Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian narco-terrorist and drug lord, widely recognized as the wealthiest criminal to date, as his cartel distributed 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States of America.
He is the highest grossing drug lord who made over $21.9 billion a year in personal income. He had the approximate net worth of $30 billion in the early 1990s and was not only the richest criminal but one of the richest men at that time.
He was also known as "The King of Cocaine."
Pablo Escobar's Early Life And Education
Pablo Escobar was born Pablo Emilio Escobar on 1st December 1949 in Rionegro, Colombia. He was the third child among seven children. Escobar's father Abel de Jesus Dari Escobar was a farmer and his mother Hermilda Gaviria was an elementary school teacher.
He studied at the Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana for a short period and left without achieving a degree. He was White-Colombian in ethnicity and held Colombian nationality.
Pablo grew up in the neighbor city of Medellin where he started his criminal career. He is known to have started his criminal career stealing gravestones and sanding them to sell them to the local smugglers, however, his brother Roberto Escobar denied the rumor. His son, Sebastian Marroquin claimed that his father started his criminal career with selling counterfeit high school diplomas awarded by the Universidad Autonoma Latinoamericana of Medellin.
Pablo Escobar's Criminal Career
According to The Accountant's Story, Roberto Escobar explained how Pablo rose from middle-cla s s simplicity to one of the wealthiest men in the world during his time.
His career began in the year 1975, as Pablo started increasing his cocaine business by flying out planes several times mostly between Colombia and Panama, with smuggling routes into the U.S.
Pablo, in that time, bought fifteen big airplanes, including six helicopters and a Learjet. His son said that the closest friend of Pablo died during the operation of an aircraft, and the plane was brutally razed. Later, Pablo rebuilt the airplane from the scrap parts that were leftover and was hung above the gate to his ranch.
The demand for cocaine was escalating in the United States, which led to Pablo organize more and more smuggling routes, shipments, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, and in other parts of the country.
Pablo along with co-founder Carlos Lehder worked to develop a new trans-shipment spot in the Bahamas, on an island called Norman's Cay.
His cocaine supplies were increasing rapidly, and at one point, it was believed that 70 to 80 tons of cocaine were shipped from Colombia to the U.S. every month. Later, in the mid-1980s, the Medellin Cartel supplied 11 tons per flight in jet planes to the United States of America.
'The biggest amount of cocaine shipped by Pablo Escobar was about 51,000 pounds or 23,000 kg, supplied mixing with fish paste and sent through the boat, as claimed by his brother in the book Escobar'.
Pablo Escobar's Established Drug Network
In 1982, Pablo Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, as part of a small movement called Liberal Alternative.
Escobar was a candidate for the Liberal Renewal Movement, however, he had to leave it due to the firm opposition of Luis Carlos Galan, whose presidential campaign was supported by the Liberal Renewal Movement.
Escobar became popular internationally in short period of time as his drug network gained ma s sive fame. The Medellin Cartel possessed an enormous amount of narcotics that were supplied to various countries including U.S, Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic.
Palace of Justice
It was alleged that Escobar backed the 1985 storming of the Colombian Supreme Court by left-wing guerrillas from the 19 April Movement, also called as M-19.
The storm, done in the relation for the Supreme Court studying the constitutionally of Colombia's extradition treaty with the U.S., led to the murders of more than half of the judges on the court.
M-19 was paid with a ma s sive amount of money to break into the Palace and vanish all the papers and files on Los Extradibles ( a group of cocaine smugglers who were under the threat of being extradited to the U.S by the Colombian Government.
The height of Power of Pablo Escobar
During the rise of their operation, the Medellin Cartel brought more than $ 70 million each day (roughly calculated to be $ 26 billion in a year). Escobar smuggled 15 tons of cocaine per day which is worth more than half a billion dollars, into the U.S.
In 1989's Forbes magazine estimated Escobar to be one the 227 billionaires in the world with his net worth of close to the US $ 3 billion, whereas his Medellin Cartel controlled 80% of the global cocaine market.
Escobar was visualized as an enemy of the United States and Colombian governments. However, he was a real hero to many citizens in Medellin (mostly the poor people). He treated very naturally at public relations; he worked for the goodwill of poor Colombians.
As a sports freak, Pablo was credited with building football fields, and multi-sports courts also sponsored children's football team.
Escobar worked very hard to achieve his Robin Hood image, he frequently distributed money to the locals of the town, even some people of Medellin (including small kids) also helped Pablo to avoid being arrested, by working as lookouts, hiding authorities and information, anything they could do to save him.
Pablo Escobar In La Catedral Prison
After the a s sa s sination of Luis Carlos Galan, the team of Cesar Gaviria moved against Escobar and his drug cartels. As the government agreed with Pablo and suggested him to surrender and cease all his criminal records in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Later, in the year 1991, Escobar surrendered to Colombian authorities, before he gave himself up, the extradition of a Colombian citizen to the United States had been prohibited by the new approved Colombian Constitution of 1991.
This act between Pablo and Colombian government became controversial, as it was suspected that Escobar including other drug lords of Colombia had influenced the member of the Constituent Assembly in pa s sing the law.
Pablo was confined in what he became his own luxurious private prison 'La Catedral.' The prison was exotically expensive that it included a football pitch, bar, giant doll house, waterfall, and jacuzzi.
However, Escobar didn't stop his criminal activities as he had a lavish living inside the prison along with other drug lords and criminals. Pablo's influence led him to discover the idea in advance and make a perfect-timed escape, living his rest of the life evading from cops.
Search Bloc and Los Pepes
Following Don Pablo's escape, the U.S. Joint Special Operation Command and Centra Spike joined the manhunt operation for Escobar. They specialized a Colombian police task force known as the Search Bloc, created to locate Escobar.
As the war between Escobar and the governments Colombia and United States dragged on, the same time his number of enemies increased, a vigilante squad called as Los Pepes was organized.
Los Pepes carried out a bloody gang, full on with a vengeance, as a result, more the 300 of Pablo's lawyer, a s sociates, and relatives were killed. Also, a huge amount of Medellin cartel's property was destroyed.
Later, the Search Bloc and Los Pepes co-ordinated as they had same goals. The coordination was organized through sharing of intelligence to allow Los Pepes to terminate Escobar and his remained allies; some individual Search Bloc member was directly involved with Los Pepe's death squad.
One of the leaders of Los Pepes was Diego Murillo Bejarano also called as 'Don Berna.'
Pablo Escobar's Death
After a year and four months of his escape from his private prison, Pablo Escobar was down in a shootout on 2nd December 1993. An electronic surveillance team from Colombia, followed by Brigadier Hugo Martinez, used radio triangulation technique to trace his radiotelephone transmission.
After a long period of tracking Pablo's radiotelephone, they found him hiding in Los Olivos, in Medellin. With permissions closing in, a firefight with Escobar and his bodyguard named Alvaro de Jesus Agudelo (also known as 'El Limon'), used.
Both of them tried to escape by running across the roof of joined houses headed for back street, but both of them got shot by and killed by Colombian National Police.
It has never been clarified regarding who shot into his ear. Some of his relatives believe that he committed suicide. In an interview Pablo's son claimed that it was a suicide, he did not get killed.
Pablo Escobar's Net worth
Pablo Escobar was one of the wealthiest criminals in history. He made and bought more than 800 luxury residences and safe houses all over Colombia. His luxury house contained a sculpture park, a colonial house, and a complete zoo with the variety of animals from the different continent.
Pablo also owned a home in the US under his name. The house was really big, a 6500 square foot, waterfront mansion in Miami Beach, Florida.
As he had supplied about 70% to 80% cocaine in various countries, Pablo used to earn the US $21.9 billion a year in personal income. By his age of 26 years, Escobar noted for his bank deposit more than the US$3 million.
He loved his son very much as he gifted him more than thirty motorbikes to his son Sebastian. The wealthiest criminal in the history had an estimated net worth of US $30 billion ( equal to more than $55 billion as of current state).
Pablo Escobar's Personal Life, Marriage And Children
Talking about his personal life, Pablo Escobar was a married man. He was married to his beloved wife, Maria Victoria Henao until his death.
See More: What is Pablo Escobar's Wife Maria Victoria Henao and Rest of the Family Currently Doing?
They got married in March 1976, as Pablo was 26-year-old and Maria was 15. The pair eloped after Henao's family discouraged their marriage considering Escobar socially inferior. They had two children together, Sebastian Marroquin (born Juan Pablo ) and Manuela Escobar.
Virginia Vallejo, a Journalist published her memoir 'Amando a Pablo, Modiano an Escobar' (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar) in 2007. In the memoir, Virginia described her romantic love affair with Escobar. She also revealed her lover's romantic affair with several presidents, Caribbean dictators, and high-profile politicians. The book was adapted into a movie titled Loving Pablo in 2017.
Drug Supplier Griselda Blanco is also said to have an affair with Escobar which was found mentioned in her later found diary where she had linked Escobar with several nicknames including 'Coque de Mi Rey' (My Coke King) and 'Polla Blanca' (White Cock).
The video presented below describes Pablo Escobar's wife's current situation.