Pablo Escobar , the notorious Colombian druglord , once botch up up aplane fill with innocent peoplein a desperate attempt to wipe out one of his countless enemy . One hundred and seven people died that morning in 1989 when a bomb was detonate on Avianca Flight 203 . Three more were killed by falling pieces of the aircraft . Escobar ’s target was n’t even on board .
Among his throng of crimes , Escobar order ( and had carry out ) theassassination of a Colombian presidential candidateand thecountry ’s minister of justice . He set a bounty on policemen ; C were killed . As many as 50,000 people — the death bell may be lower , though most compute the total is at least in the low five figure — were murdered under the reign of " The King ofCocaine . "
For all the gauzy remembrances that some lamely cling to — Escobar as the consecrate family world , the poor Logos of Colombia made good , a Romance American Robin Hood — the two mankind who in conclusion bring Escobar to jurist want you to remember : He was none of those .
" There ’s nothing to glamorize about this guy , " read Steve Murphy , a formerDrug Enforcement Agencyagent whose employment is dramatized in " Narcos , " the Netflix series that debuted in 2015 . " He ’s nothing more than a mass manslayer . citizenry look up to him like he ’s some variety of a hero . Let me tell you , if he severalise you to do something , and he ’s your graven image , and you did n’t do it , he ’d kill you . He did n’t worry that you like him . It was all about him . "
Who Was Pablo Escobar?
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was hold in Rionegro , Colombia , in 1949 . As a youngster , he and his family travel to a suburb of Medellin , and by the sentence he was in his teen , he was inscrutable into the criminal world , stealing gondola and resell gravestone he pilfered from local burial ground .
It was n’t until Escobar hit his twenty that he was introduced to big - time crime ; consider coca , grown mostly in Peru and Bolivia , synthesising it into cocaine , and ship it to sell in the United States . By his former 20s , Escobar had founded and assumed sole control of the Medellin trust , perchance the most successful criminal operation ever . At its height , the cartel pulled in an estimated$420 million — million — a week , 80 percent of the cocaine business worldwide .
The Medellin trust made so much money that it literally had to stuff cash in dish — billions of U.S. dollars — and sink it . Escobar became a millionaire in his twenty . His fortune shortly soared into the trillion . He score theForbes list of richest masses in the worldseven years flow , from 1987 ( when he was estimated to be worth $ 3 billion ) through 1993 .
Escobar spent his money on a personal zoological garden ( complete withhippos that still incline wild ) at a lavish estate in northwest Colombia , Hacienda Nápoles . He fling on cars , on boats , on a fleet of airplanes , on at least one professional association football team , and on dozens of sign of the zodiac throughout the land . Keenly cognisant of his public persona , he chip in millions aside , too , building housing and soccer fields in pitiable areas of Medellin .
But Escobar grew and maintained that wealthiness through the 1980s and early ' 90s , it should be remembered , by being a ruthless , cold - blooded cause of death .
Was He Really That Bad?
In silencing political leader , police , diarist and anyone who threatened his empire , Escobar sour to a virtual USA ofsicarios . These poor , often paw - picked Colombians — mostly teen boys — were pay to protect Escobar and carry out his want . Those want often included putting to death . ( Asicariois a hitman or hired assassin . )
" Pablo just manipulated those people is all he did . He gave them thing , which was honorable , but when he needed newsicarios , he went right back in [ to the inadequate sections of town ] , " Murphy articulate . " They were uncoerced to go bad for him . agitate and pass for him . We hate to give him credit for anything , but he did have moderately of a charismatic personality . "
Murphy and his mate , Javier Peña , who also is portray in the Netflix serial publication , often tangle with the people who would do Escobar ’s bid .
" One of them , when I interview him , " Peña says , " he was 15 years old , and he state , ' I eff Pablo Escobar , I will die out for him and I will kill for him . He gave me money , my ma now has protection , has intellectual nourishment , has a little house . ' He say , ' I ’ll be deadened by the meter I ’m 23 yr old , but I will die and kill for Pablo Escobar . He has give me a lifetime . ' "
One of Escobar ’s main hitmen was Jhon Jairo Velásquez , cognise as " Popeye . " He claims to have personally killed 300 multitude and consecrate ( on Escobar ’s behalf ) the execution of 3,000 others .
In the former nineties , Medellin was recognise asthe most violent city in the world , with 380 homicides per 100,000 mass every class .
" On a weekend , there ’d be 400 people getting belt down . It ’s hard to comprehend , " Peña says . " You ’d have two guys on a motorcycle , the guy rope in the back [ flash ] . That was one of their favored methods . They ’d shoot you , they ’d take off , in and out of dealings . The stats in Medellin were just unconvincing , the amount of multitude that were getting bolt down . "
Escobar — one of the early of what are now known as " narcoterrorists " — would not only bolt down . He and his band ofsicarioswould torture , too .
" The hombre had no remorse , had no guilt feelings feeling about killing citizenry , obviously had no conscience , " Murphy say . " When he killed hoi polloi , he did n’t just kill them , he want to torture ‘em to find out out what they were saying about him . Javier ’s suffer a recording where Pablo is talking to his married woman about how much he loves her and the kids , and misses them , and in the scope , you’re able to get word a guy being tortured to death . "
As the Colombian government — aided by the Drug Enforcement Administration and other American federal agency — lead off to clamp down on Escobar in the tardy ' 80 , matter turned more crimson . A paramilitary force of the Colombian National Police know as the Search Bloc and a vigilante radical , " Los Pepes " — Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar , or People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar — finally helped add Escobar to his inevitable fate .
How Did He Come to His End?
More than anything , Escobar feared extradition to the United States and tried to warm - weapon the Colombian government into adopting a non - extradition policy . The political fighting lead to outright terror and eventually to a full - fledged war between the cartel and the government . Escobar was squeeze to fly Hacienda Nápoles .
As the soundbox enumeration in Medellin and other places persist in to zoom and life on the run became unendurable , Escobar cut a spate . The arrangement was that Escobar would turn himself in and submit to attend to five age in a prison house of his choosing . After he served his time , he would not be sent to the U.S. for prosecution . He could keep his money . He could say his debt was bear .
The lot was especially sweet because Escobar in person supervised the construction of the " prison , " known as La Catedral . It included a association football field , a eggbeater lodgings , a bar , a dollhouse for his kids , a Jacuzzi and a falls . Hissicariosserved as the guards . He could come and go as he pleased . The cocain never cease fall . Neither did the money .
But that good life was soon to end . When two of his associates , whom he suspected were steal from the combine , came to La Catedral , Escobar and his men outwit them to death , turn off them up and threw them in a ardour . That night , he carry a barbecue to cover the smell of the smoldering corpses .
Once the authorities recover out , they closed in on Escobar , who went on the rill again .
" His family try out to depict him as a dedicated mob serviceman . I do n’t think that at all , " Murphy say . " If he was a consecrate family human beings , all he had to do is five years … If he was a dedicated family man , now he ’s a free man , there was no stipulations on get any of his plus , so he could keep all those zillion and billions of dollars . If he ’s consecrated to his family , now he could watch his children grow up , he could see them get married , have grandchildren . He could have whatever he desire .
" But , as we all saw , because of his egotism that was n’t what he chose . He chose his own personal world power . He was after his own personal glory . He select the violence over his own family . "
Seventeen month after exit La Catedral , with the National Police , the Search Bloc , Los Pepes , the Drug Enforcement Administration and a humble army meet on him , Escobar was shot and killed on a rooftop in Medellin . In one well - circulated photograph , Murphy crouches over Escobar ’s lifeless body . " I ’m majestic to have been part of that , " he say . " I do n’t care what people opine . "
Some booster importune that Escobar committed suicide rather than be seize and extradited to the U.S.
" Steve was there . He did not commit suicide , " Peña say . " He was killed by a surgical op from the Colombian National Police . They ’re the ones that did it . No one else . "
" Yup , " Murphy says . " That ’s what happened . He engage the Colombian National Police in a firefight that day and he suffer . It ’s that simple . "
Escobar’s Legacy Lives On
Escobar ’s story has been told many time , notably in " Narcos , " star Chilean player Pedro Pascal as Peña and American actor Boyd Holbrook as Murphy . After crawl in from the Drug Enforcement Administration , Murphy and Peña have spent the last four years onspeaking tours , score every continent but Africa and Antarctica , averaging about 75 appearances a year . They have a novel book of account out , too : " Manhunters : How We drive Down Pablo Escobar . "
More than 25 years have passed since Escobar died on that rooftop . The Medellin cartel is no more . The city ’s murder rate drop by 80 pct the class after Escobar ’s death . " It was the first time that an intact international cocaine yield and distribution organization was completely decimated , " Murphy says . " We did n’t just cut off the head of the snake . We chop the whole Hydra up . "
Still , even now , Escobar is lionize as a hero to the poor . His portrayal is on murals inBarrio Pablo Escobar , a even stop for tourists in Medellin . People cluster to the ruins of La Catedral and to Escobar’sgrave site . Escobar ’s sidekick , Roberto , an accountant for the cartel who spent 14 year in prison house , hawks memorabilia with his brother ’s likeness and conduct a tour of one of his safehouses .
" This guy should never be idolize , " Peña says . " He did build housing , he did help out the Catholic Church , thesicarios — he did facilitate them out . But he always wanted something in return .
" What we say is , Robin Hood did n’t down the next chairwoman of Colombia , did n’t put a bomb on an airplane . We always talk about the terrorist side of Pablo Escobar . That was the main affair . "
