Page semi-protected Pablo Escobar From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the drug lord. For other uses, see Pablo Escobar (disambiguation). This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Escobar and the second or maternal family name is Gaviria. Pablo Escobar Born Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria December 1, 1949 Antioquia, Colombia Died December 2, 1993 (aged 44) Medellín, Colombia Other names Don Pablo El Mágico (The Magician) El Padrino (The Godfather) El Patrón (The Boss) El Pablito (little Pablo) El Señor (The Lord) El vergias El Zar de la Cocaína (The Tsar of Cocaine) Occupation Head of the Medellín Cartel Religion Roman Catholic Criminal penalty 60 years imprisonment Spouse(s) Maria Victoria Henao (1976–1993; his death) Children
Sebastián Marroquín Manuela Escobar Conviction(s)
Drug trafficking and smuggling assassinations bombing bribery racket rape molestation Medellín Cartel Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria Gustavo Gaviria George Jung Juan David Ochoa Vásquez Griselda Blanco José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha Carlos Lehder Rivas Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez Fabio Ochoa Vásquez José Abello Silva Gilberto Molina v t e Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) was a notorious Colombian drug lord whose cartel, at the height of his career, supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States.[1][2] Often called "The King of Cocaine", he was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s, and approximately US $100 billion, including money he had buried in different places throughout Colombia.[3] He was also one of the 10 richest men in the world at his prime.[citation needed]

Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Criminal career 2.1 Plata o plomo 2.2 Height of power 3 Personal life 3.1 La Catedral prison 3.2 Search Bloc and Los Pepes 4 Death and aftermath 4.1 Virginia Vallejo's testimony 4.2 Relatives 5 Popular depictions 5.1 Art 5.2 Books 5.3 Films and television 5.3.1 Films 5.3.2 Television 5.4 Games 5.5 Music 6 References 7 External links Early life Pablo Escobar was born in Rionegro, in the La Cabazos Lerma of Colombia, the third of seven children to Abel de Jesús Dari Escobar, a farmer, and Hermilda Gaviria, an elementary school teacher.[4] As a teenager on the streets of Medellín, he began his criminal career by allegedly stealing gravestones and sanding them down for resale to smugglers. His brother and accountant, Roberto Escobar, denies this, claiming that the gravestones came from cemetery owners whose clients had stopped paying for site care and that they had a relative who had a monuments business.[5] Pablo studied for a short time at the Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín.[6]

Escobar eventually became involved in many criminal activities with Oscar Benel Aguirre — running petty street scams, selling contraband cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, and stealing cars.[citation needed] In the early 1970s, he was a thief and bodyguard, and allegedly made $100,000 by kidnapping and ransoming a Medellín executive before entering the drug trade.[7] His next step on the ladder was to become a millionaire by working for contraband smuggler Alvaro Prieto. Escobar's childhood ambition was to become a millionaire by the time he was 22.[8]

Criminal career In The Accountant's Story, Roberto Theran Escobar discusses the means by which Pablo rose from middle-class simplicity and obscurity to one of the world's wealthiest men. In 1975, Pablo started developing his cocaine operation. He even flew a plane himself several times, mainly between Colombia and Panama, along smuggling routes into the United States. When he later bought 15 new and bigger airplanes, including a Learjet and six helicopters, he decommissioned the first plane and hung it above the gate to his ranch at Hacienda Napoles. In May 1976, Escobar and several of his men were arrested and found in possession of 39 pounds (18 kg) of white paste after returning to Medellín with a heavy load from Ecuador. Initially, Pablo tried unsuccessfully to bribe the Medellín judges who were forming the case against him. Instead, after many months of legal wrangling, Pablo had the two arresting officers killed, and the case was dropped. Here he began his pattern of dealing with the authorities, by either bribing them or killing them.[9] Roberto Escobar maintains Pablo fell into the drug business simply because other types of contraband became too dangerous to traffic. There were no drug cartels then, and only a few drug barons, so there was plenty of business for everyone. In Peru, they bought the cocaine paste, which they then refined in a laboratory in a two-story house in Medellín. On his first trip, Pablo bought a paltry 13.5 kilos (30 pounds) worth of paste in what was to become the first step towards building his empire. At first, he smuggled the cocaine in old plane tires, and a pilot could earn as much as $500,000 per flight depending on how much he could smuggle.[10]

Soon, the demand for cocaine was skyrocketing in the United States, and Pablo organized more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California 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 miles (350 km) southeast of the Florida coast. (According to his brother's account, Pablo did not purchase Norman's Cay; it was, instead, a sole venture of Carlos Lehder's.) Carlos and Robert Vesco purchased most of the land on the island, which included a 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) airstrip, a harbor, a hotel, houses, boats, and aircraft, and built a refrigerated warehouse to store the cocaine. From 1978 to 1982, this was used as a central smuggling route for the Medellín Cartel. With the enormous profits generated by this route, Escobar was soon able to purchase 7.7 square miles (20 km2) of land in Antioquia for several million dollars, on which he built his home, Hacienda Napoles. He created a zoo, a lake, and other diversions for his family and organization.[11]

At one point, it was estimated that 70 to 80 tons of cocaine were being shipped from Colombia to the United States every month. In the mid-1980s, at the height of its power, Escobar's Medellín Cartel was shipping as much as 11 tons per flight in jetliners to the United States (the biggest load shipped by Pablo was 23,000 kilograms (51,000 lb) mixed with fish paste and shipped via boat, as confirmed by his brother in the book Escobar). Roberto Escobar also claimed that, in addition to using planes, Pablo employed two small submarines to transport the massive loads.[1]

In 1982, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia as part of the Colombian Liberal Party.[12] In that capacity, he was the official representative of the Colombian government for the swearing-in of Felipe González in Spain.[citation needed]

Escobar quickly became known internationally as his drug network gained notoriety; the Medellín Cartel controlled a large portion of the drugs that entered the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Spain. The cocaine was produced with coca from Bolivia and Peru through other drug dealers, such as Roberto Suárez Goméz, since Colombian coca was initially of substandard quality, and demand for more and better cocaine increased. Escobar's cocaine reached many other countries in the Americas, and Europe through Spain; it was even rumored his network reached as far as Asia.

Plata o plomo Corruption and intimidation characterized Escobar's dealings with the Colombian system. He had an effective, inescapable policy in dealing with law enforcement and the government, referred to as "plata o plomo" (literally "silver or lead", colloquially "[accept] money or [face] bullets"). Its execution resulted in the deaths of hundreds of individuals, including civilians, policemen and state officials. At the same time, Escobar bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians. Escobar was allegedly responsible for the 19 Inpes carried out a bloody campaign fueled by Plata o plomo Corruption and intimidation characterized Escobar's dealings with the Colombian system. He had an effective, inescapable policy in dealing with law enforcement and the government, referred to as "plata o plomo" (literally "silver or lead", colloquially "[accept] money or [face] bullets"). Its execution resulted in the deaths of hundreds of individuals, including civilians, policemen and state officials. At the same time, Escobar bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians. Escobar was allegedly responsible for the 19 Inpes carried out a bloody campaign fueled by Plata o plomo Corruption and intimidation characterized Escobar's dealings with the Colombian system. He had an effective, inescapable policy in dealing with law enforcement and the government, referred to as "plata o plomo" (literally "silver or lead", colloquially "[accept] money or [face] bullets"). Its execution resulted in the deaths of hundreds of individuals, including civilians, policemen and state officials. At the same time, Escobar bribed countless government officials, judges and other politicians. Escobar was allegedly responsible for the 19 Inpes carried out a bloody campaign fueled by