Life after the death of Pablo Escobar. Cocaine King

Colombian terrorist Pablo Escobar went down in world history as one of the most daring and brutal criminals of the 20th century. Having amassed a huge fortune in the drug business, he dealt with the powerful and, like Robin Hood, helped the poor and dreamed of the prosperity of his native country. On December 1, this unusual criminal would have turned 65 years old. For this date, I offer 15 interesting facts about his personality.

1. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on December 1, 1949 in Rionegro (Colombia) in the family of farmer Jesus Dari Escobar and schoolteacher Hemilda Gaviria. IN adolescence became addicted to cannabis and used it all his life.
2. In his youth, Pablo made his way through petty theft: he stole tombstones from a local cemetery and, erasing the inscriptions, sold them to Panamanian resellers; forged lottery tickets, sold cigarettes and marijuana. The clever handsome man succeeded in everything. And he put together a criminal gang. Together with their accomplices, they stole cars to sell for parts or offered their protection to potential victims. If they refused to pay, they lost their cars. The unbridled young men were not afraid of anything. Robberies and kidnappings have become commonplace for them. In 1971, Pablo's men kidnapped wealthy Colombian industrialist Diego Echevario. Not receiving a ransom from the oligarch's relatives, they strangled the victim and threw the corpse into a landfill. The poor people of Medellin celebrated the death of Diego Echevario and began to respectfully call him "El Doctor" as a sign of gratitude to Escobar. While robbing the rich, Pablo did not forget about the poor, realizing that sooner or later they would become his defenders. He built them cheap housing, and his popularity in Medellin grew day by day.

3. So at the age of 22, Escobar was the most famous crime boss in Medellin. His gang grew, and Pablo decided to get involved in a new criminal business - cocaine trafficking. This narcotic substance was contained in many plants common in Colombia, and the local population has long been involved in its production. But Escobar thought globally. He put this matter in industrial scale. At first, Pablo’s group acted as intermediaries, buying goods from “artisans” and selling them to resellers who sold cocaine in the United States. And soon the businessman himself took up drug smuggling. Escobar's business covered not only the whole of South America, he opened "branches" throughout the Caribbean. For example, a transshipment point was created in the Bahamas for the storage and further transportation of cocaine. A large pier, a number of gas stations and a modern hotel with all amenities were built. Not a single drug trafficker could export cocaine outside of Colombia without the permission of Pablo Escobar. Escobar removed the so-called 35 percent tax from each shipment of drugs and ensured its delivery. Escobar's criminal career was more than successful; he got rich, becoming one of the richest. He continued to invest dollars in the development of the drug industry.

4. In 1977, having combined his capital with three more cocaine magnates, Escobar and his companions created the Medellin cocaine cartel - not just a large monopoly, but an entire empire that entangled almost the entire world in its network. She had at her disposal airplanes, submarines, not to mention the most common means of transport. To sell goods and make a profit, Escobar did not disdain any tricks. He used blackmail, bribery of authorities, and threats.

5. In 1979, Escobar's empire accounted for more than 80% of the US cocaine industry. The 30-year-old drug trafficker became one of the richest people in the world, his personal fortune amounted to billions of dollars. Escobar decided to legalize his business. To do this, he decided to get into power and politics. Money and authority decided everything. In 1982, Pablo Escobar ran for office and, at 32, became a substitute congressman for the Colombian Congress, harboring dreams of the presidency. However, being popular person in Medellin, in other parts of the country he was known as a dubious character, which was the reason for his expulsion from Congress. His rivals for the presidency have launched a widespread campaign against investing dirty money in electoral contests. Through the efforts of the Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonia, the road to big politics was blocked for Escobar.
6. This fact formed the basis of Escobar’s new criminal activity - terror. Revenge is what motivated the offended and wounded drug lord. He brutally dealt with the Minister of Justice, and a similar fate awaited many of his offenders. On his orders, thousands of people were killed, Colombia turned into a military camp. In the mid-80s. In the 20th century, his cocaine empire controlled all spheres of life in the country. But then the Reagan government declared war on the drug lords and organized massive campaigns to counter the spread of drugs not only in the United States, but throughout the world. Pablo even wanted to surrender to the Colombian authorities in exchange for not being extradited to the United States. The authorities refused, to which they received terror from Escobar.

7. On August 16, 1989, a judge died at the hands of the drug lord’s killers Supreme Court Carlos Valencia. The next day, police Colonel Waldemar Franklin Contero was killed. On August 18, famous Colombian politician Luis Carlos Galan died from a bullet wound at an election rally. And before the elections, the terror of the Medellin cartel spread with renewed vigor: dozens of people became its victims every day. In Bogota alone, one of the terrorist drug mafia groups carried out 7 explosions within two weeks, as a result of which 37 people were killed and about 400 were seriously injured. On November 27, 1989, Escobar's mercenaries planted a bomb on a Boeing 727 of the Colombian airline Avianca, which was carrying 101 passengers and 6 crew members. I was supposed to fly on this plane future president Colombia Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, but for some reason canceled his flight. Five minutes after the airliner took off, a powerful explosion was heard, breaking the plane in half. Burning debris fell onto nearby hills. None of the people on board survived, and three people on the ground were killed by falling aircraft debris. The authorities declared a real war on cocaine dealers in terror: chemical laboratories and plantations were destroyed, drug cartel workers found themselves behind bars. As a result of just one nationwide operation, 989 houses and farms, 367 aircraft, 73 boats, 710 cars, 4.7 tons of cocaine and 1,279 weapons were confiscated from Escobar. In response to this, Pablo twice made attempts on the life of the head of the Colombian secret police, General Miguel Masa Marquez. In the second attempt, on December 6, 1989, a bomb explosion killed 62 people and injured about 100 of varying degrees of severity.

8. In 1989, Forbes magazine estimated Escobar's fortune at $47 billion. Escobar owned 34 estates, 500 thousand hectares of land, 40 rare Rolls-Royce cars. On the Naples estate (20 thousand hectares, airstrips), he created the largest zoo on the continent, where 120 antelopes, 30 buffaloes, 6 hippopotamuses, 3 elephants and 2 rhinoceroses were brought from all over the world.

9. He topped the list of the most wanted drug traffickers in the United States. Invariably following on his heels was an elite special forces unit, which set itself the task of catching or destroying Pablo Escobar at any cost.

10. Escobar had 400 mistresses, for whom he built an entire town. Each mistress, among whom were local winners of beauty contests, fashion models, and actresses, had her own cottage with a swimming pool, all kinds of gazebos, fountains and other delights, a design that was not like any other. When one of the drug lord's girlfriends, 15-year-old Maria, became pregnant, he did not kill her or take her out of sight. Escobar married a girl, and she bore him two wonderful children - a son, Juan Pablo, and a daughter, Manuella.

All his life he tried to be good husband and father and always cared about their safety. One day, while hiding from government agents, Escobar, along with his son and daughter, found himself in a high mountain hideout. The night turned out to be extremely cold, and in an attempt to warm his daughter, Escobar burned almost two million dollars in cash.
11. When a threat loomed over his head, he built a shelter for himself, which he considered a prison. The huge palace in the rocks of Envigado had not only torture chambers, but also a disco, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi and a sauna, and a bar. Escobar took revenge on his traitors with the most sophisticated executions.

12. In the fall of 1993, the Medellin cocaine cartel began to disintegrate, but the drug lord was more worried about his family. Escobar has already more than a year I didn’t see my wife or children. On December 1, 1993, Pablo Escobar turned 44 years old. He celebrated his birthday at a secret apartment. He knew he was being followed and still called his son Juan. And although the conversation was brief, this time was enough for the intelligence services, who spotted where the drug lord was located. His house was surrounded. Escobar and his bodyguard fired back to the last. According to the official version, the drug lord was taken down by a Los Pepes sniper, who also killed him with a control shot to the head. However, Escobar's son Juan claims that his father committed suicide, seeing no other way out.

13. About 20 thousand people came to Escobar's funeral and cried. As witnesses to the funeral note, they were not hired actors. The feelings were sincere. When Escobar's coffin was carried through the streets of Medellin, a stampede began. The lid of the coffin was thrown off, and thousands of hands reached out to Pablo’s already frozen face with the sole purpose of touching the recently living legend in last time. Then the Colombians dismantled the dead man’s villa brick by brick in search of the valuables hidden by the richest drug lord.

14. After Escobar's death, his sister asked for forgiveness from the victims of her brother's criminal activities. At the same time, the Colombian authorities refused to register the relatives of the drug lord trademark"Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria." The refusal was made on the grounds of harm to public morals and order. It is noteworthy that neither the widow nor the children of the drug lord themselves bear his name: after moving to Argentina in the late 90s of the twentieth century, they changed their surnames. A law enforcement agencies The United States and Colombia are still searching for Escobar, believing that a double of the legendary cocaine king was shot dead in December 1993.
15.V computer games GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories the international airport is named after Pablo Escobar. In the Russian repertoire music group"Bad Balance" is a song by Pablo Escobar.

10 Crazy Facts About The Cocaine King's Even Crazier Money.

The "Cocaine King" was the son of a poor Colombian farmer, but by the age of 35 he had become one of the richest people in the world. Despite his humble origins, Pablo Escobar headed the Medellin drug cartel, which was responsible for 80% of the world cocaine market. El Patron's weekly income was approximately $420 million, making him one of the richest drug lords in history.

It is impossible to give an accurate assessment of Escobar's condition due to the fact that money from drug sales, but experts estimate up to $30 billion.

1. In the mid-1980s, Escobar's cartel brought in about $420 million a week - almost $22 billion a year.

2. Escobar was included in the Forbes list of international billionaires for seven years in a row - from 1987 to 1993. In 1989, he took seventh place in the list of the richest people in the world.

3. By the end of the 1980s, he was responsible for supplying 80% of the world's cocaine.

4. He smuggled about 15 tons of cocaine into the United States every day.

Escobar with his son, Juan Pablo, in front of the White House in 1981

According to journalist Jon Grillo, the Medellin cartel shipped most of its cocaine directly to the Florida coast. Grillo writes:

“It was a run of fifteen hundred kilometers from the northern coast of Colombia, and nothing stopped him. The Colombians and their American accomplices dump the cargo directly into the sea, where it will be picked up and taken ashore in speedboats, or even fly all the way to Florida and dump the cocaine somewhere in the middle of nowhere.”

5. In other words, out of five Americans who use cocaine, four have used El Patron up their nostrils.

6. The “Cocaine King” lost 2.1 billion every year, but he didn’t care much about that.

Escobar's enormous wealth became a problem when he could not launder the money fast enough. As Roberto Escobar, the cartel's chief accountant and drug lord's brother, recounted in his book The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel, he stored cash in stacks in the Colombian wilderness - on dilapidated warehouses, and within the walls of the houses of cartel members:

“Pablo earned so much that every year we wrote off 10% of his wealth because the rats ate money in storage, they were damaged by water or they were simply lost.”

Considering how much the drug lord was estimated to earn, that amounts to a loss of $2.1 billion annually. Pablo Escobar had more money than he could spend, and it didn't bother him that he was losing it to rodents and mold.

7. Every month Medellin spent 2.5 thousand dollars on elastic bands for banknotes.

One of the photographs taken during the arrest of Pablo Escobar

Hiding and destroying huge sums of money is one issue, but the brothers also faced another, more mundane task: organizing and storing cash. According to Roberto Escobar, Medellin spent $2,500 a month on rubber bands used to tighten stacks of banknotes.

8. Escobar once burned $2 million because his daughter froze to death.

Pablo Escobar with his wife, Maria Victoria, son Juan Pablo and daughter Manuela

In a 2009 interview with Don Juan magazine, Ecobar's 38-year-old son Juan Pablo, who changed his name to Sebastian Marroquín, described what it was like to live with " Cocaine king».

According to Marroquin, the family was in a shelter on the slopes of Mount Medellin when Ecobar's daughter's body temperature dropped dramatically - and Escobar mercilessly burned $2 million worth of crisp banknotes to warm Manuela.

Escobar with his main hitman "Popeye" at La Catedral

In 1991, Escobar was imprisoned in a prison of his own design called La Catedral. In accordance with the agreement concluded with the Colombian government, Escobar had the right to choose who would serve his sentence in the same prison or work in it. In addition, he could continue to conduct cartel business and receive visitors.

La Catedral is equipped football field, barbecue area and patio. In addition, nearby Escobar built a building for his entire family. Representatives of the Colombian authorities were prohibited from approaching the prison closer than five kilometers.

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 soaking jeans in liquid cocaine and then shipping 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 airline 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 about 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 accounts, the family could no longer manage old life and live peacefully in your 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 - famous Colombian drug lord and the 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 throughout 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 Escobar

Pablo 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 political career and he even told all his friends and family that he wanted to become president. However, unenviable financial situation the family obviously put an end to these endeavors, and the boy, despite his age, understood this perfectly well. Driven by the desire to 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 dedicated the next 5 years 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, actually having complete control over everyone government agencies, 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 total number the victims numbered 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 excesses of the cartel began to annoy 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 photo 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 free time The “prisoner” spent time in casinos, spas, 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 going completely 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 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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Pablo Emilio Escobar. Biography. 50 Photos

Twenty-two years ago, in Colombia, the authorities, together with national special agents, neutralized the king of the drug business, Pablo Escobar.

Pablo Emilio Escobar became famous in the criminal world as an influential authority and went down in history as the most unprincipled and merciless criminal of that period. Cold-bloodedly dealing with representatives of the law (prosecutors, journalists), exterminating police departments, he arbitrarily tormented and tormented his victims.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born in 1949, on December 1st. In the town of Rionegro, in the family of an ordinary farm owner. He was the 3rd child in the family of Hasus Dari Escobar and Hemilda Gaviria. The boy's mother was a simple school teacher.

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Escobar's "exploits" in the 20th century covered almost all of Colombia's territorial possessions and the whole world.

Despite all the cruelty and cold-bloodedness, for most Colombians Pablo was a kind of Robin Hood. He became the personification of Latin American dreams. The Latin Americans who fought him consider him a “great man”

All free hours, young Pablo was on the streets of the city. The poor quarters of Melellin were a natural breeding ground for crime and vice.

Already at that time, young Escobar began stealing tombstones from the local cemetery. Erasing epitaphs from monuments, he sold them to speculators. The track record of acts was replenished with drug trafficking, theft and lottery counterfeiting.

Subsequently, Pablo organized a gang that traded in the theft of prestigious and expensive cars. For the purpose of reselling them for spare parts.

By his 21st birthday, Pablo already had many associates. The actions of the criminal group became more and more sophisticated, limitless and cruel. Car theft gave way to kidnapping (kidnapping for ransom).

History has preserved the information that Pablo Escobar and his people kidnapped Diego Echevario, who at that time was a major industrialist from Colombia, in 1971. After much torture and attempts to squeeze money out of the rich man, he was simply killed.

At the same time, Pablo Escobar did not hide his involvement in this high-profile case at all and even stated it openly. Thus, he earned even greater authority among the poor population of Medellin, who even organized a holiday in honor of this event. And Pablo Escobar received the respectful nickname “El Doctor”. Thus another Robin Hood appeared.

Using funds stolen from the rich, Pablo Emilio built houses for the poor, thereby winning their gratitude.

Pablo accomplished all these “feats” at the age of 21. And a year later, Medellin no longer knew a cooler and more famous crime boss than Pablo Escobar. Escobar's criminal business expanded, as did the size of his gang. He was no longer satisfied with just kidnapping people and extorting money from them. From now on, Escobar became interested in drugs and devoted himself to the cocaine trade until the end of his life.

His activities in the cocaine trade began with the purchase of the drug from manufacturers and its resale to smugglers. And they were already throwing powder into America. Possessing determination and a willingness to take any measures to achieve his goals, Pablo Escobar did not leave his competitors. Any profitable criminal business did not go unnoticed by Escobar. Pablo has no competitors left. He became the sole owner of all the cocaine in the country. And no one dared to stand in his way.

All this allowed Pablo to organize the delivery of cocaine to the USA himself, and his assistant Carlos Leider set up a point in the Bahamas, which was a transshipment point for all drug trafficking.

The matter was organized thoroughly. Absolutely everything related to cocaine was under control. Everyone who wanted to engage in drug trafficking, one way or another was forced to pay the cocaine king 35% of the cost of the exported drug shipment. And Pablo, in turn, guaranteed delivery of the powder safe and sound. Under Pablo Escobar, the Colombian jungle was a kind of hideout for cocaine laboratories.

U crime bosses In different countries of the old formation there is a rule “No family”. The reason is that the family seems to constrain and make you vulnerable. This is exactly what happened to Escobaro when he was 27 years old. Succumbing to the charm, or whatever, of his girlfriend Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo, Pablo married her. Most likely this happened due to Maria's pregnancy, since a month after the wedding she gave birth to a son, who was named Juan Pablo. Let’s say right away that 3 years later Pablo Escobar also had a daughter. They named her Manuella. All this made the gangster very vulnerable.

However, he was still very strong. And in 1977, Pablo teams up with three major drug dealers. A kind of organization is created, which later became known as the Medellin cocaine cartel.

Escobar, Ochoa Brothers Vazquez Jorge Luis (on the right wearing a hat), Juan David and Fabio

By the summer of 1977, there was no one left in Colombia more powerful than Pablo. His cartel had everything at its disposal: money, planes to transport cocaine to the states, chemical laboratories to produce the drug. They even had submarines with which they transported cocaine. The cartel has spread its networks over half the world. FOR 17 years, cocaine produced by Escobar could be bought in Colombia, Peru, USA, Europe, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras and Canada.

If we consider that in those years there was no cocaine in the USSR, and if there was, it was in very modest quantities, then it turns out that only Pablo Escobar was involved in all the cocaine in the world. Escobar bought everyone. Judges, police officers, politicians. They all received money from the cocaine king. Those who could not be bought were intimidated, killed, blackmailed. But the organization continued to operate without interruption. Money flowed like a river. Rock stars and Hollywood actors threw themselves out of windows, shot themselves, and hanged themselves. And Forbes magazine in 1989 estimated that Pacblo Escobar's net worth was $47,000,000,000.

But Pablo didn't sit on his money. He continued to spend part of the funds on improving life for the poor population of Medellin. It was thanks to him that stadiums, free houses (Pablo Escobar's quarters) were built in the city, and new roads were laid. It is not known what prompted him to such magnanimous gestures. Maybe it was a desire to atone for your sins? Vryatli. Pablo himself grew up in a poor family. Most likely it was a kind of revenge on the rich and a desire to overturn all the foundations of that time. This pushed him to war with the entire rich world.

Pablo Escobar's wealth

Let's take a closer look at the personal wealth of the cocaine king. Maybe this is of interest to someone. Pablo Escobar owned 500,000 hectares of land and 34 estates. 40 rare cars. We have already talked about submarines and airplanes above.

Main Estate

Escobar's most beloved estate had 20 lakes. 6 pools were not enough for him. And in the “backyard” there is a small airport nestled comfortably. There was also a zoo on the estate, to which animals were brought from all over the world. This zoo still exists today. You can visit it for a small fee of 20,000 pesos.

Entrance to the zoo

Evil tongues may be slandering things, but there is a legend that the far corners of the estate witnessed the owner’s sexual orgies, which were attended by all his friends and young Colombian girls. By the way, the girls lived there and formed a kind of harem. For his harem, Pablo ordered the best hairdressers and cosmetologists from Europe and Italy. Not life but a fairy tale. All you have to do is kill someone all the time.

Pablo Escobar in politics

As you probably already know from movies, all criminals sooner or later want to legalize their wealth and “give up with the past.” So it was with Escobar. In 1982, he ran for office and at the age of 32 became deputy congressman of the Colombian Congress. But this is too small for a person like Pablo. His goal is to become President of Colombia. Moreover, he is guaranteed support from the poor population.

Who knows, maybe this was the first step that Pablo took in the wrong direction... Maybe he would still be selling his cocaine all over the world if he had not gotten involved in politics.

The first person to stand on Pablo's path to the presidency was Rodrigo Lara Bonia. The then Minister of Justice. He launched a campaign against Pablo, based on the fact that he was investing dirty cocaine money in his election campaign. This brought results. The Cocaine King was expelled from the Colombian Congress. This put an end to his political career. We all already understand what Pablo Escobar did in this regard. It was 1984.

On April 30, the Mercedes in which the Minister of Justice was traveling was shot at point-blank range. The minister could not be saved. Never before has an official of this level been killed in Colombia.

Short War in Colombia

As a result of Escobar's murder, the Prime Minister became interested in the drug lord in the United States. The initiator of the war on drugs was the Administration of the President of the United States of America. With the consent of then-President Ronald Reagan, the war on drugs was not limited to the United States. Drug dealers began to be chased around the world. In order to capture Pablo Escobar, an agreement was concluded with Colombia, which pledged to hand over all drug dealers to US justice. As a result, this was the reason for a small war.

Since Pablo did not want to simply surrender into the hands of justice, and his influence was very large, a group of people who were ready to stand for him to death began fighting against Colombian police officers and officials.

In an effort to change the laws of the country and avoid extradition to the United States, Pablo Escobar and other major drug traffickers armed their army with machine guns, portable rocket launchers, and grenades. As a result of their actions, the Palace of Justice in the capital of the country, Bogota, was seized and all documents that in one way or another related to the extradition of criminals were destroyed.

In response, the state attracted a significant part of the army units, which surrounded the Palace. During the 27 hours during which the siege and storming of the palace lasted, 97 people died, including 11 judges. The assault was carried out using special forces groups, helicopters and tanks.

Pablo Escobar still achieved something. The Supreme Court was forced to cancel the extradition of drug lords to America. But this did not help Pablo much, since the decision of the supreme court was vetoed by the President of Colombia. I had to hide further.

The war is gaining momentum

In 1987, Pablo Escobar had to part with his closest assistant, Carlos Leider. Despite everything, he was extradited to the United States.

Life is no longer so comfortable and stable. In 1989, realizing that justice cannot be bought so easily, Pablo makes another deal with him. Its main condition is not to extradite him to the United States. But the Colombian government refuses and the war continues.

On August 16 of the same year, Judge Carlos Valencia is killed, and a day later, police Colonel Waldemar Franklin Conter is killed. Events begin to unfold very quickly. On August 18, following the judge of the Supreme Court of Colombia and the police colonel, Luis Carlos Galan, who was famous politician in Colombia. He is being removed for promising to rid Colombia of drug traffickers if he becomes president.

The presidential election was approaching. The wave of murders was gaining momentum. In the capital Bogota, explosions occurred almost every day. In just two weeks they were counted 7. They claimed the lives of 37 people. Along the way, another 400 were injured. The forest is being cut down and chips are flying.

The culmination of this whole epic was the explosion of a Boeing 727. The plane was blown up on November 27, 1989. There were 107 people on board along with the crew. But these people died completely in vain, since Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, the future president of Colombia, who was planning to fly on this flight, canceled the flight.

This could no longer be tolerated and the drug dealers were taken seriously. The government organized raids throughout the country. The hunt was on for all drug dealers. These raids helped destroy a significant portion of drug laboratories. All cocaine plantations that could be found were burned. But Pablo nevertheless made 2 attempts to kill Miguel Masa Marquez, who was the chief of the Colombian police and also a general. On December 6, 1989, as a result of the second attempt on his life, 62 people were killed. About a hundred were injured. By the new year of 1990, Pablo could be proud of his status as the most wanted drug trafficker in the United States.

The Colombian government created a special “Special Search Group”, the main purpose of its activities was to search and capture Pablo Escobar. This group included the most experienced specialists from the best police units, military professionals, special agents and prosecutors. High professionalism and the coordinated activity of all members of this organization, led by Colonel Martinez, allowed during successful operation capture Pablo Escobar's closest associates.

In the late 80s, during a police raid, a ranch was surrounded, where, according to agents, drug cartel bosses Gilberto Rendon and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha were at that moment. During the shootout, the first of them and Rodriguez's son Freddy were shot dead, and his father, Rodriguez Gacha, took his own life by shooting himself.

Immediately after this unprecedented action, Escobar's men organized the kidnapping of several of Colombia's richest and most influential people. The drug lord assumed that through influential relatives of the hostages it would be possible to influence government officials in order to cancel the agreement regarding the extradition of the criminals. And this plan was a brilliant success for the mafia, officials made concessions and the extradition of the cocaine king was cancelled.

In the summer of 1991, when Escobar no longer feared extradition to the United States, he agreed to plead guilty to some minor scams, with the condition that he would not be charged with his other more serious crimes. Conclusion Escobar served in a prison called La Catedral, which was built at his expense.

During his so-called “imprisonment,” Escobar never ceased to be the main leader of the cocaine business, which brought in multibillion-dollar revenues. There was a case when a drug lord found out that his partners in the cocaine business dared to pocket part of the profits while the boss was away for a “good reason,” so to speak. Escobar could not forgive this; it was ordered that the violators be taken to his residence, namely to the La Catedral prison. There, offending companions were subjected to brutal torture, Escobar himself personally drilled the kneecaps of his victims and pulled out their nails, then the order came to kill the negligent partners and get rid of the corpses. As you know, Escobar personally carried out one murder of a person himself.

Such an act was clearly too much; in the middle of the summer of 1992, Colombian President Cesar Gaviria signed a decree transferring Escobar to regular prison. However, Escobar was aware of the government's plans in advance and escaped. The photo shows an image of La Catedral prison.

And now the drug lord found himself on the other side of the bars, but there were enemies lurking around and there were fewer and fewer shelters where one could feel safe. The American and Colombian governments were determined to put an end to one of the biggest Colombian mafia bosses and his famous Medellin cocaine cartel for good. The decision was made to pursue Escobar to the end and, if possible, not to take him alive if captured.

In order to destroy the Medellin cocaine cartel in Colombia, a special organization “Los Pepes” functioned, the name of which consisted of the initial letters of the phrase “Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar”, which translated means “Persecuted by Pablo Escobar”. Members of this organization were residents of Colombia whose loved ones were killed by Escobar's men. In a short period of time, as a result of the activities of this organization, Escobar's criminal empire suffered significant losses, many of Escobar's people were killed by members of the organization, the drug lord's family was persecuted and attacked, his estates were burned as a result of arson.

Pictured is La Catedral prison.

Escobar's son Sebastian Marrocamn told a story in October 2009 that while hiding from the police, Escobar and his children ended up high in the mountains and were caught in a very cold night. Then, in order to at least warm his children a little and cook food on the fire, the famous cocaine king threw about two million paper dollars into the fire. The photo shows an image of Pablo Escobar with his daughter Manuella.

In October 1993, Escobar's cocaine business began to fall apart. However, this was not the drug lord’s main concern, who was constantly thinking about his loved ones, whom he had not seen for about a year.

In December 1993, when Escobar reached the age of 44, he broke down and made one single call to his family. He understood perfectly well that he was being followed, which is why the call was very short, so that he would not have time to come into the field of view of his pursuers. The photo shows an image of Escobar with his family.

So he contacted his family on December 2nd and stayed in touch with his son Juan for about 5 minutes. Special services agents who were hunting for a long time On Escobar, of course, they expected that someday the drug lord would contact his loved ones. After this call, Escobar's presence in the Medellin neighborhood of Los Olibos was established. The building where he was located was surrounded by police within minutes.

The door was knocked down and the troops special purpose rushed inside the building, where they were met with heavy fire from firearms, which Escobar's personal bodyguard El Limon led through them. Soon he was wounded, and he could no longer continue the fight, then instead of him, the drug lord himself appeared near the window. Shooting as he went, Escobar climbed onto the roof and tried to escape from the chase, but he was “taken off” from the roof by a sniper, whose bullet hit him directly in the head, Escobar died immediately.

Now the participants in the raid began to climb onto the roof to make sure that the drug lord was dead and began to photograph his corpse in order to capture this valuable “trophy.” Later these photographs were seen by the whole world. This is how “Robin Hood of Colombia” left this mortal coil, sentenced to death and carried out by the common people he supposedly cared about throughout his career as a cocaine king.

Thousands of Colombians filled the streets of Medellin on December 3, 1993 to see the famous drug lord, some to say goodbye and mourn, and some to gloat. About 20 thousand Colombian citizens attended the funeral of the odious leader of the cocaine cartel.

At the moment when the coffin with Escobar’s body began to be carried through the streets of Medellin for further burial, such unrest began in the crowd that they can be safely called Khodynka in Colombian style. The pallbearers of the late drug lord were simply swept away and pushed aside. The lid of the coffin was torn off and a thousand human hands reached out to the body of the now deceased cocaine king in order to touch the once living legend at least once again.

According to the evil irony of people's rumors, which came up with the version that Escobar kept his cash and precious items within the walls of the estate, the villa of the famous cocaine billionaire suffered a sad fate. After his death, the estate godfather was dismantled by Colombian peasants brick by brick and taken away in an unknown direction.

The famous prison “La Catedral” is now also destroyed, Escobar’s vast estates are overgrown with weeds, and the once luxurious cars are completely rusted. The drug lord's widow and his heirs live in Argentina, his brother almost lost his sight as a result of the explosion of a bomb that was sent to him in prison by letter.

But even today, if you ask people on the streets of Medellin in the heart of the slums about Pablo Escobar, believe me, you will not hear anything bad about him.

Images of Pablo Escobar are sold on Colombian streets along with portraits of Che Guevara. In some places in Colombia he is revered as a saint, and pilgrimages are made to his grave. In the tourism business of Colombian Medellin, the legend of the “cocaine king” is widely popular, whose museum is visited by tens of thousands of tourists every year.