Naturally, the flourishing cocaine business made Escobar a very wealthy man. He had so much money that keeping a track was a difficult task. He also had quite an eventful life, to say the least, something that you must discover for yourself, if you haven't already, in the splendid Netflix show, Narcos.
Pablo Escobar, one of the most notorious men to have ever lived, is also a man everyone must know. So, on his birthday, here are a few things about him that one simply must not miss.
2. He began small. He is said to have been in the business of stealing gravestones and handing them to smugglers for resale. However, his brother Roberto Escobar denied it.
3. Before becoming well-known, Escobar sold contraband cigarettes, stole cars, scammed people and sold fake lottery tickets.
4. Then he moved on to the next level where he acted as a bodyguard and is even said to have kidnapped a Medellin executive. He then eventually moved to the drug business.
5. He started working for the smuggler Alvaro Pietro, and gradually increased his bank balance.
6. He started his own cocaine operation in 1975. He even flew a plane many times between Colombia and Panama along the smuggling routes. The very wealthy Escobar would later hang this plane over the gate of his ranch at Hacienda Napoles.
8. Once, Escobar was arrested because he was found in possession of cocaine. He unsuccessfully tried to bribe the judges. But since the case was not getting settled on his terms, Escobar killed the arresting officers. The case was dropped.
9. Eventually the demand for cocaine in the USA reached its peak and Escobar supplied it all. He and cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder decided to take over an island, Norman's Cay, as a trans-shipment point. Some believed that Escobar bought the island. However, Roberto claimed that the island was solely Lehder's venture.
11. The Medellin Cartel was shipping 80,000 kg of cocaine from Colombia to USA at one point. The biggest shipment was 23,000 kg that was smuggled mixed with fish paste. Roberto even confirmed the use of manned submarines to smuggle cocaine.
12. In 1982, Escobar was elected as part of the Colombian Liberal Party.
14. Escobar was allegedly responsible for the assassination of the 1989 Colombian presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan as he refused to bow down to Escobar's coercion and illegal dealings. Escobar was also allegedly responsible for the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 and the bombing of the DAS Building.
15. After Galan's death, Escobar agreed to surrender to the Colombian government in 1991. He was confined in a luxury prison, which he helped design. He continued to manage his business from there.
The prison, La Catedral, was basically Escobar's home away from home where he got to choose his guards, continued to receive visitors, had a football pitch and a barbecue pit. Colombian authorities were not allowed within 3 miles of the prison. More than a prison, the La Catedral protected him from possible assassination by members of other cartels.
16. Before his confinement, he also got the extradition treaty nullified. The new Constitution of Colombia of 1991 prohibited extradition of Colombian citizens. This created quite a controversy making everyone believe that Escobar had bribed the officials.
17. He also paid the left-wing guerrilla group M-19 to storm and siege the Supreme Court, which led to the death of half of the 25 Supreme Court Justices.
18. At the peak of his career, Escobar and the Medellin Cartel were smuggling 15,000 kg of cocaine every day. It fetched the cartel around 60 million USD per day.
