Пабло эскобар как пишется на английском

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Escobar and the second or maternal family name is Gaviria.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; Spanish: [ˈpaβlo es.koˈβ̞aɾ]; 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed «the king of cocaine», Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death—equivalent to $70 billion as of 2022—while his drug cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1][2]

Pablo Escobar
Escobar in a 1976 mugshot
Member of the Chamber of Representatives for Medellin
In office 20 July 1982 – 26 October 1983
Personal details
Born	Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria 1 December 1949 Rionegro, Antioquia, Colombia
Died	2 December 1993 (aged 44) Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Cause of death	Gunshot wound to the head
Resting place	Monte Sacro Cemetery
Political party	Liberal Alternative
Spouse	Maria Victoria Henao ​ ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	2, including Sebastián Marroquín
Signature
Other names	Don Pablo (Sir Pablo) El Padrino (The Godfather) El Patrón (The Boss) Matar Pablo (Killing Pablo) The King of Cocaine The King of Crack Paisa Robin Hood
Conviction(s)	Illegal drug trade, assassinations, bombing, bribery, racketeering, murder
Criminal penalty	Five years’ imprisonment

Born in Rionegro and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín, but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft. In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom.

In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, through Colombia and eventually into the United States. Escobar’s infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine and by the 1980s it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia. As a result, he quickly became one of the richest people in the world,^[3][4] but constantly battled rival cartels domestically and abroad, leading to massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians,^[5] making Colombia the murder capital of the world.^[6]

In the 1982 Colombian parliamentary election, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Alternative movement. Through this, he was responsible for community projects such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. However, Escobar’s political ambitions were thwarted by the Colombian and U.S. governments, who routinely pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the DAS Building and Avianca Flight 203 bombings in retaliation.

In 1991, Escobar surrendered to authorities, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on a host of charges, but struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, with the ability of being housed in his own, self-built prison, La Catedral. In 1992, Escobar escaped and went into hiding when authorities attempted to move him to a more standard holding facility, leading to a nationwide manhunt.^[7] As a result, the Medellín Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44th birthday.^[8]

Escobar’s legacy remains controversial; while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, he was seen as a «Robin Hood-like» figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor. His killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people.^[9] Additionally, his private estate, Hacienda Nápoles, has been transformed into a theme park.^[10] His life has also served as inspiration for or has been dramatized widely in film, television, and in music.

Early life

The city of Medellín, where Escobar grew up and began his criminal career.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on 1 December 1949 in Rionegro, Antioquia Department. He was the third child of seven children and grew up in the neighboring city of Medellin. His father was a small farmer and his mother was a teacher. Escobar left high school in 1966 just before his 17th birthday, before returning two years later with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria. At this time, the hard life on the streets of Medellin had polished them into gangster bullies in the eyes of teachers. The two dropped out of school after more than a year, but Escobar, who did not give up, briefly became autonomous in Latin America by forging high school diplomas. He then studied in college with the goal of becoming a criminal lawyer, a politician, and eventually the president, but had to give up because of lack of money.^[11][12][13]

Criminal career

Cocaine distribution

International drug routes.

Escobar began his criminal career in 1966. Escobar is rumored to have started his criminal career with his gang by stealing tombstones, sandblasting their inscriptions, and reselling them, though his most likely first crime was street fraud. After dropping out of school, Escobar began to join car theft gangs, and at the age of 20 was already a household name for car thieves. He and his gang stole cars and dismantled them to sell their parts, and with enough money on hand, Escobar bribed officials to launder his loot. While arrest records have been lost, Escobar apparently sat in a Medellin prison for several months before his 20th birthday. Escobar soon became involved in violent crime, employing criminals to kidnap people who owed him money and demand ransoms, sometimes tearing up tickets even when Escobar received the ransom. His most famous kidnapping victim was businessman Diego Echavarria, who was kidnapped and eventually killed in the summer of 1971, Escobar received a $50,000 ransom from the Echavarria family; his gang became well-known for this kidnapping.^[14]

Medellin Group

Escobar had been involved in organized crime for a decade when the cocaine trade began to spread in Colombia in the mid-1970s. One of Colombia’s first drug dealers was Fabio Restrepo, who shipped about 40 to 60 kilograms of cocaine to Miami once or twice a year. Under Escobar’s mastermind, Restrepo was assassinated in 1975, and Escobar seized his market and business. Escobar’s meteoric rise also caught the attention of the Colombian Security Service (DAS), who arrested him in May 1976 on his return from drug trafficking in Ecuador. DAS agents found 39 kg of cocaine in the spare tire of Escobar’s car. Escobar managed to change the first judge in the lawsuit and bribed the second judge, so he was released along with other prisoners. The following year, the agent who arrested Escobar was assassinated. Escobar continued to collude with law enforcement in the same fashion. His strategy came to be known as «silver or lead,» or «money or bullets.»^[12][15] Although the Medellin Group was only established in the early 1970s, it expanded after Escobar met several drug lords on a farm in April 1978, and by the end of 1978 they had transported some 19,000 kilograms of cocaine to the United States.^[16]

Rise to prominence

Powder cocaine was manufactured, packaged, and sold by Pablo Escobar and his associates, and eventually distributed to the U.S. drug market.

Soon, the demand for cocaine greatly increased in the United States, which led to Escobar organizing more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the country. He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, an island called Norman’s Cay about 350 km (220 mi) southeast of the Florida coast. According to his brother, Escobar did not purchase Norman’s Cay; it was instead a sole venture of Lehder’s. Escobar 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 they 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 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) of land in Antioquia for several million dollars, on which he built the Hacienda Nápoles. The luxury house he created contained a zoo, a lake, a sculpture garden, a private bullring, and other amenities for his family and the cartel.^[17]

Escobar at the height of his power

Escobar was also involved in philanthropy in Colombia and paid handsomely for the staff of his cocaine lab. Escobar spent millions developing some of Medellín’s poorest neighborhoods. He helped build roads, power lines and soccer fields. He also built housing complexes for the homeless. Escobar also entered politics in the 1970s and participated in and supported the formation of the Liberal Party of Colombia. In 1982, he successfully entered the Colombian Congress. Although only an alternate, he was automatically granted parliamentary immunity and the right to a diplomatic passport under Colombian law. At the same time, Escobar was gradually becoming a public figure, and because of his charitable work, he was known as «Robin Hood Paisa.» He alleged once in an interview that his fortune came from a bicycle rental company he founded when he was 16 years old.^[18]

In Congress, the new Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara-Bonilla, had become Escobar’s opponent, accusing Escobar of criminal activity from the very first day of Congress. Escobar’s arrest in 1976 was investigated by Lara-Bonilla’s subordinates. A few months later, Liberal leader Luis Carlos Galán expelled Escobar from the party. Although Escobar fought back, he announced his retirement from politics in January 1984. Three months later, Lara-Bonilla was murdered.^[19]

The Colombian judiciary had been a target of Escobar throughout the mid-1980s. While bribing and murdering several judges, in the fall of 1985, the wanted Escobar requested the Colombian government to allow his conditional surrender without extradition to the United States. The proposal was initially answered in the negative, and Escobar subsequently founded and implicitly supported the Los Extraditable Organization, which aims to fight extradition policy. The Los Extraditable Organization was subsequently accused of participating in an effort to prevent the Colombian Supreme Court from studying the constitutionality of Colombia’s extradition treaty with the United States. In support of the 6 November 1985, far-left guerrilla movement that attacked the Colombian Judiciary Building and killed half of the justices of the Supreme Court. In late 1986, Colombia’s Supreme Court declared the previous extradition treaty illegal due to being signed by a presidential delegation, not the president. Escobar’s victory over the judiciary was short-lived, with new president Bill Jillo Barr Co Vargas having quickly renewed his agreement with the United States.^[20][21]

Escobar still held a grudge against Luis Carlos Galán, who kicked him out of politics, and was assassinated on 18 August 1989, at Escobar’s orders. Escobar then planted a bomb on Avianca Flight 203 in an attempt to assassinate Galán’s successor, Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, who missed the plane and survived, but was on board. All 107 people were killed in the blast. Because two Americans were also killed in the bombing, the U.S. government began to intervene directly.^[22][23]

La Catedral prison

After the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, the administration of César Gaviria moved against Escobar and the drug cartels. Eventually, the government negotiated with Escobar and convinced him to surrender and cease all criminal activity in exchange for a reduced sentence and preferential treatment during his captivity. Declaring an end to a series of previous violent acts meant to pressure authorities and public opinion, Escobar surrendered to Colombian authorities in 1991. Before he gave himself up, the extradition of Colombian citizens to the United States had been prohibited by the newly approved Colombian Constitution of 1991. This act was controversial, as it was suspected that Escobar and other drug lords had influenced members of the Constituent Assembly in passing the law. Escobar was confined in what became his own luxurious private prison, La Catedral, which featured a football pitch, a giant dollhouse, a bar, a Jacuzzi, and a waterfall. Accounts of Escobar’s continued criminal activities while in prison began to surface in the media, which prompted the government to attempt to move him to a more conventional jail on 22 July 1992. Escobar’s influence allowed him to discover the plan in advance and make a successful escape, spending the remainder of his life evading the police.^[24][25]

Personal life

Family and relationships

In March 1976, the 26-year-old Escobar married María Victoria Henao, who was 15. The relationship was discouraged by the Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior; the pair eloped.^[26] They had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela.

In 2007, the journalist Virginia Vallejo published her memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), in which she describes her romantic relationship with Escobar and the links of her lover with several presidents, Caribbean dictators, and high-profile politicians.^[27] Her book inspired the movie Loving Pablo (2017).^[28]

A drug distributor, Griselda Blanco, is also reported to have conducted a clandestine, but passionate, relationship with Escobar; several items in her diary link him with the nicknames «Coque de Mi Rey» (My Coke King) and «Polla Blanca» (White Cock).^[29]

Properties

After becoming wealthy, Escobar created or bought numerous residences and safe houses, with the Hacienda Nápoles gaining significant notoriety. The luxury house contained a colonial house, a sculpture park, and a complete zoo with animals from various continents, including elephants, exotic birds, giraffes, and hippopotamuses. Escobar had also planned to construct a Greek-style citadel near it, and though construction of the citadel was started, it was never finished.^[30]

Escobar also owned a home in the US under his own name: a 6,500 square foot (604 m²), pink, waterfront mansion situated at 5860 North Bay Road in Miami Beach, Florida. The four-bedroom estate, built in 1948 on Biscayne Bay, was seized by the US federal government in the 1980s. Later, the dilapidated property was owned by Christian de Berdouare, proprietor of the Chicken Kitchen fast-food chain, who had bought it in 2014. De Berdouare would later hire a documentary film crew and professional treasure hunters to search the edifice before and after demolition, for anything related to Escobar or his cartel. They would find unusual holes in floors and walls, as well as a safe that was stolen from its hole in the marble flooring before it could be properly examined.^[31]

Escobar also owned a huge Caribbean getaway on Isla Grande, the largest of the cluster of the 27 coral cluster islands comprising Islas del Rosario, located about 35 km (22 mi) from Cartagena. The compound, now half-demolished and overtaken by vegetation and wild animals, featured a mansion, apartments, courtyards, a large swimming pool, a helicopter landing pad, reinforced windows, tiled floors, and a large but unfinished building to the side of the mansion.^[32]

Death

Members of Search Bloc celebrate over Escobar’s body on 2 December 1993. His death ended a 16-month search effort, costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

The tomb of Pablo Escobar and family in the Monte Sacro Cemetery, Itagüí

Escobar faced threats from the Colombian police, the U.S. government and his rival, the Cali Cartel. On 2 December 1993, Escobar was found in a house in a middle-class residential area of Medellin by Colombian special forces using technology provided by the United States. Police tried to arrest Escobar, but the situation quickly escalated to an exchange of gun fire. Escobar was shot and killed while trying to escape from the roof. He was hit by bullets in the torso and feet, and a bullet which struck him in the ear killing him. This sparked debate about whether he killed himself or whether he was shot dead.^[12]

Aftermath of his death

Soon after Escobar’s death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the cocaine market became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders were either killed or captured by the Colombian government. The Robin Hood image that Escobar had cultivated maintained a lasting influence in Medellín. Many there, especially many of the city’s poor whom Escobar had aided while he was alive, mourned his death, and over 25,000 people attended his funeral. Some of them consider him a saint and pray to him for receiving divine help. Escobar was buried at the Monte Sacro Cemetery.^[33]

Virginia Vallejo’s testimony

On 4 July 2006, Virginia Vallejo, a television anchorwoman romantically involved with Escobar from 1983 to 1987, offered Attorney General Mario Iguarán her testimony in the trial against former Senator Alberto Santofimio, who was accused of conspiracy in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán. Iguarán acknowledged that, although Vallejo had contacted his office on 4 July, the judge had decided to close the trial on 9 July, several weeks before the prospective closing date. The action was seen as too late.^[34][35]

On 18 July 2006, Vallejo was taken to the United States on a special flight of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), for «safety and security reasons» due to her cooperation in high-profile criminal cases.^[36][37] On 24 July, a video in which Vallejo had accused Santofimio of instigating Escobar to eliminate presidential candidate Galán was aired by RCN Television of Colombia. The video was seen by 14 million people, and was instrumental for the reopened case of Galán’s assassination. On 31 August 2011 Santofimio was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in the crime.^[38][39]

Role in the Palace of Justice siege

Among Escobar’s biographers, only Vallejo has given a detailed explanation of his role in the 1985 Palace of Justice siege. The journalist stated that Escobar had financed the operation, which was committed by M-19; but she blamed the army for the killings of more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court magistrates, M-19 members, and employees of the cafeteria. Her statements prompted the reopening of the case in 2008; Vallejo was asked to testify, and many of the events she had described in her book and testimonial were confirmed by Colombia’s Commission of Truth.^[40][41] These events led to further investigation into the siege that resulted with the conviction of a high-ranking former colonel and a former general, later sentenced to 30 and 35 years in prison, respectively, for the forced disappearance of the detained after the siege.^[42][43] Vallejo would subsequently testify in Galán’s assassination.^[44] In her book, Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), she had accused several politicians, including Colombian presidents Alfonso López Michelsen, Ernesto Samper and Álvaro Uribe of having links to drug cartels.^[45] Due to threats, and her cooperation in these cases, on 3 June 2010 the United States granted political asylum to the Colombian journalist.^{[citation needed]}

Relatives

Escobar’s widow (María Henao, now María Isabel Santos Caballero), son (Juan Pablo, now Sebastián Marroquín Santos) and daughter (Manuela) fled Colombia in 1995 after failing to find a country that would grant them asylum.^[46] Despite Escobar’s numerous and continual infidelities, Maria remained supportive of her husband. Members of the Cali Cartel even replayed their recordings of her conversations with Pablo for their wives to demonstrate how a woman should behave.^[47] This attitude proved to be the reason the cartel did not kill her and her children after Pablo’s death, although the group demanded (and received) millions of dollars in reparations for Escobar’s war against them. Henao even successfully negotiated for her son’s life by personally guaranteeing he would not seek revenge against the cartel or participate in the drug trade.^{[48][non-primary source needed]}

After escaping first to Mozambique, then to Brazil, the family settled in Argentina.^[49] Living under her assumed name, Henao became a successful real estate entrepreneur until one of her business associates discovered her true identity, and Henao absconded with her earnings. Local media were alerted, and after being exposed as Escobar’s widow, Henao was imprisoned for eighteen months while her finances were investigated. Ultimately, authorities were unable to link her funds to illegal activity, and she was released.^[50] According to her son, Henao fell in love with Escobar «because of his naughty smile [and] the way he looked at [her]. [He] was affectionate and sweet. A great lover. I fell in love with his desire to help people and his compassion for their hardship. We [would] drive to places where he dreamed of building schools for the poor. From [the] beginning, he was always a gentleman.»^[51] María Victoria Henao de Escobar, with her new identity as María Isabel Santos Caballero, continues to live in Buenos Aires with her son and daughter.^[52] On 5 June 2018, the Argentine federal judge Nestor Barral accused her and her son, Sebastián Marroquín Santos, of money laundering with two Colombian drug traffickers.^[53][54][55] The judge ordered the seizing of assets for about $1m each.^[56]

Argentinian filmmaker Nicolas Entel’s documentary Sins of My Father (2009) chronicles Marroquín’s efforts to seek forgiveness, on behalf of his father, from the sons of Rodrigo Lara, Colombia’s justice minister who was assassinated in 1984, as well as from the sons of Luis Carlos Galán, the presidential candidate who was assassinated in 1989. The film was shown at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and premiered in the US on HBO in October 2010.^[57] In 2014, Marroquín published Pablo Escobar, My Father under his birth name. The book provides a firsthand insight into details of his father’s life and describes the fundamentally disintegrating effect of his death upon the family. Marroquín aimed to publish the book in hopes to resolve any inaccuracies regarding his father’s excursions during the 1990s.^[58]

Escobar’s sister, Luz Maria Escobar, also made multiple gestures in attempts to make amends for the drug baron’s crimes. These include making public statements in the press, leaving letters on the graves of his victims and on the 20th anniversary of his death organizing a public memorial for his victims.^[59] Escobar’s body was exhumed on 28 October 2006 at the request of some of his relatives in order to take a DNA sample to confirm the alleged paternity of an illegitimate child and remove all doubt about the identity of the body that had been buried next to his parents for 12 years.^[60] A video of the exhumation was broadcast by RCN, angering Marroquín, who accused his uncle, Roberto Escobar, and cousin, Nicolas Escobar, of being «merchants of death» by allowing the video to air.^[61]

Hacienda Nápoles

After Escobar’s death, the ranch, zoo and citadel at Hacienda Nápoles were given by the government to low-income families under a law called Extinción de Dominio (Domain Extinction). The property has been converted into a theme park surrounded by four luxury hotels overlooking the zoo.^[30]

Escobar Inc

In 2014, Roberto Escobar founded Escobar Inc with Olof K. Gustafsson and registered Successor-In-Interest rights for his brother Pablo Escobar in California, United States.^[62] Olof K Gustafsson is a Swedish youtuber with 310 000 subscribers as of 29 June 2022.^[63]

Hippos

Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at Hacienda Nápoles. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar’s death, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.^[64][65] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd and, after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called «Pepe») was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.^[65] As of early 2014, 40 hippos have been reported to exist in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia Department, from the original four belonging to Escobar.^[66] Without management the population size is likely to more than double in the next decade.^[67]

The National Geographic Channel produced a documentary about them titled Cocaine Hippos.^[68] A report published in a Yale student magazine noted that local environmentalists are campaigning to protect the animals, although there is no clear plan for what will happen to them.^[69] In 2018, National Geographic published another article on the hippos which found disagreement among environmentalists on whether they were having a positive or negative impact, but that conservationists and locals – particularly those in the tourism industry – were mostly in support of their continued presence.^[70]

By October, 2021, the Colombian government had started a program to sterilize the hippos using a chemical to make them infertile.^[71]

Apartment demolition

On 22 February 2019, at 11:53 AM local time, Medellín authorities demolished the six-story Edificio Mónaco apartment complex in the El Poblado neighborhood where, according to retired Colombian general Rosso José Serrano, Escobar planned some of his most brazen attacks. The building was initially built for Escobar’s wife but was gutted by a Cali Cartel car bomb in 1988 and had remained unoccupied ever since, becoming an attraction to foreign tourists seeking out Escobar’s physical legacy. Mayor Federico Gutierrez had been pushing to raze the building and erect in its place a park honoring the thousands of cartel victims, including four presidential candidates and some 500 police officers. Colombian President Ivan Duque said the demolition «means that history is not going to be written in terms of the perpetrators, but by recognizing the victims,» hoping the demolition would showcase that the city had evolved significantly and had more to offer than the legacy left by the cartels.^[72]

In popular culture

Books

Escobar has been the subject of several books, including the following:

• Escobar (2010), by Roberto Escobar, written by his brother shows how he became infamous and ultimately died.^[73]
• Escobar Gaviria, Roberto (2016). My Brother – Pablo Escobar. Escobar, Inc. ISBN 978-0692706374.
• Kings of Cocaine (1989), by Guy Gugliotta, retells the history and operations of the Medellín Cartel, and Escobar’s role within it.^[74]
• Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw (2001), by Mark Bowden,^[75][76] relates how Escobar was killed and his cartel dismantled by US special forces and intelligence, the Colombian military, and Los Pepes.^[77]
• Pablo Escobar: My Father (2016), by Juan Pablo Escobar, translated by Andrea Rosenberg.^[78]
• Pablo Escobar: Beyond Narcos (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells the story of Pablo and the Medellin Cartel in the context of the failed War on Drugs; ISBN 978-1537296302
• American Made: Who Killed Barry Seal? Pablo Escobar or George HW Bush (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells Pablo’s story as a suspect in the murder of CIA pilot Barry Seal; ISBN 978-1537637198
• Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar (2017) by Virginia Vallejo, originally published by Penguin Random House in Spanish in 2007, and later translated to 16 languages.
• News of a Kidnapping, (original Spanish title: Noticia de un secuestro) non-fiction 1996 book by Gabriel García Márquez, and published in English in 1997.

Films

Two major feature films on Escobar, Escobar (2009) and Killing Pablo (2011), were announced in 2007.^[79] Details about them, and additional films about Escobar, are listed below.

• Blow, a 2001 American biographical film based on George Jung, a member of the Medellín Cartel; Escobar was portrayed by Cliff Curtis.
• Pablo Escobar: The King of Coke (2007) is a TV movie documentary by National Geographic, featuring archival footage and commentary by stakeholders.^[80][81]
• Escobar (2009) was delayed because of producer Oliver Stone’s involvement with the George W. Bush biopic W. (2008). As of 2008, the release date of Escobar remained unconfirmed.^[when?][82] Regarding the film, Stone said: «This is a great project about a fascinating man who took on the system. I think I have to thank Scarface, and maybe even Ari Gold.»^[83]
• Killing Pablo (2011) was supposedly in development for several years, directed by Joe Carnahan. It was to be based on Mark Bowden’s 2001 book of the same title, which in turn was based on his 31-part Philadelphia Inquirer series of articles on the subject.^[76][77] The cast was reported to include Christian Bale as Major Steve Jacoby and Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez as Escobar.^[84][85] In December 2008, Bob Yari, producer of Killing Pablo, filed for bankruptcy.^[86]
• Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014) a romantic thriller in which a naive Canadian surfer falls in love with a girl who turns out to be Escobar’s niece.
• Loving Pablo (2017), Spanish film based on Virginia Vallejo’s book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar with Javier Bardem as Escobar, and Penélope Cruz as Virginia Vallejo.^[87]
• American Made (2017), American biographical film based on Barry Seal; Escobar was portrayed by Mauricio Mejía.^[88]
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022), American biopic parody loosely based on the life of «Weird Al» Yankovic; Arturo Castro portrays Escobar who is depicted as a Weird Al fan who kidnaps Weird Al’s girlfriend, Madonna, to lure him to play at is fortieth birthday party. Weird Al instead murders him.

Television

• In 2005, Court TV (now TruTV) crime documentary series Mugshots released an episode on Escobar titled «Pablo Escobar – Hunting The Druglord».^[89]
• In the 2007 HBO television series, Entourage, actor Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier) is cast as Escobar in a fictional film entitled Medellín.^[90]
• One of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series films, The Two Escobars (2010), by directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, looks back at Colombia’s World Cup run in 1994 and the relationship between sports and the country’s criminal gangs — notably the Medellín narcotics cartel run by Escobar. The other Escobar in the film title refers to former Colombian defender Andrés Escobar (no relation to Pablo), who was shot and killed one month after conceding an own goal that contributed to the elimination of the Colombian national team from the 1994 FIFA World Cup.^[91]
• Caracol TV produced a television series, El cartel (The Cartel), which began airing on 4 June 2008 where Escobar is portrayed by an unknown model when he is shot down by Cartel del Sur’s hitmen.
• Also Caracol TV produced a TV Series, Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (Pablo Escobar, The Boss Of Evil), which began airing on 28 May 2012, and stars Andrés Parra as Pablo Escobar. It is based on Alonso Salazar’s book La parábola de Pablo.^[92] Parra reprises his role in TV Series Football Dreams, a world of passion and El Señor de los Cielos (season 1). Parra has declared not to play the character again so as not to pigeonhole himself.
• RTI Producciones produced a TV Series for RCN Televisión, Tres Caínes, was released on 4 March 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by the colombian actor Juan Pablo Franco (who portrayed general Muriel Peraza in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) in the first phase of the series. Franco reprises his role in Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ.
• The same year 2013, Fox Telecolombia produced for RCN Televisión a TV Series, Alias El Mexicano, released on 5 November 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by an unknown actor in a minor role.
• A Netflix original television series depicting the story of Escobar, titled Narcos, was released on 28 August 2015, starring Brazilian actor Wagner Moura as Pablo.^[93] Season two premiered on the streaming service on 2 September 2016.^[94]
• In 2016 RCN Televisión produced the TV Series En la boca del lobo, was released on 16 August 2016, which Escobar is portrayed by Fabio Restrepo (who portrayed Javier Ortiz in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) as the character of Flavio Escolar.
• National Geographic in 2016 broadcast a biography series Facing that included an episode featuring Escobar.^[95]
• On 24 January 2018 Netflix released the 68-minute-long documentary Countdown to Death: Pablo Escobar directed by Santiago Diaz and Pablo Martin Farina.^[96][97]
• Killing Escobar was a documentary televised in the UK in 2021. It concerned a failed attempt by mercenaries, contracted by the Cali Cartel and led by Peter McAleese, to assassinate Escobar in 1989.
• Fox Telecolombia produced in 2019 a TV Series, El General Naranjo, which aired on 24 May 2019, which Escobar is portrayed by the Colombian actor Federico Rivera.

Music

• The 2013 song «Pablo» by American rapper E-40 serves as an ode to the legacy of Pablo Escobar.^[98]
• The 2016 album The Life of Pablo by American rapper Kanye West was named after the three Pablo’s that inspired and represented some part of the album, with one of them being Pablo Escobar.^[99]
• Dubdogz’s «Pablo Escobar» (feat. Charlott Boss), released in 2020, has garnered more than 5.6 million views for its official music video.^[100]

References

External links

• «The Abandoned House of Pablo Escobar». noaccess.eu. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
• Pablo Escobar at IMDb  

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Escobar and the second or maternal family name is Gaviria.

Pablo Escobar
Escobar in a 1976 mugshot
Member of the Chamber of Representatives for Medellin
In office 20 July 1982 – 26 October 1983
Personal details
Born	Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria 1 December 1949 Rionegro, Antioquia, Colombia
Died	2 December 1993 (aged 44) Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Cause of death	Gunshot wound to the head
Resting place	Monte Sacro Cemetery
Political party	Liberal Alternative
Spouse	Maria Victoria Henao ​ ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	2, including Sebastián Marroquín
Signature
Other names	Don Pablo (Sir Pablo) El Padrino (The Godfather) El Patrón (The Boss) Matar Pablo (Killing Pablo) The King of Cocaine The King of Crack Paisa Robin Hood
Conviction(s)	Illegal drug trade, assassinations, bombing, bribery, racketeering, murder
Criminal penalty	Five years’ imprisonment

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; Spanish: [ˈpaβlo es.koˈβ̞aɾ]; 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed «the king of cocaine», Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death—equivalent to $70 billion as of 2022—while his drug cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1][2]

Born in Rionegro and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín, but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft. In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom.

In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, through Colombia and eventually into the United States. Escobar’s infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine and by the 1980s it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia. As a result, he quickly became one of the richest people in the world,^[3][4] but constantly battled rival cartels domestically and abroad, leading to massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians,^[5] making Colombia the murder capital of the world.^[6]

In the 1982 Colombian parliamentary election, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Alternative movement. Through this, he was responsible for community projects such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. However, Escobar’s political ambitions were thwarted by the Colombian and U.S. governments, who routinely pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the DAS Building and Avianca Flight 203 bombings in retaliation.

In 1991, Escobar surrendered to authorities, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on a host of charges, but struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, with the ability of being housed in his own, self-built prison, La Catedral. In 1992, Escobar escaped and went into hiding when authorities attempted to move him to a more standard holding facility, leading to a nationwide manhunt.^[7] As a result, the Medellín Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44th birthday.^[8]

Escobar’s legacy remains controversial; while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, he was seen as a «Robin Hood-like» figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor. His killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people.^[9] Additionally, his private estate, Hacienda Nápoles, has been transformed into a theme park.^[10] His life has also served as inspiration for or has been dramatized widely in film, television, and in music.

Early life

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on 1 December 1949 in Rionegro, Antioquia Department. He was the third child of seven children and grew up in the neighboring city of Medellin. His father was a small farmer and his mother was a teacher. Escobar left high school in 1966 just before his 17th birthday, before returning two years later with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria. At this time, the hard life on the streets of Medellin had polished them into gangster bullies in the eyes of teachers. The two dropped out of school after more than a year, but Escobar, who did not give up, briefly became autonomous in Latin America by forging high school diplomas. He then studied in college with the goal of becoming a criminal lawyer, a politician, and eventually the president, but had to give up because of lack of money.^[11][12][13]

Criminal career

Cocaine distribution

Escobar began his criminal career in 1966. Escobar is rumored to have started his criminal career with his gang by stealing tombstones, sandblasting their inscriptions, and reselling them, though his most likely first crime was street fraud. After dropping out of school, Escobar began to join car theft gangs, and at the age of 20 was already a household name for car thieves. He and his gang stole cars and dismantled them to sell their parts, and with enough money on hand, Escobar bribed officials to launder his loot. While arrest records have been lost, Escobar apparently sat in a Medellin prison for several months before his 20th birthday. Escobar soon became involved in violent crime, employing criminals to kidnap people who owed him money and demand ransoms, sometimes tearing up tickets even when Escobar received the ransom. His most famous kidnapping victim was businessman Diego Echavarria, who was kidnapped and eventually killed in the summer of 1971, Escobar received a $50,000 ransom from the Echavarria family; his gang became well-known for this kidnapping.^[14]

Medellin Group

Escobar had been involved in organized crime for a decade when the cocaine trade began to spread in Colombia in the mid-1970s. One of Colombia’s first drug dealers was Fabio Restrepo, who shipped about 40 to 60 kilograms of cocaine to Miami once or twice a year. Under Escobar’s mastermind, Restrepo was assassinated in 1975, and Escobar seized his market and business. Escobar’s meteoric rise also caught the attention of the Colombian Security Service (DAS), who arrested him in May 1976 on his return from drug trafficking in Ecuador. DAS agents found 39 kg of cocaine in the spare tire of Escobar’s car. Escobar managed to change the first judge in the lawsuit and bribed the second judge, so he was released along with other prisoners. The following year, the agent who arrested Escobar was assassinated. Escobar continued to collude with law enforcement in the same fashion. His strategy came to be known as «silver or lead,» or «money or bullets.»^[12][15] Although the Medellin Group was only established in the early 1970s, it expanded after Escobar met several drug lords on a farm in April 1978, and by the end of 1978 they had transported some 19,000 kilograms of cocaine to the United States.^[16]

Rise to prominence

Soon, the demand for cocaine greatly increased in the United States, which led to Escobar organizing more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the country. He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, an island called Norman’s Cay about 350 km (220 mi) southeast of the Florida coast. According to his brother, Escobar did not purchase Norman’s Cay; it was instead a sole venture of Lehder’s. Escobar 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 they 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 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) of land in Antioquia for several million dollars, on which he built the Hacienda Nápoles. The luxury house he created contained a zoo, a lake, a sculpture garden, a private bullring, and other amenities for his family and the cartel.^[17]

Escobar at the height of his power

Escobar was also involved in philanthropy in Colombia and paid handsomely for the staff of his cocaine lab. Escobar spent millions developing some of Medellín’s poorest neighborhoods. He helped build roads, power lines and soccer fields. He also built housing complexes for the homeless. Escobar also entered politics in the 1970s and participated in and supported the formation of the Liberal Party of Colombia. In 1982, he successfully entered the Colombian Congress. Although only an alternate, he was automatically granted parliamentary immunity and the right to a diplomatic passport under Colombian law. At the same time, Escobar was gradually becoming a public figure, and because of his charitable work, he was known as «Robin Hood Paisa.» He alleged once in an interview that his fortune came from a bicycle rental company he founded when he was 16 years old.^[18]

In Congress, the new Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara-Bonilla, had become Escobar’s opponent, accusing Escobar of criminal activity from the very first day of Congress. Escobar’s arrest in 1976 was investigated by Lara-Bonilla’s subordinates. A few months later, Liberal leader Luis Carlos Galán expelled Escobar from the party. Although Escobar fought back, he announced his retirement from politics in January 1984. Three months later, Lara-Bonilla was murdered.^[19]

The Colombian judiciary had been a target of Escobar throughout the mid-1980s. While bribing and murdering several judges, in the fall of 1985, the wanted Escobar requested the Colombian government to allow his conditional surrender without extradition to the United States. The proposal was initially answered in the negative, and Escobar subsequently founded and implicitly supported the Los Extraditable Organization, which aims to fight extradition policy. The Los Extraditable Organization was subsequently accused of participating in an effort to prevent the Colombian Supreme Court from studying the constitutionality of Colombia’s extradition treaty with the United States. In support of the 6 November 1985, far-left guerrilla movement that attacked the Colombian Judiciary Building and killed half of the justices of the Supreme Court. In late 1986, Colombia’s Supreme Court declared the previous extradition treaty illegal due to being signed by a presidential delegation, not the president. Escobar’s victory over the judiciary was short-lived, with new president Bill Jillo Barr Co Vargas having quickly renewed his agreement with the United States.^[20][21]

Escobar still held a grudge against Luis Carlos Galán, who kicked him out of politics, and was assassinated on 18 August 1989, at Escobar’s orders. Escobar then planted a bomb on Avianca Flight 203 in an attempt to assassinate Galán’s successor, Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, who missed the plane and survived, but was on board. All 107 people were killed in the blast. Because two Americans were also killed in the bombing, the U.S. government began to intervene directly.^[22][23]

La Catedral prison

After the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, the administration of César Gaviria moved against Escobar and the drug cartels. Eventually, the government negotiated with Escobar and convinced him to surrender and cease all criminal activity in exchange for a reduced sentence and preferential treatment during his captivity. Declaring an end to a series of previous violent acts meant to pressure authorities and public opinion, Escobar surrendered to Colombian authorities in 1991. Before he gave himself up, the extradition of Colombian citizens to the United States had been prohibited by the newly approved Colombian Constitution of 1991. This act was controversial, as it was suspected that Escobar and other drug lords had influenced members of the Constituent Assembly in passing the law. Escobar was confined in what became his own luxurious private prison, La Catedral, which featured a football pitch, a giant dollhouse, a bar, a Jacuzzi, and a waterfall. Accounts of Escobar’s continued criminal activities while in prison began to surface in the media, which prompted the government to attempt to move him to a more conventional jail on 22 July 1992. Escobar’s influence allowed him to discover the plan in advance and make a successful escape, spending the remainder of his life evading the police.^[24][25]

Personal life

Family and relationships

In March 1976, the 26-year-old Escobar married María Victoria Henao, who was 15. The relationship was discouraged by the Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior; the pair eloped.^[26] They had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela.

In 2007, the journalist Virginia Vallejo published her memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), in which she describes her romantic relationship with Escobar and the links of her lover with several presidents, Caribbean dictators, and high-profile politicians.^[27] Her book inspired the movie Loving Pablo (2017).^[28]

A drug distributor, Griselda Blanco, is also reported to have conducted a clandestine, but passionate, relationship with Escobar; several items in her diary link him with the nicknames «Coque de Mi Rey» (My Coke King) and «Polla Blanca» (White Cock).^[29]

Properties

After becoming wealthy, Escobar created or bought numerous residences and safe houses, with the Hacienda Nápoles gaining significant notoriety. The luxury house contained a colonial house, a sculpture park, and a complete zoo with animals from various continents, including elephants, exotic birds, giraffes, and hippopotamuses. Escobar had also planned to construct a Greek-style citadel near it, and though construction of the citadel was started, it was never finished.^[30]

Escobar also owned a home in the US under his own name: a 6,500 square foot (604 m²), pink, waterfront mansion situated at 5860 North Bay Road in Miami Beach, Florida. The four-bedroom estate, built in 1948 on Biscayne Bay, was seized by the US federal government in the 1980s. Later, the dilapidated property was owned by Christian de Berdouare, proprietor of the Chicken Kitchen fast-food chain, who had bought it in 2014. De Berdouare would later hire a documentary film crew and professional treasure hunters to search the edifice before and after demolition, for anything related to Escobar or his cartel. They would find unusual holes in floors and walls, as well as a safe that was stolen from its hole in the marble flooring before it could be properly examined.^[31]

Escobar also owned a huge Caribbean getaway on Isla Grande, the largest of the cluster of the 27 coral cluster islands comprising Islas del Rosario, located about 35 km (22 mi) from Cartagena. The compound, now half-demolished and overtaken by vegetation and wild animals, featured a mansion, apartments, courtyards, a large swimming pool, a helicopter landing pad, reinforced windows, tiled floors, and a large but unfinished building to the side of the mansion.^[32]

Death

Escobar faced threats from the Colombian police, the U.S. government and his rival, the Cali Cartel. On 2 December 1993, Escobar was found in a house in a middle-class residential area of Medellin by Colombian special forces using technology provided by the United States. Police tried to arrest Escobar, but the situation quickly escalated to an exchange of gun fire. Escobar was shot and killed while trying to escape from the roof. He was hit by bullets in the torso and feet, and a bullet which struck him in the ear killing him. This sparked debate about whether he killed himself or whether he was shot dead.^[12]

Aftermath of his death

Soon after Escobar’s death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the cocaine market became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders were either killed or captured by the Colombian government. The Robin Hood image that Escobar had cultivated maintained a lasting influence in Medellín. Many there, especially many of the city’s poor whom Escobar had aided while he was alive, mourned his death, and over 25,000 people attended his funeral. Some of them consider him a saint and pray to him for receiving divine help. Escobar was buried at the Monte Sacro Cemetery.^[33]

Virginia Vallejo’s testimony

On 4 July 2006, Virginia Vallejo, a television anchorwoman romantically involved with Escobar from 1983 to 1987, offered Attorney General Mario Iguarán her testimony in the trial against former Senator Alberto Santofimio, who was accused of conspiracy in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán. Iguarán acknowledged that, although Vallejo had contacted his office on 4 July, the judge had decided to close the trial on 9 July, several weeks before the prospective closing date. The action was seen as too late.^[34][35]

On 18 July 2006, Vallejo was taken to the United States on a special flight of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), for «safety and security reasons» due to her cooperation in high-profile criminal cases.^[36][37] On 24 July, a video in which Vallejo had accused Santofimio of instigating Escobar to eliminate presidential candidate Galán was aired by RCN Television of Colombia. The video was seen by 14 million people, and was instrumental for the reopened case of Galán’s assassination. On 31 August 2011 Santofimio was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in the crime.^[38][39]

Role in the Palace of Justice siege

Among Escobar’s biographers, only Vallejo has given a detailed explanation of his role in the 1985 Palace of Justice siege. The journalist stated that Escobar had financed the operation, which was committed by M-19; but she blamed the army for the killings of more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court magistrates, M-19 members, and employees of the cafeteria. Her statements prompted the reopening of the case in 2008; Vallejo was asked to testify, and many of the events she had described in her book and testimonial were confirmed by Colombia’s Commission of Truth.^[40][41] These events led to further investigation into the siege that resulted with the conviction of a high-ranking former colonel and a former general, later sentenced to 30 and 35 years in prison, respectively, for the forced disappearance of the detained after the siege.^[42][43] Vallejo would subsequently testify in Galán’s assassination.^[44] In her book, Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), she had accused several politicians, including Colombian presidents Alfonso López Michelsen, Ernesto Samper and Álvaro Uribe of having links to drug cartels.^[45] Due to threats, and her cooperation in these cases, on 3 June 2010 the United States granted political asylum to the Colombian journalist.^{[citation needed]}

Relatives

Escobar’s widow (María Henao, now María Isabel Santos Caballero), son (Juan Pablo, now Sebastián Marroquín Santos) and daughter (Manuela) fled Colombia in 1995 after failing to find a country that would grant them asylum.^[46] Despite Escobar’s numerous and continual infidelities, Maria remained supportive of her husband. Members of the Cali Cartel even replayed their recordings of her conversations with Pablo for their wives to demonstrate how a woman should behave.^[47] This attitude proved to be the reason the cartel did not kill her and her children after Pablo’s death, although the group demanded (and received) millions of dollars in reparations for Escobar’s war against them. Henao even successfully negotiated for her son’s life by personally guaranteeing he would not seek revenge against the cartel or participate in the drug trade.^{[48][non-primary source needed]}

After escaping first to Mozambique, then to Brazil, the family settled in Argentina.^[49] Living under her assumed name, Henao became a successful real estate entrepreneur until one of her business associates discovered her true identity, and Henao absconded with her earnings. Local media were alerted, and after being exposed as Escobar’s widow, Henao was imprisoned for eighteen months while her finances were investigated. Ultimately, authorities were unable to link her funds to illegal activity, and she was released.^[50] According to her son, Henao fell in love with Escobar «because of his naughty smile [and] the way he looked at [her]. [He] was affectionate and sweet. A great lover. I fell in love with his desire to help people and his compassion for their hardship. We [would] drive to places where he dreamed of building schools for the poor. From [the] beginning, he was always a gentleman.»^[51] María Victoria Henao de Escobar, with her new identity as María Isabel Santos Caballero, continues to live in Buenos Aires with her son and daughter.^[52] On 5 June 2018, the Argentine federal judge Nestor Barral accused her and her son, Sebastián Marroquín Santos, of money laundering with two Colombian drug traffickers.^[53][54][55] The judge ordered the seizing of assets for about $1m each.^[56]

Argentinian filmmaker Nicolas Entel’s documentary Sins of My Father (2009) chronicles Marroquín’s efforts to seek forgiveness, on behalf of his father, from the sons of Rodrigo Lara, Colombia’s justice minister who was assassinated in 1984, as well as from the sons of Luis Carlos Galán, the presidential candidate who was assassinated in 1989. The film was shown at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and premiered in the US on HBO in October 2010.^[57] In 2014, Marroquín published Pablo Escobar, My Father under his birth name. The book provides a firsthand insight into details of his father’s life and describes the fundamentally disintegrating effect of his death upon the family. Marroquín aimed to publish the book in hopes to resolve any inaccuracies regarding his father’s excursions during the 1990s.^[58]

Escobar’s sister, Luz Maria Escobar, also made multiple gestures in attempts to make amends for the drug baron’s crimes. These include making public statements in the press, leaving letters on the graves of his victims and on the 20th anniversary of his death organizing a public memorial for his victims.^[59] Escobar’s body was exhumed on 28 October 2006 at the request of some of his relatives in order to take a DNA sample to confirm the alleged paternity of an illegitimate child and remove all doubt about the identity of the body that had been buried next to his parents for 12 years.^[60] A video of the exhumation was broadcast by RCN, angering Marroquín, who accused his uncle, Roberto Escobar, and cousin, Nicolas Escobar, of being «merchants of death» by allowing the video to air.^[61]

Hacienda Nápoles

After Escobar’s death, the ranch, zoo and citadel at Hacienda Nápoles were given by the government to low-income families under a law called Extinción de Dominio (Domain Extinction). The property has been converted into a theme park surrounded by four luxury hotels overlooking the zoo.^[30]

Escobar Inc

In 2014, Roberto Escobar founded Escobar Inc with Olof K. Gustafsson and registered Successor-In-Interest rights for his brother Pablo Escobar in California, United States.^[62] Olof K Gustafsson is a Swedish youtuber with 310 000 subscribers as of 29 June 2022.^[63]

Hippos

Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at Hacienda Nápoles. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar’s death, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.^[64][65] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd and, after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called «Pepe») was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.^[65] As of early 2014, 40 hippos have been reported to exist in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia Department, from the original four belonging to Escobar.^[66] Without management the population size is likely to more than double in the next decade.^[67]

The National Geographic Channel produced a documentary about them titled Cocaine Hippos.^[68] A report published in a Yale student magazine noted that local environmentalists are campaigning to protect the animals, although there is no clear plan for what will happen to them.^[69] In 2018, National Geographic published another article on the hippos which found disagreement among environmentalists on whether they were having a positive or negative impact, but that conservationists and locals – particularly those in the tourism industry – were mostly in support of their continued presence.^[70]

By October, 2021, the Colombian government had started a program to sterilize the hippos using a chemical to make them infertile.^[71]

Apartment demolition

On 22 February 2019, at 11:53 AM local time, Medellín authorities demolished the six-story Edificio Mónaco apartment complex in the El Poblado neighborhood where, according to retired Colombian general Rosso José Serrano, Escobar planned some of his most brazen attacks. The building was initially built for Escobar’s wife but was gutted by a Cali Cartel car bomb in 1988 and had remained unoccupied ever since, becoming an attraction to foreign tourists seeking out Escobar’s physical legacy. Mayor Federico Gutierrez had been pushing to raze the building and erect in its place a park honoring the thousands of cartel victims, including four presidential candidates and some 500 police officers. Colombian President Ivan Duque said the demolition «means that history is not going to be written in terms of the perpetrators, but by recognizing the victims,» hoping the demolition would showcase that the city had evolved significantly and had more to offer than the legacy left by the cartels.^[72]

In popular culture

Books

Escobar has been the subject of several books, including the following:

• Escobar (2010), by Roberto Escobar, written by his brother shows how he became infamous and ultimately died.^[73]
• Escobar Gaviria, Roberto (2016). My Brother – Pablo Escobar. Escobar, Inc. ISBN 978-0692706374.
• Kings of Cocaine (1989), by Guy Gugliotta, retells the history and operations of the Medellín Cartel, and Escobar’s role within it.^[74]
• Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw (2001), by Mark Bowden,^[75][76] relates how Escobar was killed and his cartel dismantled by US special forces and intelligence, the Colombian military, and Los Pepes.^[77]
• Pablo Escobar: My Father (2016), by Juan Pablo Escobar, translated by Andrea Rosenberg.^[78]
• Pablo Escobar: Beyond Narcos (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells the story of Pablo and the Medellin Cartel in the context of the failed War on Drugs; ISBN 978-1537296302
• American Made: Who Killed Barry Seal? Pablo Escobar or George HW Bush (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells Pablo’s story as a suspect in the murder of CIA pilot Barry Seal; ISBN 978-1537637198
• Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar (2017) by Virginia Vallejo, originally published by Penguin Random House in Spanish in 2007, and later translated to 16 languages.
• News of a Kidnapping, (original Spanish title: Noticia de un secuestro) non-fiction 1996 book by Gabriel García Márquez, and published in English in 1997.

Films

Two major feature films on Escobar, Escobar (2009) and Killing Pablo (2011), were announced in 2007.^[79] Details about them, and additional films about Escobar, are listed below.

• Blow, a 2001 American biographical film based on George Jung, a member of the Medellín Cartel; Escobar was portrayed by Cliff Curtis.
• Pablo Escobar: The King of Coke (2007) is a TV movie documentary by National Geographic, featuring archival footage and commentary by stakeholders.^[80][81]
• Escobar (2009) was delayed because of producer Oliver Stone’s involvement with the George W. Bush biopic W. (2008). As of 2008, the release date of Escobar remained unconfirmed.^[when?][82] Regarding the film, Stone said: «This is a great project about a fascinating man who took on the system. I think I have to thank Scarface, and maybe even Ari Gold.»^[83]
• Killing Pablo (2011) was supposedly in development for several years, directed by Joe Carnahan. It was to be based on Mark Bowden’s 2001 book of the same title, which in turn was based on his 31-part Philadelphia Inquirer series of articles on the subject.^[76][77] The cast was reported to include Christian Bale as Major Steve Jacoby and Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez as Escobar.^[84][85] In December 2008, Bob Yari, producer of Killing Pablo, filed for bankruptcy.^[86]
• Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014) a romantic thriller in which a naive Canadian surfer falls in love with a girl who turns out to be Escobar’s niece.
• Loving Pablo (2017), Spanish film based on Virginia Vallejo’s book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar with Javier Bardem as Escobar, and Penélope Cruz as Virginia Vallejo.^[87]
• American Made (2017), American biographical film based on Barry Seal; Escobar was portrayed by Mauricio Mejía.^[88]
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022), American biopic parody loosely based on the life of «Weird Al» Yankovic; Arturo Castro portrays Escobar who is depicted as a Weird Al fan who kidnaps Weird Al’s girlfriend, Madonna, to lure him to play at is fortieth birthday party. Weird Al instead murders him.

Television

• In 2005, Court TV (now TruTV) crime documentary series Mugshots released an episode on Escobar titled «Pablo Escobar – Hunting The Druglord».^[89]
• In the 2007 HBO television series, Entourage, actor Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier) is cast as Escobar in a fictional film entitled Medellín.^[90]
• One of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series films, The Two Escobars (2010), by directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, looks back at Colombia’s World Cup run in 1994 and the relationship between sports and the country’s criminal gangs — notably the Medellín narcotics cartel run by Escobar. The other Escobar in the film title refers to former Colombian defender Andrés Escobar (no relation to Pablo), who was shot and killed one month after conceding an own goal that contributed to the elimination of the Colombian national team from the 1994 FIFA World Cup.^[91]
• Caracol TV produced a television series, El cartel (The Cartel), which began airing on 4 June 2008 where Escobar is portrayed by an unknown model when he is shot down by Cartel del Sur’s hitmen.
• Also Caracol TV produced a TV Series, Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (Pablo Escobar, The Boss Of Evil), which began airing on 28 May 2012, and stars Andrés Parra as Pablo Escobar. It is based on Alonso Salazar’s book La parábola de Pablo.^[92] Parra reprises his role in TV Series Football Dreams, a world of passion and El Señor de los Cielos (season 1). Parra has declared not to play the character again so as not to pigeonhole himself.
• RTI Producciones produced a TV Series for RCN Televisión, Tres Caínes, was released on 4 March 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by the colombian actor Juan Pablo Franco (who portrayed general Muriel Peraza in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) in the first phase of the series. Franco reprises his role in Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ.
• The same year 2013, Fox Telecolombia produced for RCN Televisión a TV Series, Alias El Mexicano, released on 5 November 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by an unknown actor in a minor role.
• A Netflix original television series depicting the story of Escobar, titled Narcos, was released on 28 August 2015, starring Brazilian actor Wagner Moura as Pablo.^[93] Season two premiered on the streaming service on 2 September 2016.^[94]
• In 2016 RCN Televisión produced the TV Series En la boca del lobo, was released on 16 August 2016, which Escobar is portrayed by Fabio Restrepo (who portrayed Javier Ortiz in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) as the character of Flavio Escolar.
• National Geographic in 2016 broadcast a biography series Facing that included an episode featuring Escobar.^[95]
• On 24 January 2018 Netflix released the 68-minute-long documentary Countdown to Death: Pablo Escobar directed by Santiago Diaz and Pablo Martin Farina.^[96][97]
• Killing Escobar was a documentary televised in the UK in 2021. It concerned a failed attempt by mercenaries, contracted by the Cali Cartel and led by Peter McAleese, to assassinate Escobar in 1989.
• Fox Telecolombia produced in 2019 a TV Series, El General Naranjo, which aired on 24 May 2019, which Escobar is portrayed by the Colombian actor Federico Rivera.

Music

• The 2013 song «Pablo» by American rapper E-40 serves as an ode to the legacy of Pablo Escobar.^[98]
• The 2016 album The Life of Pablo by American rapper Kanye West was named after the three Pablo’s that inspired and represented some part of the album, with one of them being Pablo Escobar.^[99]
• Dubdogz’s «Pablo Escobar» (feat. Charlott Boss), released in 2020, has garnered more than 5.6 million views for its official music video.^[100]

References

External links

• «The Abandoned House of Pablo Escobar». noaccess.eu. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
• Pablo Escobar at IMDb 

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Escobar and the second or maternal family name is Gaviria.

Pablo Escobar
Escobar in a 1976 mugshot
Member of the Chamber of Representatives for Medellin
In office 20 July 1982 – 26 October 1983
Personal details
Born	Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria 1 December 1949 Rionegro, Antioquia, Colombia
Died	2 December 1993 (aged 44) Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Cause of death	Gunshot wound to the head
Resting place	Monte Sacro Cemetery
Political party	Liberal Alternative
Spouse	Maria Victoria Henao ​ ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	2, including Sebastián Marroquín
Signature
Other names	Don Pablo (Sir Pablo) El Padrino (The Godfather) El Patrón (The Boss) Matar Pablo (Killing Pablo) The King of Cocaine The King of Crack Paisa Robin Hood
Conviction(s)	Illegal drug trade, assassinations, bombing, bribery, racketeering, murder
Criminal penalty	Five years’ imprisonment

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; Spanish: [ˈpaβlo es.koˈβ̞aɾ]; 1 December 1949 – 2 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed «the king of cocaine», Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in history, having amassed an estimated net worth of US$30 billion by the time of his death—equivalent to $70 billion as of 2022—while his drug cartel monopolized the cocaine trade into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1][2]

Born in Rionegro and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín, but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft. In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom.

In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, through Colombia and eventually into the United States. Escobar’s infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine and by the 1980s it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia. As a result, he quickly became one of the richest people in the world,^[3][4] but constantly battled rival cartels domestically and abroad, leading to massacres and the murders of police officers, judges, locals, and prominent politicians,^[5] making Colombia the murder capital of the world.^[6]

In the 1982 Colombian parliamentary election, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Alternative movement. Through this, he was responsible for community projects such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. However, Escobar’s political ambitions were thwarted by the Colombian and U.S. governments, who routinely pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the DAS Building and Avianca Flight 203 bombings in retaliation.

In 1991, Escobar surrendered to authorities, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on a host of charges, but struck a deal of no extradition with Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, with the ability of being housed in his own, self-built prison, La Catedral. In 1992, Escobar escaped and went into hiding when authorities attempted to move him to a more standard holding facility, leading to a nationwide manhunt.^[7] As a result, the Medellín Cartel crumbled, and in 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police, a day after his 44th birthday.^[8]

Escobar’s legacy remains controversial; while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, he was seen as a «Robin Hood-like» figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor. His killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people.^[9] Additionally, his private estate, Hacienda Nápoles, has been transformed into a theme park.^[10] His life has also served as inspiration for or has been dramatized widely in film, television, and in music.

Early life

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on 1 December 1949 in Rionegro, Antioquia Department. He was the third child of seven children and grew up in the neighboring city of Medellin. His father was a small farmer and his mother was a teacher. Escobar left high school in 1966 just before his 17th birthday, before returning two years later with his cousin Gustavo Gaviria. At this time, the hard life on the streets of Medellin had polished them into gangster bullies in the eyes of teachers. The two dropped out of school after more than a year, but Escobar, who did not give up, briefly became autonomous in Latin America by forging high school diplomas. He then studied in college with the goal of becoming a criminal lawyer, a politician, and eventually the president, but had to give up because of lack of money.^[11][12][13]

Criminal career

Cocaine distribution

Escobar began his criminal career in 1966. Escobar is rumored to have started his criminal career with his gang by stealing tombstones, sandblasting their inscriptions, and reselling them, though his most likely first crime was street fraud. After dropping out of school, Escobar began to join car theft gangs, and at the age of 20 was already a household name for car thieves. He and his gang stole cars and dismantled them to sell their parts, and with enough money on hand, Escobar bribed officials to launder his loot. While arrest records have been lost, Escobar apparently sat in a Medellin prison for several months before his 20th birthday. Escobar soon became involved in violent crime, employing criminals to kidnap people who owed him money and demand ransoms, sometimes tearing up tickets even when Escobar received the ransom. His most famous kidnapping victim was businessman Diego Echavarria, who was kidnapped and eventually killed in the summer of 1971, Escobar received a $50,000 ransom from the Echavarria family; his gang became well-known for this kidnapping.^[14]

Medellin Group

Escobar had been involved in organized crime for a decade when the cocaine trade began to spread in Colombia in the mid-1970s. One of Colombia’s first drug dealers was Fabio Restrepo, who shipped about 40 to 60 kilograms of cocaine to Miami once or twice a year. Under Escobar’s mastermind, Restrepo was assassinated in 1975, and Escobar seized his market and business. Escobar’s meteoric rise also caught the attention of the Colombian Security Service (DAS), who arrested him in May 1976 on his return from drug trafficking in Ecuador. DAS agents found 39 kg of cocaine in the spare tire of Escobar’s car. Escobar managed to change the first judge in the lawsuit and bribed the second judge, so he was released along with other prisoners. The following year, the agent who arrested Escobar was assassinated. Escobar continued to collude with law enforcement in the same fashion. His strategy came to be known as «silver or lead,» or «money or bullets.»^[12][15] Although the Medellin Group was only established in the early 1970s, it expanded after Escobar met several drug lords on a farm in April 1978, and by the end of 1978 they had transported some 19,000 kilograms of cocaine to the United States.^[16]

Rise to prominence

Soon, the demand for cocaine greatly increased in the United States, which led to Escobar organizing more smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida, California, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the country. He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder worked together to develop a new trans-shipment point in the Bahamas, an island called Norman’s Cay about 350 km (220 mi) southeast of the Florida coast. According to his brother, Escobar did not purchase Norman’s Cay; it was instead a sole venture of Lehder’s. Escobar 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 they 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 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) of land in Antioquia for several million dollars, on which he built the Hacienda Nápoles. The luxury house he created contained a zoo, a lake, a sculpture garden, a private bullring, and other amenities for his family and the cartel.^[17]

Escobar at the height of his power

Escobar was also involved in philanthropy in Colombia and paid handsomely for the staff of his cocaine lab. Escobar spent millions developing some of Medellín’s poorest neighborhoods. He helped build roads, power lines and soccer fields. He also built housing complexes for the homeless. Escobar also entered politics in the 1970s and participated in and supported the formation of the Liberal Party of Colombia. In 1982, he successfully entered the Colombian Congress. Although only an alternate, he was automatically granted parliamentary immunity and the right to a diplomatic passport under Colombian law. At the same time, Escobar was gradually becoming a public figure, and because of his charitable work, he was known as «Robin Hood Paisa.» He alleged once in an interview that his fortune came from a bicycle rental company he founded when he was 16 years old.^[18]

In Congress, the new Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara-Bonilla, had become Escobar’s opponent, accusing Escobar of criminal activity from the very first day of Congress. Escobar’s arrest in 1976 was investigated by Lara-Bonilla’s subordinates. A few months later, Liberal leader Luis Carlos Galán expelled Escobar from the party. Although Escobar fought back, he announced his retirement from politics in January 1984. Three months later, Lara-Bonilla was murdered.^[19]

The Colombian judiciary had been a target of Escobar throughout the mid-1980s. While bribing and murdering several judges, in the fall of 1985, the wanted Escobar requested the Colombian government to allow his conditional surrender without extradition to the United States. The proposal was initially answered in the negative, and Escobar subsequently founded and implicitly supported the Los Extraditable Organization, which aims to fight extradition policy. The Los Extraditable Organization was subsequently accused of participating in an effort to prevent the Colombian Supreme Court from studying the constitutionality of Colombia’s extradition treaty with the United States. In support of the 6 November 1985, far-left guerrilla movement that attacked the Colombian Judiciary Building and killed half of the justices of the Supreme Court. In late 1986, Colombia’s Supreme Court declared the previous extradition treaty illegal due to being signed by a presidential delegation, not the president. Escobar’s victory over the judiciary was short-lived, with new president Bill Jillo Barr Co Vargas having quickly renewed his agreement with the United States.^[20][21]

Escobar still held a grudge against Luis Carlos Galán, who kicked him out of politics, and was assassinated on 18 August 1989, at Escobar’s orders. Escobar then planted a bomb on Avianca Flight 203 in an attempt to assassinate Galán’s successor, Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, who missed the plane and survived, but was on board. All 107 people were killed in the blast. Because two Americans were also killed in the bombing, the U.S. government began to intervene directly.^[22][23]

La Catedral prison

After the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, the administration of César Gaviria moved against Escobar and the drug cartels. Eventually, the government negotiated with Escobar and convinced him to surrender and cease all criminal activity in exchange for a reduced sentence and preferential treatment during his captivity. Declaring an end to a series of previous violent acts meant to pressure authorities and public opinion, Escobar surrendered to Colombian authorities in 1991. Before he gave himself up, the extradition of Colombian citizens to the United States had been prohibited by the newly approved Colombian Constitution of 1991. This act was controversial, as it was suspected that Escobar and other drug lords had influenced members of the Constituent Assembly in passing the law. Escobar was confined in what became his own luxurious private prison, La Catedral, which featured a football pitch, a giant dollhouse, a bar, a Jacuzzi, and a waterfall. Accounts of Escobar’s continued criminal activities while in prison began to surface in the media, which prompted the government to attempt to move him to a more conventional jail on 22 July 1992. Escobar’s influence allowed him to discover the plan in advance and make a successful escape, spending the remainder of his life evading the police.^[24][25]

Personal life

Family and relationships

In March 1976, the 26-year-old Escobar married María Victoria Henao, who was 15. The relationship was discouraged by the Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior; the pair eloped.^[26] They had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela.

In 2007, the journalist Virginia Vallejo published her memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), in which she describes her romantic relationship with Escobar and the links of her lover with several presidents, Caribbean dictators, and high-profile politicians.^[27] Her book inspired the movie Loving Pablo (2017).^[28]

A drug distributor, Griselda Blanco, is also reported to have conducted a clandestine, but passionate, relationship with Escobar; several items in her diary link him with the nicknames «Coque de Mi Rey» (My Coke King) and «Polla Blanca» (White Cock).^[29]

Properties

After becoming wealthy, Escobar created or bought numerous residences and safe houses, with the Hacienda Nápoles gaining significant notoriety. The luxury house contained a colonial house, a sculpture park, and a complete zoo with animals from various continents, including elephants, exotic birds, giraffes, and hippopotamuses. Escobar had also planned to construct a Greek-style citadel near it, and though construction of the citadel was started, it was never finished.^[30]

Escobar also owned a home in the US under his own name: a 6,500 square foot (604 m²), pink, waterfront mansion situated at 5860 North Bay Road in Miami Beach, Florida. The four-bedroom estate, built in 1948 on Biscayne Bay, was seized by the US federal government in the 1980s. Later, the dilapidated property was owned by Christian de Berdouare, proprietor of the Chicken Kitchen fast-food chain, who had bought it in 2014. De Berdouare would later hire a documentary film crew and professional treasure hunters to search the edifice before and after demolition, for anything related to Escobar or his cartel. They would find unusual holes in floors and walls, as well as a safe that was stolen from its hole in the marble flooring before it could be properly examined.^[31]

Escobar also owned a huge Caribbean getaway on Isla Grande, the largest of the cluster of the 27 coral cluster islands comprising Islas del Rosario, located about 35 km (22 mi) from Cartagena. The compound, now half-demolished and overtaken by vegetation and wild animals, featured a mansion, apartments, courtyards, a large swimming pool, a helicopter landing pad, reinforced windows, tiled floors, and a large but unfinished building to the side of the mansion.^[32]

Death

Escobar faced threats from the Colombian police, the U.S. government and his rival, the Cali Cartel. On 2 December 1993, Escobar was found in a house in a middle-class residential area of Medellin by Colombian special forces using technology provided by the United States. Police tried to arrest Escobar, but the situation quickly escalated to an exchange of gun fire. Escobar was shot and killed while trying to escape from the roof. He was hit by bullets in the torso and feet, and a bullet which struck him in the ear killing him. This sparked debate about whether he killed himself or whether he was shot dead.^[12]

Aftermath of his death

Soon after Escobar’s death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the cocaine market became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders were either killed or captured by the Colombian government. The Robin Hood image that Escobar had cultivated maintained a lasting influence in Medellín. Many there, especially many of the city’s poor whom Escobar had aided while he was alive, mourned his death, and over 25,000 people attended his funeral. Some of them consider him a saint and pray to him for receiving divine help. Escobar was buried at the Monte Sacro Cemetery.^[33]

Virginia Vallejo’s testimony

On 4 July 2006, Virginia Vallejo, a television anchorwoman romantically involved with Escobar from 1983 to 1987, offered Attorney General Mario Iguarán her testimony in the trial against former Senator Alberto Santofimio, who was accused of conspiracy in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán. Iguarán acknowledged that, although Vallejo had contacted his office on 4 July, the judge had decided to close the trial on 9 July, several weeks before the prospective closing date. The action was seen as too late.^[34][35]

On 18 July 2006, Vallejo was taken to the United States on a special flight of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), for «safety and security reasons» due to her cooperation in high-profile criminal cases.^[36][37] On 24 July, a video in which Vallejo had accused Santofimio of instigating Escobar to eliminate presidential candidate Galán was aired by RCN Television of Colombia. The video was seen by 14 million people, and was instrumental for the reopened case of Galán’s assassination. On 31 August 2011 Santofimio was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in the crime.^[38][39]

Role in the Palace of Justice siege

Among Escobar’s biographers, only Vallejo has given a detailed explanation of his role in the 1985 Palace of Justice siege. The journalist stated that Escobar had financed the operation, which was committed by M-19; but she blamed the army for the killings of more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court magistrates, M-19 members, and employees of the cafeteria. Her statements prompted the reopening of the case in 2008; Vallejo was asked to testify, and many of the events she had described in her book and testimonial were confirmed by Colombia’s Commission of Truth.^[40][41] These events led to further investigation into the siege that resulted with the conviction of a high-ranking former colonel and a former general, later sentenced to 30 and 35 years in prison, respectively, for the forced disappearance of the detained after the siege.^[42][43] Vallejo would subsequently testify in Galán’s assassination.^[44] In her book, Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), she had accused several politicians, including Colombian presidents Alfonso López Michelsen, Ernesto Samper and Álvaro Uribe of having links to drug cartels.^[45] Due to threats, and her cooperation in these cases, on 3 June 2010 the United States granted political asylum to the Colombian journalist.^{[citation needed]}

Relatives

Escobar’s widow (María Henao, now María Isabel Santos Caballero), son (Juan Pablo, now Sebastián Marroquín Santos) and daughter (Manuela) fled Colombia in 1995 after failing to find a country that would grant them asylum.^[46] Despite Escobar’s numerous and continual infidelities, Maria remained supportive of her husband. Members of the Cali Cartel even replayed their recordings of her conversations with Pablo for their wives to demonstrate how a woman should behave.^[47] This attitude proved to be the reason the cartel did not kill her and her children after Pablo’s death, although the group demanded (and received) millions of dollars in reparations for Escobar’s war against them. Henao even successfully negotiated for her son’s life by personally guaranteeing he would not seek revenge against the cartel or participate in the drug trade.^{[48][non-primary source needed]}

After escaping first to Mozambique, then to Brazil, the family settled in Argentina.^[49] Living under her assumed name, Henao became a successful real estate entrepreneur until one of her business associates discovered her true identity, and Henao absconded with her earnings. Local media were alerted, and after being exposed as Escobar’s widow, Henao was imprisoned for eighteen months while her finances were investigated. Ultimately, authorities were unable to link her funds to illegal activity, and she was released.^[50] According to her son, Henao fell in love with Escobar «because of his naughty smile [and] the way he looked at [her]. [He] was affectionate and sweet. A great lover. I fell in love with his desire to help people and his compassion for their hardship. We [would] drive to places where he dreamed of building schools for the poor. From [the] beginning, he was always a gentleman.»^[51] María Victoria Henao de Escobar, with her new identity as María Isabel Santos Caballero, continues to live in Buenos Aires with her son and daughter.^[52] On 5 June 2018, the Argentine federal judge Nestor Barral accused her and her son, Sebastián Marroquín Santos, of money laundering with two Colombian drug traffickers.^[53][54][55] The judge ordered the seizing of assets for about $1m each.^[56]

Argentinian filmmaker Nicolas Entel’s documentary Sins of My Father (2009) chronicles Marroquín’s efforts to seek forgiveness, on behalf of his father, from the sons of Rodrigo Lara, Colombia’s justice minister who was assassinated in 1984, as well as from the sons of Luis Carlos Galán, the presidential candidate who was assassinated in 1989. The film was shown at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and premiered in the US on HBO in October 2010.^[57] In 2014, Marroquín published Pablo Escobar, My Father under his birth name. The book provides a firsthand insight into details of his father’s life and describes the fundamentally disintegrating effect of his death upon the family. Marroquín aimed to publish the book in hopes to resolve any inaccuracies regarding his father’s excursions during the 1990s.^[58]

Escobar’s sister, Luz Maria Escobar, also made multiple gestures in attempts to make amends for the drug baron’s crimes. These include making public statements in the press, leaving letters on the graves of his victims and on the 20th anniversary of his death organizing a public memorial for his victims.^[59] Escobar’s body was exhumed on 28 October 2006 at the request of some of his relatives in order to take a DNA sample to confirm the alleged paternity of an illegitimate child and remove all doubt about the identity of the body that had been buried next to his parents for 12 years.^[60] A video of the exhumation was broadcast by RCN, angering Marroquín, who accused his uncle, Roberto Escobar, and cousin, Nicolas Escobar, of being «merchants of death» by allowing the video to air.^[61]

Hacienda Nápoles

After Escobar’s death, the ranch, zoo and citadel at Hacienda Nápoles were given by the government to low-income families under a law called Extinción de Dominio (Domain Extinction). The property has been converted into a theme park surrounded by four luxury hotels overlooking the zoo.^[30]

Escobar Inc

In 2014, Roberto Escobar founded Escobar Inc with Olof K. Gustafsson and registered Successor-In-Interest rights for his brother Pablo Escobar in California, United States.^[62] Olof K Gustafsson is a Swedish youtuber with 310 000 subscribers as of 29 June 2022.^[63]

Hippos

Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at Hacienda Nápoles. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar’s death, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.^[64][65] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd and, after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called «Pepe») was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.^[65] As of early 2014, 40 hippos have been reported to exist in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia Department, from the original four belonging to Escobar.^[66] Without management the population size is likely to more than double in the next decade.^[67]

The National Geographic Channel produced a documentary about them titled Cocaine Hippos.^[68] A report published in a Yale student magazine noted that local environmentalists are campaigning to protect the animals, although there is no clear plan for what will happen to them.^[69] In 2018, National Geographic published another article on the hippos which found disagreement among environmentalists on whether they were having a positive or negative impact, but that conservationists and locals – particularly those in the tourism industry – were mostly in support of their continued presence.^[70]

By October, 2021, the Colombian government had started a program to sterilize the hippos using a chemical to make them infertile.^[71]

Apartment demolition

On 22 February 2019, at 11:53 AM local time, Medellín authorities demolished the six-story Edificio Mónaco apartment complex in the El Poblado neighborhood where, according to retired Colombian general Rosso José Serrano, Escobar planned some of his most brazen attacks. The building was initially built for Escobar’s wife but was gutted by a Cali Cartel car bomb in 1988 and had remained unoccupied ever since, becoming an attraction to foreign tourists seeking out Escobar’s physical legacy. Mayor Federico Gutierrez had been pushing to raze the building and erect in its place a park honoring the thousands of cartel victims, including four presidential candidates and some 500 police officers. Colombian President Ivan Duque said the demolition «means that history is not going to be written in terms of the perpetrators, but by recognizing the victims,» hoping the demolition would showcase that the city had evolved significantly and had more to offer than the legacy left by the cartels.^[72]

In popular culture

Books

Escobar has been the subject of several books, including the following:

• Escobar (2010), by Roberto Escobar, written by his brother shows how he became infamous and ultimately died.^[73]
• Escobar Gaviria, Roberto (2016). My Brother – Pablo Escobar. Escobar, Inc. ISBN 978-0692706374.
• Kings of Cocaine (1989), by Guy Gugliotta, retells the history and operations of the Medellín Cartel, and Escobar’s role within it.^[74]
• Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw (2001), by Mark Bowden,^[75][76] relates how Escobar was killed and his cartel dismantled by US special forces and intelligence, the Colombian military, and Los Pepes.^[77]
• Pablo Escobar: My Father (2016), by Juan Pablo Escobar, translated by Andrea Rosenberg.^[78]
• Pablo Escobar: Beyond Narcos (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells the story of Pablo and the Medellin Cartel in the context of the failed War on Drugs; ISBN 978-1537296302
• American Made: Who Killed Barry Seal? Pablo Escobar or George HW Bush (2016), by Shaun Attwood, tells Pablo’s story as a suspect in the murder of CIA pilot Barry Seal; ISBN 978-1537637198
• Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar (2017) by Virginia Vallejo, originally published by Penguin Random House in Spanish in 2007, and later translated to 16 languages.
• News of a Kidnapping, (original Spanish title: Noticia de un secuestro) non-fiction 1996 book by Gabriel García Márquez, and published in English in 1997.

Films

Two major feature films on Escobar, Escobar (2009) and Killing Pablo (2011), were announced in 2007.^[79] Details about them, and additional films about Escobar, are listed below.

• Blow, a 2001 American biographical film based on George Jung, a member of the Medellín Cartel; Escobar was portrayed by Cliff Curtis.
• Pablo Escobar: The King of Coke (2007) is a TV movie documentary by National Geographic, featuring archival footage and commentary by stakeholders.^[80][81]
• Escobar (2009) was delayed because of producer Oliver Stone’s involvement with the George W. Bush biopic W. (2008). As of 2008, the release date of Escobar remained unconfirmed.^[when?][82] Regarding the film, Stone said: «This is a great project about a fascinating man who took on the system. I think I have to thank Scarface, and maybe even Ari Gold.»^[83]
• Killing Pablo (2011) was supposedly in development for several years, directed by Joe Carnahan. It was to be based on Mark Bowden’s 2001 book of the same title, which in turn was based on his 31-part Philadelphia Inquirer series of articles on the subject.^[76][77] The cast was reported to include Christian Bale as Major Steve Jacoby and Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez as Escobar.^[84][85] In December 2008, Bob Yari, producer of Killing Pablo, filed for bankruptcy.^[86]
• Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014) a romantic thriller in which a naive Canadian surfer falls in love with a girl who turns out to be Escobar’s niece.
• Loving Pablo (2017), Spanish film based on Virginia Vallejo’s book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar with Javier Bardem as Escobar, and Penélope Cruz as Virginia Vallejo.^[87]
• American Made (2017), American biographical film based on Barry Seal; Escobar was portrayed by Mauricio Mejía.^[88]
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022), American biopic parody loosely based on the life of «Weird Al» Yankovic; Arturo Castro portrays Escobar who is depicted as a Weird Al fan who kidnaps Weird Al’s girlfriend, Madonna, to lure him to play at is fortieth birthday party. Weird Al instead murders him.

Television

• In 2005, Court TV (now TruTV) crime documentary series Mugshots released an episode on Escobar titled «Pablo Escobar – Hunting The Druglord».^[89]
• In the 2007 HBO television series, Entourage, actor Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier) is cast as Escobar in a fictional film entitled Medellín.^[90]
• One of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series films, The Two Escobars (2010), by directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, looks back at Colombia’s World Cup run in 1994 and the relationship between sports and the country’s criminal gangs — notably the Medellín narcotics cartel run by Escobar. The other Escobar in the film title refers to former Colombian defender Andrés Escobar (no relation to Pablo), who was shot and killed one month after conceding an own goal that contributed to the elimination of the Colombian national team from the 1994 FIFA World Cup.^[91]
• Caracol TV produced a television series, El cartel (The Cartel), which began airing on 4 June 2008 where Escobar is portrayed by an unknown model when he is shot down by Cartel del Sur’s hitmen.
• Also Caracol TV produced a TV Series, Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (Pablo Escobar, The Boss Of Evil), which began airing on 28 May 2012, and stars Andrés Parra as Pablo Escobar. It is based on Alonso Salazar’s book La parábola de Pablo.^[92] Parra reprises his role in TV Series Football Dreams, a world of passion and El Señor de los Cielos (season 1). Parra has declared not to play the character again so as not to pigeonhole himself.
• RTI Producciones produced a TV Series for RCN Televisión, Tres Caínes, was released on 4 March 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by the colombian actor Juan Pablo Franco (who portrayed general Muriel Peraza in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) in the first phase of the series. Franco reprises his role in Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ.
• The same year 2013, Fox Telecolombia produced for RCN Televisión a TV Series, Alias El Mexicano, released on 5 November 2013, which Escobar is portrayed by an unknown actor in a minor role.
• A Netflix original television series depicting the story of Escobar, titled Narcos, was released on 28 August 2015, starring Brazilian actor Wagner Moura as Pablo.^[93] Season two premiered on the streaming service on 2 September 2016.^[94]
• In 2016 RCN Televisión produced the TV Series En la boca del lobo, was released on 16 August 2016, which Escobar is portrayed by Fabio Restrepo (who portrayed Javier Ortiz in Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) as the character of Flavio Escolar.
• National Geographic in 2016 broadcast a biography series Facing that included an episode featuring Escobar.^[95]
• On 24 January 2018 Netflix released the 68-minute-long documentary Countdown to Death: Pablo Escobar directed by Santiago Diaz and Pablo Martin Farina.^[96][97]
• Killing Escobar was a documentary televised in the UK in 2021. It concerned a failed attempt by mercenaries, contracted by the Cali Cartel and led by Peter McAleese, to assassinate Escobar in 1989.
• Fox Telecolombia produced in 2019 a TV Series, El General Naranjo, which aired on 24 May 2019, which Escobar is portrayed by the Colombian actor Federico Rivera.

Music

• The 2013 song «Pablo» by American rapper E-40 serves as an ode to the legacy of Pablo Escobar.^[98]
• The 2016 album The Life of Pablo by American rapper Kanye West was named after the three Pablo’s that inspired and represented some part of the album, with one of them being Pablo Escobar.^[99]
• Dubdogz’s «Pablo Escobar» (feat. Charlott Boss), released in 2020, has garnered more than 5.6 million views for its official music video.^[100]

References

External links

• «The Abandoned House of Pablo Escobar». noaccess.eu. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
• Pablo Escobar at IMDb 

“	Lies are necessary when the truth is difficult to believe. Right?	„
	― Escobar to Eduardo Sandoval, during his surrender.

Gaviria spoke in favor of extradition while addressing the foreign media; and Pablo officially began the war against the Colombian government. Pablo established a system in which his sicarios would be paid handsomely in exchange for killing police officers. Police officers were valued at 1 million pesos per head. The bounty system led to the death of over 200 police officers, which resulted in the police constructing a special morgue just to store the bodies.

Pablo hired Basque terrorist and explosives expert Efram Gonzalez to create a bomb which would be used to assassinate Gaviria, who was now the most popular presidential candidate. He began courting Jaime Carrera, a teenager from the slums, to be the bomber, and planned on bombing a commercial flight which Gaviria was scheduled to board. Jaime carried out the Avianca Flight 203 bombing, but unfortunately for Escobar, Gaviria did not board the plane as he was warned by the DEA. The bombing resulted in the death of 101 civilians (including Carrera, who did not know that he was on a bombing mission) and 6 crew members. The bombing led to an international outcry against narcotraffickers.

Navegante, Gacha’s head of security, and secretly a mole planted by the Cali cartel; provided Gacha’s location to the DEA, which resulted in the Colombian Nation Police killing him and his son Fredy Rodriguez Celades on 15 December, 1989 in Caratagena.

The bombing created a wave of support for Gaviria, who won the elections by a landslide in 1990. Upon assuming Presidency, Gaviria let the Search Bloc, led by Colonel Horacio Carrillo loose. Despite Carrillo mounting numerous raids, Escobar managed to slip away thanks to his army of informants. Escobar retaliated with a devastating bombing campaign which resulted in thousands of civilian deaths.

With a government sanction operation against Escobar, the Cali cartel began selling their cocaine in Los Angeles, violating a previous agreement with Escobar. Escobar, Gustavo, Fernando Galeano and Gerardo Moncada met with Pacho Herrera, one of the four leaders of the Cali cartel to resolve the dispute. Pacho reiterates that both cartels would remain allied in the war against extradition, and the issue over Los Angeles would be looked after once Escobar resolves his conflict against the state. Escobar found Pacho arrogant and gave off a thinly veiled death threat.

Escobar send Duque to negotiate a surrender deal with Gaviria in exchange for the bombings to stop. Duque however, began questioning Escobar’s methods, and upon Gaviria’s insistence, lied about the government seeking a surrender deal in exchange for the bombings to stop, giving more time for Carrillo to track down Escobar.

Escobar wanted to continue the bombing, but Gustavo convinced him to instead bring terror to people who mattered the most to the government: children of politicians and businessmen. Pablo ordered his men to kidnap the children of Colombia’s elite, one of them being Diana Turbay, a highly popular news anchor, daughter of former President Julio César Turbay Ayala and Valeria Velez’s fiercest competitors.

When President Gaviria refused to bend, Escobar ordered Poison to kill Ofelia Hernandez, a wealthy heiress. Escobar knew that Diana’s father would put immense pressure on Gaviria; so he decided make a hostage film with Diana. Diana agreed to it after she made Escobar free one of the hostages. When former President Turbay threatened to rob Gaviria of his support at the assemblies and pull back financial donors, Gaviria caved in and agreed to negotiate with Duque. Concurrently, he also authorized the CIA to put their surveillance planes on the air to track down Escobar.

Escobar came to know of the Search Bloc operations and began setting up traps to distract them. He later had Diana shoot another video, in exchange for releasing two more hostages. When she asked why Escobar was a violent terrorist, he replied that it was because of people like her father, who couldn’t tolerate a rural peasant who was more richer and more intelligent than them. In her next video, she warned Gaviria that if he continued his co-operation with the Americans, Escobar would kill every hostage. Despite this, Gaviria continued to allow the Americans to intercept radio signals.

The CIA located Gorilla, one of Escobar’s sicarios who guarded Diana. After they triangulated the coordinates, they had Carrillo mount a rescue operation. However, Diana was accidentally shot and killed by Carrillo during the raid. Diana’s death devastated everyone in Colombia, from the rich to the poor. Outmanoeuvred, Gaviria agreed to Escobar’s demands.

As part of Escobar’s demands, the government abolished the extradition treaty with the United States, and allowed him to turn himself in for the simple charge of drug trafficking. He was allowed to build his own prison, and the police were not permitted to enter a three kilometre radius surrounding the prison complex. The prison complex, called La Catedral was completed in 1991; and Escobar moved in along with a battalion of trusted sicarios. Among other things, the prison included a football field, a bar with a jacuzzi for the sicarios and a doll house for Manuela. Escobar also built a ranch for his family outside the prison for his family. He then promoted Moncada and Galeano as head of operations, and entrusted them to lead the cartel’s operations while he was imprisoned. However, Escobar also established a war tax of $200,000 per month for them; saying that Escobar bore all the costs of the war which brought peace. Valeria attempted to distance herself from Escobar, justifying that association with a prisoner would ruin her journalism career. He also informs Gustavo that he is aware of his extramarital relationship with Marina Ochoa, the other sister of the Ochoa brothers.

Meanwhile, Valeria unwittingly reveals the location of Escobar’s hideout at the Monaco building to Pacho Herrera. Both the Colombian police and the Cali cartel planned on getting Escobar before he officially surrendered. While Carrillo mounted an army of vigilantes, Herrera decided to bomb the Monaco building. However, Escobar survived the attack. The bombing caused Escobar’s daughter Manuela to turn permanently deaf on one ear.

Pacho also spilled the beans on Marina’s affair with Gustavo to the Ochoa brothers. The Ochoa brothers, while initially angry, decide to ignore the matter and planned on coming up with a surrender deal similar to Escobar’s. However, Pacho played the brothers into believing that Escobar was going to betray them once he went inside the jail. The brothers decided to give away to location of Gustavo to General Jaramillo in exchange for a surrender deal. With the help of the Cali cartel, the Ochoa brothers signed their own treaty with the government. They received reduced sentences for illegally importing bulls from Spain. Acting on the Ochoa brothers’ information, Colonel Carrillo led a squad of off-duty men and arrested him while he was at a hotel with Marina. The vigilante cops, led by Carrillo, took Gustavo to an abandoned building, and tortured him to extract Escobar’s location. When Gaviria refused, Carrillo and his cops, all of whom had lost several family members due to Escobar’s terrorism campaign, took turns torturing Gaviria. Carrillo finally ended the torture session by shooting Gaviria in the head, and then subsequently fired several other shots into his body to make it appear that he was killed in a shoot-out, and dumped his body on the outskirts of Sabaneta.

Escobar was deeply shocked by Gustavo’s death. Valeria visited him, and told him that the Ochoa brothers were spotted at Cali before their surrender, and said that they sold out Gaviria to the government. When Escobar asked whom did they meet, she responded with Pacho Herrera. Escobar ordered an attack on Pacho while he was playing soccer, but unfortunately, despite killing 14 men affiliated to the Cali cartel, Escobar’s sicarios were unable to kill Herrera, who had escaped. Escobar then remotely listened to his cousin’s funeral through the radio, and vowed vengeance against the Cali cartel.

Hours after the parliament voted to repeal the extradition treaty, a military helicopter was dispatched to Escobar’s hideout, where he officially surrendered to Eduardo Sandoval. He was taken by helicopter to his private prison.

La Catedral[]

Escobar and his sicarios moved into the La Catedral, the private prison fortress. The military guarding a 3 kilometre radius around the prison were corrupted by the cartel, which allowed Paisa to drive in with trucks carrying Escobar’s requested items, including gambling equipment, women, lobsters and weapons. However despite this, prison life bored Escobar and he began making a scrapbook of his life.

With the cartel moving twice the amount of cocaine compared to the Cali cartel, Escobar decided to settle the dispute over Los Angeles with the Cali cartel. However, he ordered Velasco to murder 10 members of the Cali cartel to gain a leverage over the negotiations. Moncada and Galeano met with Cali boss Herrera, and decided to settle the dispute for $10 million, despite Herrera only willing to offer $3 million initially. Escobar was indignant at the amount, and ordered them to triple the price to $30 million. After Galeano beat Escobar in a billiards wager, Escobar quadrupled the war tax over his lieutenants to $1 million.

While celebrating his birthday with his family inside the prison, he heard Judy, Gerardo’s wife, complaining about the war tax imposed on her husband. Later, Pablo was violently tackled by Arete while playing a soccer math. Pablo began to feel that he was losing respect among his employees.

Velasco reported that a farmer working on land owned by Galeano and Moncada found $3 million buried deep under the ground. Velasco believed that Galeano and Moncada stole it, after claiming that they lost 250 kilos of cocaine to the police. Pablo summoned them to the prison on July 16, 1992 and questioned them about it. It turned into a heated argument, but after they affirmed their loyalty, Pablo decided to forgive them believing that imprisonment could have made him paranoid; much to the chagrin of his sicarios, who wanted action.

Pablo realized this, and just as Galeano and Moncada were about to get onto El Paisa’s truck, Pablo grabbed a pool cue and violently attacked Galeano from behind, bludgeoning him to death. Blackie and Velasco quickly grabbed Moncada and dragged him away, as he cursed Escobar. Blackie and Velasco killed Moncada, and burnt their budies using a cremator inside the complex, and threw a barbeque to hide the smell.

Rumors of Kiko and Galeano’s deaths began to spread. The Cali cartel spread the rumor to the DEA, who corroborated with photographs taken from Paisa’s truck. In order to cause further chaos, DEA agents Murphy and Javier Peña send the photographs to the El Espectador newspaper. After the photos were published, it caused a political storm in Colombia, and President Gaviria decided to move Escobar to a conventional prison.

Escobar refused to move, prompting Gaviria to send in the Military to lay siege upon the prison on 22 July, 1992. Escobar demanded a re-negotiation, fearing that he would be extradited to America if he left his prison. Gaviria sent Sandoval to the prison complex to negotiate with Escobar. Despite Gaviria instructing the Army to arrest Escobar, Sandoval realized that the Army had done no such thing, and voluntarily went inside the prison all by himself.

Escobar used the opportunity to hold Sandoval hostage, and forced him to talk to Gaviria through a prison telephone. Sandoval successfully managed to inform Gaviria about his kidnapping, without Escobar knowing about it. Gaviria relieved Brigadier General Ariza off command, and authorized a Army Special Forces raid on the prison. The Army stormed the prison with 250 Special Forces operatives, and fought a long gun battle with Escobar’s sicarios, and successfully extracted Sandoval. However, Escobar managed to escape the prison using his influence. A band of Colombian soldiers attempted to stop him, but let him walk off because of his infamy.

Return to Medellín[]

Escobar immediately reunited with his family, and ordered his sicarios to relocate all hideouts, drug labs and cash stashes. Gaviria re-enabled the Search Bloc and placed it under Colonel Pinzón. The CNP (Colombian National Police) invaded the city and established check points at every corner.

Gerardo Moncada’s wife, Judy, broke away from the cartel in retaliation for her husband’s murder, along with her brother Jaime Mendoza and the Medellín cartel’s head of security Don Berna. However, other high ranking members like Ricardo Prisco of the Prisco gang and the Gallon gang remained loyal to Escobar.

Quica hired taxi-driver El Limón, a resident of one of the barrios constructed by Escobar, to be Escobar’s chauffer. El Limón agreed to chauffer Pablo around Medellín, while Pablo hid in his taxi’s trunk. In order to make it look more legitimate, he hired his classmate Maritza to act as the taxi passenger. Escobar also re-established his network of using children as spotters.

Pablo met Rojas, one of his accountants, and heard from him that Judy Moncada was on talks with rival drug traffickers. With the help of Ricardo, Pablo raided Jaime Mendoza’s lab, and shot him in the head as a warning for Judy.

Escobar met Fernando that night, and told him to call President Gaviria and inform him that Escobar was willing to return to La Catedral and finish the sentence. However, Gaviria refused to talk, and his assistant Sandoval told Duque to turn on the television. Gaviria gave a live address, and said that he was willing to offer $1.4 million for information relating to Escobar’s capture, and affirmed that under no condition would he ever negotiate with Escobar again. Pablo then gave an aggressive interview, hoping to gain the attention of American President Bush.

Despite this, Colombia’s Attorney-General Gustavo de Greiff Restrepo met with Duque and was willing to negotiate a surrender deal with Escobar. Meanwhile, the Americans had tracked down Pablo’s hideout while following an imported gold-embellished toilet, and mounted a raid. Pablo and his family escaped, but after being driven out of his home again, Pablo swore to engage in another war with the government. He brought back the bounty system and sent his sicarios to the city to indiscriminately kill police officers.

The wave of violence led Colonel Pinzón to resign as the leader of the Seach Bloc, and President Gaviria re-appointed Colonel Carrillo, who was exiled to Spain after Escobar’s surrender, to succeed him. Immediately after Carrillo’s return, he took a large convoy of cops to the centre of Escobar’s barrios, and urinated onto one of Escobar’s murals. Escobar saw it as an act of intimidation, failing to realize that Carrillo did it in order to locate Escobar’s network of spotters.

Pablo’s men attacked Judy’s mansion, and Pablo personally questioned her bodyguards about her whereabouts, but received no response.

Meanwhile, a Search Bloc raid led by Carrillo eliminated most of the Prisco gang, except leader and Escobar’s physician Ricardo. The Search Bloc under Carrillo went hard on Escobar’s organization. Using information supplied by Don Berna and Judy, the Search Bloc raided several of Escobar’s laboratories. Carrillo even threw Gato, Escobar’s sicario who managed a drug lab out of a helicopter when he refused to rat on Pablo.

Carrillo’s men rounded up six of Escobar’s spotters. They behaved mischievously while Carrillo attempted to interrogate them, so he shot the eldest one of them, and gave a bullet to the youngest, telling him to inform Escobar that it was for him. With the help of Velez, Escobar filmed an interview of the kid, accusing Carrillo of unaccounted brutality. However, President Gaviria decided to ignore the video. Infuriated, Escobar wrote to all major newspapers in Colombia and the United States about Carrillo’s brutality, but his letters were ignored. Fearing for the life of his family, Escobar began training his wife on gun combat.

Deciding that the only way to feel safe was to have Carrillo killed, Escobar had Limón use Maritza as a bait to lure Carrillo. Limón had Maritza approach the DEA, and she agreed to give away Escobar’s location in exchange for protection. Javier Peña, the DEA agent, passed on the information to Carrillo, who mounted a big convoy and drove to the location given to them by Maritza. One the way, Escobar and his sicarios ambushed the convoy, killing most of the police officers. Carrillo, who was mortally wounded, crawled out of his car and collapsed to the ground. Escobar walked over towards him, and shot him with the bullet he gave to the kid. Escobar proceeded to unload an entire pistol magazine on Carrillo in retaliation for Gustavo’s murder. Escobar later met Maritza, and thanked her for her help by giving her a duffel bag full of US Dollars.

Carrillo’s death shook everyone in Colombia, especially the Cali cartel, whose leadership hoped that Carrillo would’ve brought an end to Escobar. The Search Bloc was on a standstill as no Colombian police officer wanted to succeed Carrillo.

Collapse of the Medellín cartel[]

In order to cheer his wife, Escobar facilitated the arrival of his brother-in-law Carlos Henao from Miami. Carlos informed him that Escobar’s war with the government after his escape from prison did not hinder their operations, and they were making more money than ever. Escobar wanted his business to grow further, and told his sicarios to call The Lion back to Colombia.

Meanwhile, CIA representative Bill Stechner convinced Carlos Castaño of the AUC right-wing paramilitary group to go after Escobar. Carlos Castaño, and his brother Fidel Castaño resented Escobar due to his collaboration with the M-19 during the Palace of Justice siege; and agreed to shift their operations from the jungle to the city to hunt down Escobar. The brothers met with Herrera and Judy to form a partnership, but Herrera declined, stating that the brother’s operations would risk the secrecy of the Cali cartel. Judy, however, decided to work with the brothers, and had Don Berna, who had previously co-operated with DEA agent Javier Peña under her orders, convince Peña to join their organization, called Los Pepes.

While Javier Peña was reluctant at first, he agreed to work after he was dismayed by the inefficiency of the Search Bloc following Carrillo’s death. With the help of Maritza, he followed Limón to one of the cartel’s safehouses. He saw Velasco there, and called the Search Bloc for backup, however, his request was denied, so he called Berna instead, and Los Pepes arrived at the location and successfully captured Velasco. Berna tortured Velasco, and obtained the location of three of Escobar’s accountants, and also the fact that Lion was returning to Colombia.

Judy gave the information to Gilberto, who sent Navegante to whisk away Lion at the airport. Lion agreed to betray Escobar and work with the Cali cartel. He later lied to Blackie that he got spooked and took a flight back to Miami. Lion began to reveal Pablo’s operations in Miami to Pacho Herrera.

Impressed by the AUC’s tactics, Peña began illegally sharing intelligence gathered by the Search Bloc to the Los Pepes. The Los Pepes functioned as a death squad, and killed dozens of Pablo’s sicarios, and numerous civilians.

Ricardo Prisco, the leader of the Prisco brothers, escaped an attempt on his life by the Los Pepes, and succeeded in injuring one. He had his men admit him in one of the hospitals, and using his doctor privileges, tortured the man to death, and found out that the Los Pepes were affiliated to the AUC.

Escobar was unsure as to why the AUC would leave the jungle and come after him, and concluded that Judy Moncada was behind it. Later, a garage housing Escobar’s car collection was burned down. Escobar concluded that Judy did not have the funds to finance such an operation, and deduced the Cali cartel had a role in the Los Pepes.

Escobar then bombed the wedding of Gilberto’s daughter Marta Rodríguez. Despite numerous casualities, the leaders of the Cali cartel survived, along with the bridge and groom. Enraged that Escobar went after his family, Gilberto vowed revenge against Escobar, and officially sanctioned funding to the Los Pepes.

Escobar’s mother violated security and ordered her driver Manuel to take her to church. They were tracked down by the Los Pepes, who then attempted to raid the house, resulting in a fierce gun battle with Escobar and his sicarios. While Escobar’s family members survived, Carlos was shot dead. The family immediately evacuated the safe house and returned back to the Escobar family’s original house, which Escobar vacated in the 1970s. Escobar burned US $2 million stashed in the house to keep his daughter warm while his sicarios went looking for firewood. The Cali cartel leaders went into hiding after the incident.

Unable to strike back at the Cali cartel, Escobar began bombing their chain of pharmacy stores, killing several innocent bystanders in the process. Concurrently, Escobar also began going after the government as he felt that they held double standards as they did not condemn the Los Pepes.

In 1993, Escobar decided that Colombia wasn’t safe for his family, and sent them to Germany, which relaxed it’s immigration laws following the collapse of the Berlin wall. Fernando Duque is killed by the Los Pepes, along with his young son, his wife and her mother. The stress began taking a toll of Pablo’s physical health, with frequent headaches plaguing him.

The DEA prevented Escobar’s family from entering Germany. Their visas are revoked, and they were forced to return to Colombia. Just immediately outside the Bogotá airport, they were taken by armed personnel of the Attorney-General’s Office, and were housed at a hotel in the city. Escobar sent Blackie to spy on them. Despite not seeing anything, Blackie tells Escobar that the family is doing fine. Blackie is eventually nabbed by the police while in Bogotá.

Escobar’s resentment towards President Gaviria for not condemning the Los Pepes grew. He had Blackie load up 220 pounds of TNT inside a car, and explode it outside a shopping district in the Downtown Bogotá close to the Presidential Palace. The latest terror attack completely turned the public against Escobar. Despite the Attorney-General pleading Escobar to unconditionally surrender, Escobar refused, saying that he would only negotiate when his family is safely taken outside Colombia.

The Gallon gang, a gang of drug traffickers who were allied to Escobar, quickly switched loyalty to the Los Pepes after Judy paid them a visit. The Los Pepes also began running advertisements in local newspapers calling all drug traffickers to side with them against Escobar.

Pablo found out from Quica that the Los Pepes planned a meeting with all other drug traffickers at Judy’s mansion in Montecasino. Escobar planned on attacking the meeting, but Rojas informed him that they were strapped on cash as shipments from Miami did not reach them properly as they used to. This was due to the Lion defecting to the Cali cartel, which Escobar did not know at that point. After the Cali cartel’s silent coup was successful, Pacho had Navegante kill The Lion.

With political pressure mounting on Gaviria due to the upcoming elections, the President allowed to free Escobar’s family and began negotiations on finding asylum for them. Escobar had Valeria Velez deliver a satellite phone inside a suitcase to Escobar’s family. However, the Los Pepes found out and killed Velez and her entire news crew.

Gaviria changed his mind and refused the Escobar family to seek asylum. Enraged, Escobar decided to enter a massive battle with the Los Pepes at Montecasino to eliminate them once and for all. However, Quica grew increasingly anxious about associating himself with Escobar. The DEA began calling Quica in order to pin-point his location. Quica then proceeded to kill Ricardo and Rojas, and fled with the last of Escobar’s money, but he is nabbed by the DEA following a car chase through the city.

Threatened with a snitch tag, Quica agreed to rat out on the staging point for Escobar’s raid on Montecasino. Quica later called Escobar through the radio in an attempt to talk to him, but Escobar deduced that Quica was under American custody, and ordered his last loyal sicario Limón to leave for his father’s ranch in the countryside.

The CNP, who were observing the staging point for the raid hoping that Escobar would arrive, grew tired, and eliminated the last batch of Escobar’s gunmen, effectively terminating the cartel.

Final days and death[]

Escobar reunited with his father after decades. Despite having contempt for his son’s occupation, Abel allowed Pablo and Limón to live and work at his ranch. Escobar laid low at his father’s farm throughout the middle of 1993, engaging in farm work. de Greiff was no longer able to protect Escobar’s rights, and President Gaviria increased the bounty on Escobar’s head.

One day, while attempting to slaughter a pig, Escobar got blood all over him, and let out a sleuth of profanities, prompting his father to snap. Abel berated his son for being a vile, murderous criminal. Escobar replied by saying that his actions gained him infamy, and that even the American President knows about the Escobar surname. He also scolded his father for not having a single photograph of his children or grandchildren, and chided him for living like an insignificant hermit.

Escobar had Limón recover some of the cash buried, but he found that most of them had rotten away, and all he found was around US $6,000. Escobar placed that money at his father’s cupboard, along with a photograph of his family, and drove back to Medellín. Limón, out of loyalty to Escobar, killed Maritza and recovered the cash Escobar had given her for her role in ending Carrillo.

Escobar and Limón began staying in a run-down two-storey building at Los Olivios, a quite middle class neighbourhood of the city. Limón would occasionally venture out in his taxi to purchase food, and Escobar stayed inside, in constant communication with his family. One day, Escobar ventured out, and enjoyed a cup of ice cream at the tourist district, and had a hallucination about his cousin Gustavo, who scolded him for his actions.

On 1 December 1993, Escobar celebrated his 44th birthday with his family through radio contact. However, he was unaware that his signals were triangulated by the Search Bloc. The very next day, while speaking to his wife, his safehouse is raided by the CNP and the DEA. Escobar and Limón put up a fight, and attempt to flee through the roof. Limón was shot dead, and Escobar began to make a run for it, but was shot by a CNP sniper. As he laid down on the roof-top, CNP officer Trujilo executed Escobar, while yelling «For Colombia!». The CNP and DEA Agent Steve Murphy posed over Escobar’s dead body. Escobar suffered gunshots to the leg and torso, and a fatal gunshot through the ear.

Escobar’s mother hurried to his body after news of his death began to spread, and still claimed that his son was innocent when she cried over his body.

Aftermath[]

Escobar’s funeral saw the attendance of over 25,000 people, mainly from the slums of Medellín. Escobar’s labs were either destroyed or taken over by rival traffickers. His properties were seized by the government, and several of them, were turned into tourist destinations.

The international cocaine market was then taken over by his rivals, the Cali cartel. However, their dominance was short-lived, and they were taken down two years later in 1995. After that, the Colombian drug cartels moved back to the underground, and the cocaine market was then dominated by Mexican drug cartels such as the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.

Don Berna took over the drug trade in Medellín, creating the Oficina de Envigado out of the remnants of the Los Pepes and the Medellín cartel. The void left by Escobar’s death and Judy Moncada’s flight to the United States allowed the Castaño brothers to enter the drug trafficking market.

Personality[]

While briefing Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo on the Colombiand drug cartels, Juan Matta-Ballesteros tells him that Escobar is a very temperamental and highly emotional individual. Escobar was extremely loyal to his family. Despite cheating on his wife with Valeria, he placed utmost priority on his wife’s safety, and even trained her on gun combat and fought extensively for her to get asylum in another country.

Personal life[]

Pablo married Argentian teenager Maria Victoria Henao in the 1970s, and they together have two children, Juan Pablo and Manuela. In addition to that, Pablo maintained an extramarital affair with journalist Valeria Velez from 1980s till 1991.

Trivia[]

• He is one of the six characters that appears in both Narcos and Narcos: Mexico (the other characters are Amado Carrillo Fuentes, Hélmer Herrera, Navegante and Jorge Salcedo.

Appearances[]

Narcos Season 1
«Descenso« Appears	«The Sword of Simón Bolivar« Appears	«The Men of Always« Appears	«The Palace in Flames« Appears	«There Will Be a Future« Appears
«Explosivos« Appears	«You Will Cry Tears of Blood« Appears	«La Gran Mentira« Appears	«La Catedral« Appears	«Despegue« Appears

Narcos Season 2
«Free at Last« Appears	«Cambalache« Appears	«Our Man in Madrid« Appears	«The Good, the Bad, and the Dead« Appears	«The Enemies of My Enemy« Appears
«Los Pepes« Appears	«Deutschland 93« Appears	«Exit El Patrón« Appears	«Nuestra Finca« Appears	«Al Fin Cayó!« Appears

Narcos Mexico Season 1
«Camelot« Absent	«The Plaza System« Absent	«El Padrino« Absent	«Rafa, Rafa, Rafa!« Absent	«The Colombian Connection« Appears
«La Última Frontera« Absent	«Jefe de Jefes« Absent	«Just Say No« Absent	«811 Lope de Vega« Absent	«Leyenda« Absent

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать грубую лексику.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать разговорную лексику.

Пабло Эскобар

Пабло Эскобара

Пабло Эскобаром

Пабло Эскобару

Пабло Эскобаре

Pablo Escobar

In 1993, Pablo Escobar was killed.

Pablo Escobar was the wealthiest criminal to ever exist.

Пабло Эскобар был самым жестоким и самым безжалостным преступником, который когда либо существовал.

It’s important that new generations don’t get fixated on the figure of Pablo Escobar and even less on mine.

Очень важно, чтобы новое поколение не зацикливалось на фигуре Пабло Эскобара и еще меньше на моей.

Cortez is the most vicious cartel boss since Pablo Escobar.

Кортес — самый кровавый босс наркокартели после Пабло Эскобара…

The same happened with Pablo Escobar.

It was founded and run by Ochoa Vázquez brothers Jorge Luis, Juan David, and Fabio together with Pablo Escobar.

Он был основан и управлялся братьями Очоа Васкес — Хорхе Луисом, Хуаном Давидом и Фабио вместе с Пабло Эскобаром.

Throughout the world, the name Pablo Escobar is notorious.

Как ни странно, имя этого человека тоже известно всему миру — Пабло Эскобар.

Pablo Escobar was responsible for approximately 4,000 deaths, yet many people love him to this day.

Пабло Эскобар отвечал примерно за 4000 смертей, но многие люди любят его и по сей день.

Before telling about today’s day of this famous family, let’s remember who Pablo Escobar was.

Прежде чем рассказать о сегодняшнем дне этой знаменитой семьи, давайте вспомним, кто же был Пабло Эскобар.

However one thing that will forever be true is that Pablo Escobar is a truly captivating character.

Тем не менее одна вещь, которая всегда будет неизменной правдой — это то, что Пабло Эскобар обладал поистине увлекательным характером.

So, just like Pablo Escobar, I hid all my cash in various places.

Так что, как Пабло Эскобар, прятал наличку в разных местах.

I’m the Pablo Escobar of the fertility world.

Я как Пабло Эскобар в деле репродуктивных технологий.

Putting an end to Pablo Escobar is a patriotic act.

Because, to this day, Pablo Escobar is still alive.

Pablo Escobar was made of rage, revenge and terror.

It’s because you work for Pablo Escobar.

But Pablo Escobar, he thinks that’s just your opening offer.

Но вот Пабло Эскобар видит в этом приглашение к переговорам.

My children will always be Pablo Escobar‘s children.

Because right now, the game is Pablo Escobar.

I’m talking about Pablo Escobar‘s family.

Ничего не найдено для этого значения.

Результатов: 390. Точных совпадений: 390. Затраченное время: 50 мс

Documents

Корпоративные решения

Спряжение

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Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949–December 2, 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and the leader of one of the most powerful criminal organizations ever assembled. He was also known as «The King of Cocaine.» Over the course of his career, Escobar made billions of dollars, ordered the murders of hundreds of people, and ruled over a personal empire of mansions, airplanes, a private zoo, and his own army of soldiers and hardened criminals.

Early Life

Escobar was born on December 1, 1949, into a lower-middle-class family and grew up in Medellín, Colombia. As a young man, he was driven and ambitious, telling friends and family that he wanted to be the president of Colombia someday. He got his start as a street criminal. According to legend, Escobar would steal tombstones, sandblast the names off of them, and resell them to crooked Panamanians. Later, he moved up to stealing cars. It was in the 1970s that he found his path to wealth and power: drugs. He would buy coca paste in Bolivia and Peru, refine it, and transport it for sale in the United States.

Rise to Power

In 1975, a local Medellín drug lord named Fabio Restrepo was murdered, reportedly on the orders of Escobar himself. Stepping into the power vacuum, Escobar took over Restrepo’s organization and expanded his operations. Before long, Escobar controlled all organized crime in Medellín and was responsible for as much as 80 percent of the cocaine transported into the United States. In 1982, he was elected to Colombia’s Congress. With economic, criminal, and political power, Escobar’s rise was complete.

In 1976, Escobar married 15-year-old Maria Victoria Henao Vellejo, and they would later have two children, Juan Pablo and Manuela. Escobar was famous for his extramarital affairs and tended to prefer underage girls. One of his girlfriends, Virginia Vallejo, went on to become a famous Colombian television personality. In spite of his affairs, he remained married to María Victoria until his death.

Narcoterrorism

As the leader of the Medellín Cartel, Escobar quickly became legendary for his ruthlessness, and an increasing number of politicians, judges, and policemen publicly opposed him. Escobar had a way of dealing with his enemies: he called it plata o plomo (silver or lead). If a politician, judge, or policeman got in his way, he would almost always first attempt to bribe him or her. If that didn’t work, he would order the person killed, occasionally including the victim’s family in the hit. The exact number of men and women killed by Escobar is unknown, but it certainly goes well into the hundreds and possibly into the thousands.

Social status did not matter to Escobar; if he wanted you out of the way, he’d get you out of the way. He ordered the assassination of presidential candidates and was even rumored to be behind the 1985 attack on the Supreme Court, carried out by the 19th of April insurrectionist movement, in which several Supreme Court justices were killed. On November 27, 1989, Escobar’s cartel planted a bomb on Avianca flight 203, killing 110 people. The target, a presidential candidate, was not actually on board. In addition to these high-profile assassinations, Escobar and his organization were responsible for the deaths of countless magistrates, journalists, policemen, and even criminals inside his own organization.

Height of His Power

By the mid-1980s, Escobar was one of the most powerful men in the world, and Forbes magazine listed him as the seventh richest. His empire included an army of soldiers and criminals, a private zoo, mansions and apartments all over Colombia, private airstrips and planes for drug transport, and personal wealth reported to be in the neighborhood of $24 billion. Escobar could order the murder of anyone, anywhere, anytime.

He was a brilliant criminal, and he knew that he would be safer if the common people of Medellín loved him. Therefore, he spent millions on parks, schools, stadiums, churches, and even housing for the poorest of Medellín’s inhabitants. His strategy worked—Escobar was beloved by the common people, who saw him as a local boy who had done well and was giving back to his community.

Legal Troubles

Escobar’s first serious run-in with the law came in 1976 when he and some of his associates were caught returning from a drug run to Ecuador. Escobar ordered the killing of the arresting officers, and the case was soon dropped. Later, at the height of his power, Escobar’s wealth and ruthlessness made it almost impossible for Colombian authorities to bring him to justice. Any time an attempt was made to limit his power, those responsible were bribed, killed, or otherwise neutralized. The pressure was mounting, however, from the United States government, which wanted Escobar extradited to face drug charges. He had to use all of his power to prevent extradition.

In 1991, due to increasing pressure from the U.S., the Colombian government and Escobar’s lawyers came up with an interesting arrangement. Escobar would turn himself in and serve a five-year jail term. In return, he would build his own prison and would not be extradited to the United States or anywhere else. The prison, La Catedral, was an elegant fortress which featured a Jacuzzi, a waterfall, a full bar, and a soccer field. In addition, Escobar had negotiated the right to select his own “guards.” He ran his empire from inside La Catedral, giving orders by telephone. There were no other prisoners in La Catedral. Today, La Catedral is in ruins, having been hacked to pieces by treasure hunters looking for hidden Escobar loot.

On the Run

Everyone knew that Escobar was still running his operation from La Catedral, but in July 1992 it became known that the drug kingpin had ordered some disloyal underlings brought to his “prison,” where they were tortured and killed. This was too much for even the Colombian government, and plans were made to transfer Escobar to a standard prison. Fearing he might be extradited, Escobar escaped and went into hiding. The U.S. government and local police ordered a massive manhunt. By late 1992, there were two organizations searching for him: the Search Bloc, a special, U.S.-trained Colombian task force, and “Los Pepes,” a shadowy organization of Escobar’s enemies made up of family members of his victims and financed by Escobar’s main business rival, the Cali Cartel.

Death

On December 2, 1993, Colombian security forces—using U.S. technology—located Escobar hiding in a home in a middle-class section of Medellín. The Search Bloc moved in, triangulated his position, and attempted to bring him into custody. Escobar fought back, however, and there was a shootout. Escobar was eventually gunned down as he attempted to escape on the rooftop. Although he was also shot in the torso and leg, the fatal wound passed through his ear, leading many to believe that Escobar committed suicide. Others believe one of the Colombian policemen fired the bullet.

Legacy

With Escobar gone, the Medellín Cartel quickly lost power to its rival, the Cali Cartel, which remained dominant until the Colombian government shut it down in the mid-1990s. Escobar is still remembered by the poor of Medellín as a benefactor. He has been the subject of numerous books, movies, and television series, including «Narcos» and «Escobar: Paradise Lost.» Many people remain fascinated by the master criminal, who once ruled one of the largest drug empires in history.

Sources

• Gaviria, Roberto Escobar, and David Fisher. «The Accountant’s Story: inside the Violent World of the Medellin Cartel.» Grand Central Pub., 2010.
• Vallejo, Virginia, and Megan McDowell. «Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar.» Vintage Books, 2018.