J.D. Rockefeller - Pablo Escobar: The Life and Crimes of the Most Notorious Colombian Drug Lord

Copyright 2016 by J.D. Rockefeller. All RightsReserved.

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Smuggling an estimated 80% of the totalcocaine being illegally brought into the United States of Americaat the peak of his career, Pablo Escobar was one of the mostnotorious Colombian drug lords that mankind has ever known. Knownas the King of Cocaine, his net worth was estimated as US $30billion in the early 1990s.

Along with being at the helm of the MedellinCartel, Escobar would sponsor soccer clubs and charity projects andwas hugely popular among the poor people. But public opinion soonturned against him when he began sponsoring terror campaignsresulting in the murder of thousands of people. Pablo Escobar wasshot dead in 1993 by the Colombian Police. Even 20 years after hisdeath, there are people who still visit his grave every year.

What kind of a childhood did Pablo Escobarhave? How did he enter the drug business? How did he manage toreach the top of the drug empire? Was he ever arrested? How was hekilled? What about his family? Where are they now? You will findthe answers to these questions and many more as you continuereading this book.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born onDecember 1, 1949 in Rionegro, the Antioquia Department of Colombia.His father, Abel de Jess Dari Escobar, was a farmer and hismother, Hermilda Gaviria, was a teacher in an elementary school inthe area. He was the third of seven children of his parents andbegan his criminal activities as a teenager.

Some reports claim that he would stealgravestones, sand them down, and then resell them to smugglers.However, his brother denies that he used to steal thosegravestones. His friends and family report that Pablo would oftentell them that he wanted to become the president of Colombia.

He studied at the Universidad AutnomaLatinoamericana of Medelln for a short time but left it soonwithout obtaining a degree. His partner in crime was Oscar BenelAguirre, with whom he would sell contraband cigarettes and fakelottery tickets, along with stealing cars.

His ambition was to become a millionaire bythe age of 22. Some reports state that in the early 1970s hekidnapped a Medellin executive and received a ransom of$100,000.

Colombia had become the focal point forsmuggling marijuana in the early 1970s. The country was located atthe northern tip of Southern America, right between the coca farmsof Peru and Bolivia, and the United States of America was just ashort trip to the north. Its location made it a boon for drugsmugglers and it soon became the center point for smuggling cocaineinto the United States.

After he received the ransom money from thekidnapping of the Medellin executive, Escobar entered the drugtrade and began working on his ambition to become a millionaire byworking for contraband smuggler Alvaro Prieto.

In 1975, Escobar began developing his cocaineempire. It was in 1975 that the Medellin drug trafficker FabioRestrepo was murdered. According to some reports, Escobar wasresponsible for this killing. Once Restrepo was dead, Pablo wasquick to expand the drug operation into one of the largest drugempires ever seen by the world.

His brother, Roberto Theran Escobar, claimsthat there was a reason for Pablo entering the drug business. Hesays that selling and smuggling other types of contraband hadbecome too dangerous at that time. Smuggling drugs wasnt. With nodrug cartels and only a few small drug traffickers, there was roomto grow and Escobar just grabbed the opportunity.

Reports say that he would also fly a planebetween Colombia and Panama to smuggle cocaine into the UnitedStates. He later bought 15 new, bigger airplanes. These included 6helicopters and a Learjet. After buying these new technicallyadvanced airplanes, he hung his first plane above the gate of hisranch located at Hacienda Napoles.

Photo 1: Escobar had a fleet of airplanes that heused to smuggle cocaine

Pablo would buy the white coca paste in Peruand then refine it in a Medellin laboratory. His first tripinvolved bringing only about 30 pounds of white paste. Later, hewould smuggle the cocaine in old plane tires. As the demand for thedrug increased in the United States, Pablo began to smuggle largeramounts and would make as much as $500,000 per flight. The moneywould depend on the amount of the drug that he was able to smugglein one trip.

In May 1976, Escobar and several of his menwere arrested. They possessed 39 pounds of white coca paste andwere returning from Ecuador to Medellin. Pablo tried to bribe thejudges who were hearing the case against him but was unsuccessful.A few months later, the two officials who arrested them were killedand the case against him was dropped.

Escobar had now learnt a way to deal with theauthorities, Plata o Plomo. He would later continue usingthis practice. He would first try to bribe them. If they refused abribe, he would have them killed.

The Medellin Cartel was founded by the Ochoabrothers, Pablo Escobar, and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha in thelate 1970s. Cocaine smuggling had really gone up in the late 1970sand became a major source of profit for the game players. In fact,by 1982, the profits from illegal cocaine trade had actuallysurpassed that of coffee.

At the peak of its success, the MedellinCartel is believed to have brought in at least $60 million per dayand $420,000,000 per week of profit. It was supplying 84-90% of thetotal cocaine smuggled into the United States and about 80% of theentire global drug market. The cartel had many groups within it.White Americans, Canadians, and Europeans were also part of thesegroups and would be actively involved in the transport of cocaineshipments to United States, Canada, and Europe.

His partners, Carlos Lehder and Robert Vesco,bought an island by the name of Normans Cay. The island waslocated in the Bahamas, southeast of the Florida coast. Pablo didnot have a role in buying this island, which included a harbor andboats, an airstrips and aircraft, hotels, and houses. It also had arefrigerated warehouse which was used to store the cocaine. From1978 to 1982, Normans Cay became the central smuggling route forthe Medellin Cartel.

Escobar earned huge profits from this route,which he invested in buying his own land in Antioquia. Severalmillion dollars were invested in buying this 7.7 square mile land,where he also built his home, Hacienda Napoles. He also hada lake, a zoo, and other recreational points for his family and themembers of his cartel.

Pablo was shipping up to 70 to 80 tons ofcocaine every month and up to 11 tons per flight. His biggest loadcomprised of 51,000 pounds of cocaine mixed with dish paste and wasshipped using a boat. Reports also say that Escobar used two smallsubmarines to smuggle larger loads of the coca paste.