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Pablo Escobar's Death
- Pablo Escobar
- Criminal
- December 1. 1949
- December 2, 1993
- Shooting
The life and death of Pablo Escobar:
It isn't often that one of the richest men in the world dies in the street, after being mowed down by gunfire.
But this multi-billionaire was the king of the cocaine trade and the wealthiest criminal in history.
He came from very humble beginnings. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was the third of seven children born to farmer Jesus Escobar and his school teacher wife Hermilda Gaviria. Pablo was trouble even as a kid, stealing grave markers and sanding them down so he could peddle the stone to smugglers.
He studied for a brief time at the University in his hometown of Medellin, where he founded his notorious Medellin Drug Cartel. But his main aim was to be a millionaire by the age of 22 and he turned to crime to make his pile of cash, starting with street scams like selling phony lottery tickets and stealing cars.
He started his cocaine operation in 1975 and often would fly drug laden planes himself. Miami was a major market for his coke and demand was skyrocketing in the U.S. So Pablo developed more smuggling routes to Florida, the Bahamas and California.
Viewed in his hometown as a Robin Hood kind of guy – taking from the wealthy and giving to the poor – Escobar was even elected to Colombia equivalent of Congress, although that didn't last long when his criminal past was unveiled.
He was also a cold blooded killer, ordering hits on those who'd cross him. He had a catch phrase in dealing with the authorities, offering the choice of "silver or lead". In other words, accept the payoff or face bullets. During the height of his Medellin cartel it was pulling in $60 million dollars a day, or about $22 billion a year.
27-year-old Pablo married then 15-year-old Maria Victoria in 1976…
…and they had two children: Juan Pablo and Manuela.
They lived an opulent lifestyle at an estate called Hacienda Napoles.
That property was later turned into a theme park surrounded by four luxury hotels and a tropical Zoo.
Escobar did worry about being extradited to the United States. Drug enforcement officials set their sights on Escobar and his life ended a day after his 44th birthday when he was tracked down in a modest Medellin neighborhood and shot and killed in a firefight with authorities.
Once Pablo was gone, the cocaine trade shifted to the rival Cali Cartel until they too were rooted out by the police.
Pablo was portrayed in the 2001 Johnny Depp movie "Blow" ….
…and in a Netflix Series called Narcos in 2015.
Pablo Escobar had an estimated net worth of thirty billion dollars …
…and that sum balloons to 100-billion when you consider the cash he buried in various parts of Columbia, trying to hide it.
In his heyday, Pablo was one of the ten richest men in the world, but in the end he traded in his gold for lead.