Moreno wanted to produce and sell Cocaine in Colombia, however, Pablo called him out for his lack of ambition, and proposed to sell the cocaine in Miami. In 1973, Gustavo introduced him to Mateo 'Cockroach' Moreno, a Chilean drug chemist who fled the Pinochet regime. By 1973, his organization became one of Colombia's three most powerful smuggling operations. Pablo and Gustavo continued their criminal activities throughout their adolescence, and established a smuggling operation in which they smuggled consumer electronics, cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana across Colombia. Pablo took part in small-time criminal activities during his childhood to support his family.Ĭriminal career Rise to prominence His parents separated a few years after his birth, and he moved to Medellín with his mother and cousin Gustavo Gaviria. Pablo Escobar was born on 1 December 1949 to farmer Abel de Jesús Escobar Echeverri and school teacher Hermilda Gaviria in the town of Rionegro.

While he is vilified for his terrorism campaign against the government, he was considered as a 'Paisa Robin Hood' by many of Colombia's poor. The Medellín cartel crumbled by the middle of 1993 and Escobar was killed in action while attempting to defend himself from the Colombian police.Įscobar was one of the wealthiest drug traffickers, and left a controversial legacy in Colombia. The Medellín cartel was also targeted by the Los Pepes, a paramilitary vigilante organization financed by the Cali cartel. Following his escape, a nation-wide manhunt was organized by the government.

Escobar refused, and held Eduardo Sandoval hostage in the prison, prompting the Colombian special forces to lay siege upon the prison, resulting in Escobar's escape in 1992.

In 1991, Escobar surrendered to the Colombian authorities, and struck a no-extradition deal with President César Gaviria, and was subsequently imprisoned in his self-built prison, La Catedral.Īfter Escobar murdered two of lieutenants inside his prison, President Gaviria attempted to move him into a standard prison. Concurrently, he also fought a war with the Cali cartel, Colombia's second largest drug cartel. He ordered the Avianca Flight 203 bombing, resulting in the death of 106 civilians, and also ordered the Palce of Justice siege. He was elected as an alternate representative in the Chamber of Representatives, but his political career came to an abrupt end when he was outed as a drug trafficker.Īfter his resignation, Escobar ordered several kidnappings, assassinations and bombings across Colombia starting a war with the Colombian government. Using his drug wealth, he began engaging in social charity to cement his political career.

He began smuggling cocaine into the United States in 1973, and founded The Medellín cartel in 1976 by entering into an alliance with other Medellín-based smugglers. Pablo began his criminal career during his teenage years, and became a well-known smuggler by the 1970s. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (1949 – 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who led the Medellín cartel, and amassed a fortune of $30 billion at the time of his death (equivalent to $56 billion in 2019). That means you guys can't move a finger in all of Antioquia without me knowing about it.

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