone else who dared to stand in the way of the drug mafia.
The point of no return and the decline of the empire
By this time, the cartel’s excesses began to plague not only the Colombians, but also their closest neighbors, and the scale of Escobar’s activities caused concern even in the United States, which was literally flooded with cheap cocaine from Colombia. The administration of President Reagan acted decisively and an agreement on cooperation and joint fight against drugs was quickly signed between the two countries, which had one important point - all caught drug lords must be extradited to the United States to serve their sentences there. At first, corrupt and intimidated officials, under pressure from bandits, tried to push a law banning this treaty through the Supreme Court, but Colombian President Vergilio Barco vetoed it, and the all-out fight against the drug cartels was continued with renewed vigor. As a result of this, Escobar lost his right hand man, Carlos Lehder, and several other loyal assistants. The Medellin cocaine cartel suffered significant damage, and the drug lord's revenge for this turned out to be truly terrible.
Pablo Escobar with his son in front of the White House After an unsuccessful attempt to conclude a truce with the country's authorities in exchange for guarantees of non-extradition to the United States, Escobar ordered his hitmen to execute politician Luis Galan, who demanded that the government take even tougher measures against drug cartels, Chief Justice Carlos Valencia and police colonel Voldemar Contero. Between 16 and 18 August 1989, all three were killed.
But this was not enough for Escobar. Reveling in his power and impunity, he, with the help of Los Extraditables, carried out 7 terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 37 people (about 400 more people were maimed). Next (November 27, 1989), on the orders of Escobar, a plane with more than a hundred passengers on board was blown up. And although the drug lord’s main target was Cesar Trujillo, the future president of Colombia (by coincidence, he never flew on this flight), this method was chosen deliberately to create even more fear in the Colombian government and force it to make a deal.
A week later, Escobar's hitmen made an attempt on the life of secret police chief Miguel Marquez. The method of murder was also chosen to be as bloody as possible - bombing. As a result, 62 people were killed and about a hundred were injured. But by doing this, Escobar caused a completely opposite effect - if before these events there were still many people in the corridors of power who wanted to come to an agreement, then after that he was already considered a dangerous terrorist and a real raid was launched on him.
As a result of just one of the operations, the government confiscated nearly a thousand mansions and farms, 710 cars, 367 planes, 73 boats and more than 1,200 weapons. A large consignment of cocaine weighing 4.7 tons, already being prepared for sale, was also seized.
But, according to historians, Escobar made one of his most unforgivable mistakes later, when he began to compensate for losses, trying to impose a huge tribute on the cartels under his control and take away the share of competitors, mercilessly exterminating them. If initially Escobar’s “tax” was 25–30%, he tried to increase it to 65–70%, losing many loyal allies.
Rare photograph of the smiling "King of Coke" The final nail in the coffin of the empire of the “cocaine king” was driven by the war with the Cali drug cartel. Escobar tried to behead him, killing one of the leaders. But the killer failed to cope with the task, and in response, the “Cali” cartel dealt with Escobar’s cousin, Gustavo Gaviria. The cartel war that followed these events, although it claimed the lives of many innocent people, weakened the groups so much that Escobar found himself practically pinned against the wall and was forced to surrender.
La Catedral - Escobar's last hope
One can only guess how much money was entered into the right offices, but Pablo Escobar's lawyers managed to do the impossible. The fugitive, surrounded on all sides, not only was not killed during detention or executed by his competitors (after recent events, many of them dreamed of trying on a “Colombian tie” on Escobar), but also surrendered on his own terms, having negotiated a ban on extradition to the United States from the Colombian government . In 1991, he was solemnly escorted to the La Catedral prison, which was built by him and, in fact, was a luxurious and well-fortified castle.
Inside La Catedral there were gardens and decorative waterfalls, and the “prisoner” spent his free time in casinos, spa centers, bars and a nightclub, which were located right on the prison grounds. However, if he wanted, Escobar could easily go to the city if he wanted to attend a cinema or a football match. He also retained most of his “business” by conducting telephone negotiations through reliable people.
Moreover, having accumulated strength, Escobar even continued to attack competitors and insufficiently loyal partners. The most intractable were brought to him at La Catedral, where he personally tortured the unfortunates in specially equipped torture chambers. Moreover, according to the agreement, neither the police nor the army had the right to even approach the prison territory.
Escobar's fatal mistake, escape and death
If Escobar had shown a little more foresight, he had every chance of becoming the so-called eminence grise and reaching a whole new level. His money and connections were more than enough to partially bring his “business” out of the shadows, creating a cover for it in the form of legal companies engaged in the production of various kinds of goods. This is exactly what Escobar’s wiser and less greedy and arrogant competitors did. The latter was accustomed to absolute power and did not want to part with it, which ultimately led to his death.
Having learned that the situation in Colombia had not changed at all, and that the drug lord who had caused so much trouble was continuing his business on the same scale, the US government was furious and put hard pressure on the President of Colombia, demanding that the criminal be immediately extradited to the United States. And on July 22, 1992, such an order was issued. But Escobar was already aware of this and calmly left his “prison”, hiding in one of the newly acquired mansions. An unprecedented sum of $10 million was placed on his head at that time. Even the president of the country would have to work at least two centuries to earn that much money.
Despite the fact that Pablo Escobar was again in a state of siege, now his affairs were not so bad. And although he again incurred the wrath of the government, lost the support of a significant part of his allies and stirred up old grievances of his competitors, he had one important advantage - the absolute support of the ordinary population, which Escobar generously “fed” for many years. Therefore, he had no problems finding new workers and fighters for his personal army. But the “cocaine king” finally lost it too, having made the mistaken decision to repeat the great terror of the late 80s.
Thinking that he would again be able to intimidate the government and persuade it to cooperate, Pablo Escobar again began a merciless massacre. On January 30, 1993, he organized an explosion in Bogota, which killed more than two dozen people and seriously injured more than 70. And, worst of all, most of the victims were parents with children from ordinary working families. This terrorist attack completely ruined Escobar’s reputation and deprived him of the support of the poor class, and the title “King of Coke” was replaced by a less euphonious one - “Child Killer.” From that moment on, the days of the greatest of drug lords were numbered.
In addition to the police, competitors and embittered former associates, Escobar began to be threatened by a new enemy - the Los Pepes organization. If we translate this abbreviation name literally, it sounds like “people who suffered from Pablo Escobar.” Considering that due to the bloodthirstiness of the main boss of the Medellin drug cartel, more than 10 thousand people lost their lives, there were a lot of them. Each of the victims had relatives, friends and relatives who now thirsted for revenge.
Literally the next day after the bloody event in Bogota, Los Pepes found the place where Pablo Escobar was hiding and burned his house to the ground. After this, all the drug lord’s relatives and friends, as well as his closest associates, became the target of the hunt. Moreover, unlike the police, Los Pepes acted very cruelly, terrifying the bandits.
Participants in the raid on Escobar next to his body, December 2, 1993 The denouement came on December 2, 1993. The former “Cocaine King” and now the “Child Killer” was blocked in one of the houses in the Los Olibos quarter by joint teams of Colombian security forces, local police, Los Pepes and American agents from the NSA. The drug lord and his bodyguard still tried to shoot back, but this time the forces were unequal. Trying to escape, Escobar climbed onto the roof and was shot by a sniper.
The Escobar phenomenon
How did the famous drug lord, who in his cruelty could easily be compared with many bloodthirsty dictators of the 20th century, manage to remain free for so long, enjoying unprecedented support from the majority of the population? Historians believe that this phenomenon is associated with the exceptional talent for manipulation that Escobar possessed. He had a good feel for the socio-political situation that reigned in Colombia at that time and relied on the broadest segment of the population - poor workers and farmers, who were fleeced to the skin by commercial and industrial magnates and corrupt officials.
Escobar tried to create for himself the image of a “Colombian Robin Hood,” or the canonical “banditos” from urban legends, who robs the rich and gives gifts to the poor. He coped with this task brilliantly, buying the love of people in Medellin for many years. During this time, millions of dollars were spent on building parks, schools, sports stadiums, churches and even housing for the poor. His strategy worked and provided him with an endless supply of loyal servants, but only until the moment when he betrayed them too, making these people victims of his terror against the state.
The only ones to whom Escobar remained faithful until the very end were his wife Maria Victoria and children. He was always very kind and affectionate with them, trying to protect them from any dangers associated with his “profession.” According to the drug lord's son, Juan Pablo, one day he and his father had to flee home in a hurry to escape government agents and hide in the highlands for some time. Then, without much regret, he burned $2 million to light the fire and prepare hot food for those who were freezing.
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Curve Digital has announced the release of a video game based on the criminal life of the famous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Its release will take place in a year, in the spring of 2019.
The criminal story of the life of a world-famous criminal is sometimes so incredible that it surpasses even common sense, so it belongs in a movie. But, besides Pablo Escobar, the world knew at least ten more equally daring, cruel and incredibly rich drug lords.
Frank Lucas
Net worth: $50 million.
Frank Lucas is still alive and 87 years old, which is extremely uncharacteristic for a criminal of his stature. He made his fortune by transporting kilograms of heroin from Asia to the United States during the Vietnam War, hiding drugs in the coffins of dead American soldiers. In the 70s, he was arrested and sentenced to 70 years in prison, but he was able to turn in his accomplices, which led to more than a hundred arrests. After serving 5 years, Lucas was released, but a year later he was caught again, this time buying cocaine. Released in 1991.
The film “Gangster” was made based on his biography (stills from the film above).
Jose Figueroa Agosto
Net worth: $100 million.
Jose Figueroa Agosto, also known as Junior Capsule and Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean, controlled the supply of Colombian cocaine to the United States through Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. As befits a real drug lord, in 1999 Jose escaped from prison when he was sentenced to 209 years in prison, changed his appearance several times and paid large bribes to the police so that he would not be put behind bars again. Currently, Jose is serving his sentence, and his 100 million are in a secluded place known only to him.
Nikki Barnes
Net worth: $105 million from heroin sales.
Like many drug dealers, Barnes himself was not averse to being on drugs. He began using heroin at a young age. Then he finally decided that it was better to sell drugs than to buy them. And so began his stormy career.
In the 70s, he personally proclaimed himself because of numerous arrests that led to nothing, he always managed to extricate himself. This greatly angered the police and American President Jimmy Carter.
Barnes was jailed for life. The drug dealer helped justice by working as an informant for a long time. For his length of service, he was pardoned and released in 1998.
Paul Lear Alexander
Net worth: 170 million from selling cocaine.
Paul Lear Alexander, or simply El Parito Loco, worked at one time as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration. At that very time, he was actively expanding his business, selling out competitors and establishing strong connections for his own business.
In 2010, he escaped from a Brazilian prison and is still wanted.
Freeway Rick Ross
Net worth: more than 600 million dollars.
In the 80s, he sold crack and earned more than half a million dollars. In 1996, he was sentenced to life, which was initially reduced to 20 years. As a result, he was released after 10 years for “exemplary behavior.”
He is best known for suing rapper Rico Ross for using his pseudonym.
Rafael Caro Quintero
Net worth: over $650 million.
Rafael Caro Quintero is the founder of the Mexican drug cartel Guadalajara, operating in the 80s. During his criminal activities, he killed several people, including a pilot and a federal agent. He was arrested for murder in 1985 and released from a Mexican prison in 2013. However, the US government was not pleased that Quintero was released and asked for his re-arrest. Quintero is currently wanted in Mexico, America and several other countries.
Joaquin Guzman Loera
Net worth: $1 billion.
Joaquin Guzman, or as he is popularly called, is the leader of the Sinaloa cartel. His main activity was the supply of cocaine, heroin and marijuana between America and Mexico.
Known for becoming the world's most wanted fugitive after the death of Osama bin Laden. The Drug Enforcement Administration considers Guzman the most powerful drug trafficker in history, surpassing Pablo Escobar himself.
Despite the fact that El Chapo escaped from prison several times, he is currently in custody. The drug lord was jailed in 2016 after he met with American actor Sean Pen. This meeting helped law enforcement agencies get on the trail of El Chapo.
Griselda Blanco
Net worth: $2 billion.
Griselda Blanco was among the pioneers of the drug business, building her empire in the 70s. She was popularly called the godmother of cocaine and was the head of the criminal Medellin cartel.
She is also known for the fact that she was married three times; she buried all three husbands (it is believed that she shot her second husband herself). Blanco also allegedly liked to make love to men while pointing a gun at them.
In 2012, she was shot dead by a passing motorcyclist (who remained unknown). Moreover, it was she herself who once came up with this method of murder during the fight against competitors.
Carlos Leder
Earned: $2.7 billion.
One of the founders of the Medellin cartel, known for numerous innovations in the drug business. I came up with a marketing campaign - “the first dose is free.” At some point, Leder wanted to legalize his business and suggested that the President of Colombia fully pay off the country’s entire external debt.
According to official data, he is currently serving a sentence of 135 years in an American prison. Since the exact location of his imprisonment is unknown, there are rumors that he was placed under the witness protection program and has been at large for a long time.
Amado Carrillo Fuentes
Net worth: over $25 billion.
Amado Fuentes received the nickname Lord of the Skies for transporting cocaine in airplanes. Despite the fact that Fuentes always tried to stay in the shadows, the American police tried their best to catch the criminal. Because of this, the drug lord had to change his appearance through plastic surgery. However, Fuentes died during the operation, apparently due to a lethal mixture of painkillers.
Pablo Escobar
Net worth: $30 billion.
The name always comes to mind when someone nearby says the word “cocaine.” Forbes magazine estimates that Escobar controlled 80 percent of the world's cocaine business.
Considered one of the most dangerous and brutal criminals in history. He is responsible for the murders of politicians, judges, journalists, police officers and even the bombing of a civilian aircraft.
The drug lord's son Sebastian Marroquin (Juan Pablo Escobar) said that somehow, once again hiding from government agents, Escobar, along with his son and daughter, ended up in a high-mountain shelter. The night turned out to be extremely cold, and while trying to warm his daughter and cook food, Escobar burned about $2 million in cash.