He built the world's most profitable drug empire, ordered thousands of murders, and still died a folk hero to Colombia's poor — all before 44.
Pablo Escobar (1949–1993) grew up in poverty in Medellín, Colombia, and began his criminal career stealing tombstones and car parts before discovering cocaine in the mid-1970s. By the 1980s, his Medellín Cartel was shipping an estimated 70–80 tons of cocaine per month into the United States, controlling roughly 80% of the global cocaine trade. At the height of his power, his net worth was estimated at $30 billion — making him one of the wealthiest people on earth.
Escobar ran his empire through a brutal policy he called 'plata o plomo' — Spanish for 'silver or lead,' meaning a bribe or a bullet. Officials who accepted his money were paid handsomely; those who refused were killed. He is believed responsible for the murders of over 4,000 people, including three Colombian presidential candidates, a justice minister, a police chief, judges, journalists, and hundreds of police officers. Medellín became one of the most dangerous cities in the world, with a murder rate that peaked at 381 per 100,000 in 1991.
Despite his violence, Escobar cultivated a Robin Hood image among the poor of Medellín that was only partly manufactured. He funded the construction of housing developments, football pitches, schools, and hospitals in poor neighborhoods, and handed out cash in the streets. In 1982, he was even elected to the Colombian Chamber of Representatives as an alternate member — a legitimacy he lost when his drug ties were exposed by a rival politician and the U.S. government pushed for his extradition.
Escobar's terror campaign against extradition to the United States was systematic and devastating. He bombed the headquarters of Colombia's secret police (DAS), killing 70 people. He bombed an Avianca passenger jet in mid-flight, killing all 107 aboard, attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate he incorrectly believed was on the plane. He offered a bounty of $4,000 for every police officer killed on the streets of Medellín.
In 1991, facing enormous pressure, Escobar negotiated an extraordinary surrender deal: he turned himself in to Colombian authorities in exchange for a guarantee he would not be extradited to the US. He was housed in 'La Catedral' — a custom-built prison on a hilltop he effectively designed himself, complete with a football pitch, a bar, and a waterfall. When the government finally moved to transfer him to a real prison in 1992, he simply walked out and disappeared.
The 16-month manhunt that followed consumed the Colombian government and a special U.S. intelligence unit called 'Search Bloc.' Escobar was tracked partly through intercepted mobile phone signals — he reportedly became careless about call length toward the end. On December 2, 1993 — one day after his 44th birthday — Colombian police located him at a house in Medellín and killed him in a rooftop firefight. His funeral was attended by over 25,000 people. His private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles eventually became a theme park — complete with the hippopotamuses whose runaway descendants now number in the hundreds across Colombia.