The Rise of Pablo Escobar | Biography in Under 15 Minutes

Pablo Escobar (born December 1, 1949, Rionegro, Colombia-died December 2, 1993, Medellín) Colombian criminal who, as head of the Medellín cartel, was arguably the world’s most powerful drug trafficker in the 1980s and early ’90s.
Soon after his birth, Escobar’s family-his father was a farmer and his mother a schoolteacher-moved to Envigado, Colombia, a suburb of Medellín. While still a teenager, he began a life of crime. His early illegal activities included selling fake diplomas, smuggling stereo equipment, and stealing tombstones to resell. Escobar also stole cars, and it was this offense that resulted in his first arrest, in 1974. As the cocaine industry grew in Colombia-thanks in part to its proximity to Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, major growers of coca, from which cocaine is derived-Escobar became involved in drug smuggling. In the mid-1970s he helped found the crime organization that later became known as the Medellín cartel. His notable partners included the Ochoa brothers: Juan David, Jorge Luis, and Fabio. Escobar served as head of the organization, which focused largely on the production, transport, and sale of cocaine.
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
Drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar (left) with a bodyguard, 1983.
By the mid-1980s the Medellín cartel dominated the cocaine trade, with Escobar wielding incredible power and wealth. According to some reports, he was worth approximately $25 billion, which supported a lavish lifestyle that included a 7,000-acre (2,800-hectare) estate called Hacienda Nápoles (named after Naples, Italy) in Colombia. It reportedly cost $63 million and featured a soccer field, dinosaur statues, artificial lakes, a bullfighting arena, an airstrip, and a tennis court. The property also had a zoo that housed giraffes, hippopotamuses, and camels, among other animals. In addition, Escobar funded various projects to aid the poor, earning him comparisons to Robin Hood. That perception helped him win election to an alternate seat in the country’s Congress in 1982.
However, such philanthropic works were offset by Escobar’s well-known ruthlessness. He handled problems with “plata o plomo,” meaning “silver” (bribes) or “lead” (bullets). In addition to rival drug traffickers, notably in the Cali cartel, his victims included government officials, policemen, and civilians. In 1989 the cartel reportedly placed a bomb aboard an airplane in an attempt to kill an alleged informant. More than 100 people were killed. The threats of extradition to the United States-which, as the destination of most of the cartel’s drugs, had come to view Escobar as a top target in its war on drugs-drew even greater retaliation from Escobar, who reportedly said that he “would rather have a grave in Colombia than a jail cell in the U.S.”
A larger-than-life figure, Escobar inspired numerous books, movies, and TV projects in the decades after his death.
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