All in white: the life and death of Pablo Escobar. War declared on the Colombian drug mafia

Escobar's income

In the mid-eighties, Escobar's cartel was generating profits of $420 million a week, totaling about $22 billion a year.

One of the richest people in the world

By the end of the eighties, it supplied 80 percent of the world's cocaine. He smuggled about 15 tons of cocaine into the United States every day

According to journalist Ioan Grillo, the Medellin cartel transported most drugs right across the Florida coast. “There are as many as one and a half thousand kilometers between the northern coast of Colombia and the coast of Florida, and all this time whoever was moving along this route was in full view of everyone. The Colombians and their American partners dumped bundles of goods directly into the sea, and speedboats awaiting delivery immediately departed from the coast. Sometimes the goods were dumped right on the Florida coast,” Grillo said.

King of America

In other words, four out of five Americans who used cocaine used a product supplied to them by El Patron. The King of Cocaine was losing $2.1 billion every month, but it didn't matter. Incredible wealth Escobar became a problem when he couldn't launder money fast enough. According to Roberto Escobar, the cartel's chief accountant and brother of a notorious drug lord, he began burying huge sums of money in Colombian fields, hiding them in dilapidated warehouses and the walls of the houses of cartel members. “Pablo earned so much that every year we wrote off ten percent of his earnings because the money was eaten by rats in warehouses, damaged by water or lost,” he said. Based on how much

Escobar earned ten percent, which amounted to $2.1 billion.

Escobar simply had more money than he could use, so occasional losses due to rodents or mold were not a problem for him.

Every month he spent two and a half thousand dollars on elastic bands

While the constant need to hide, as well as losing money, was one problem, the brothers faced another, more basic problem - how to neatly organize banknotes? According to Roberto Escobar, the Medellin cartel spent about two and a half thousand dollars on rubber bands that were used to form bundles of banknotes.

He once lit a fire of two million dollars because his daughter was cold.

In 2009, Pablo Escobar's son Juan Pablo, now known as Sebastian Marroquín, described what life was like on the run with the King of Cocaine. The family was living in a mountainside shelter in Medellin when Pablo Manuela's daughter suffered a hypothermia attack, Marroquín said. Escobar decided to burn two million dollars worth of bills to keep his daughter warm.

One day a girl asked to give her a unicorn.

Escobar bought a horse and ordered a cardboard cone in the shape of a horn to be stapled to its head. Also, wings were sewn to the horse’s back, as a result of which the animal died from an infection. Escobar did not spare any money for the sake of his daughter; when her baby tooth fell out, the “tooth fairy” left a suitcase with $1 million near her crib, supposedly in exchange for her tooth. When a girl asked how many billions he had, Pablo always answered her: “As much as the look of your eyes is worth, my princess!”

They say that Escobar forced one of his mistresses, who became pregnant by him, to have an abortion only because the drug lord promised Manuela that she would always be his only and beloved daughter.

He was nicknamed "Robin Hood" as he gave money to the poor on the streets, built houses for the homeless, created seventy public football fields and started a zoo.

He made a deal with the Colombian government and agreed to go to prison, but on the condition that he build it himself. This is how it appeared luxury prison Escobar "La Catedral"

In 1991, Pablo Escobar was imprisoned in a prison he designed himself called La Catedral. Under the terms of the agreement reached with the Colombian government, Escobar could choose who would be imprisoned with him.

He could also safely continue to carry out his cartel's business and receive visitors. La Catedral's grounds included a football field, barbecue area and patio, and the prison was located near another apartment complex he had built for his family. Also, representatives of the Colombian authorities could not drive closer than five kilometers to the prison territory.

The end of Pablo's career and death

During his “imprisonment,” Pablo Escobar continued to run a multi-billion dollar cocaine business. One day he learned that his associates in the cocaine cartel, taking advantage of his absence, robbed him. He immediately ordered his men to take them to La Catedral. He personally subjected them to brutal torture, drilling his victims' knees and tearing out their nails, and then ordered his men to kill them and take the corpses outside the prison. It is known that Escobar committed one of the two murders with his own hands.

This time Escobar went too far. On July 22, 1992, President Cesar Gaviria gave the order to transport Pablo Escobar to a real prison. But Escobar found out about the president's decision and fled.

He was free, but now there were enemies everywhere.

In the fall of 1993, the Medellin cocaine cartel began to disintegrate, but the drug lord was more concerned about his family. Escobar has not seen his wife or children for more than a year. On December 1, 1993, Pablo Escobar turned 44 years old. He knew that he was under constant surveillance, so he tried to speak on the phone as briefly as possible so that he would not be “spotted” by police and intelligence agents.

The day after his birthday, December 2, 1993, Escobar called his family. The agents hunting him had been waiting for this call for many hours. This time, while talking to his son Juan, Escobar remained on the line for about 5 minutes. After this, Escobar was spotted in the Medellin quarter of Los Olibos. Soon, the house in which Pablo Escobar was hiding was surrounded on all sides by special agents. The special forces knocked down the door and burst inside. At that moment, Escobar's bodyguard El Limon opened fire on the police who were trying to storm the house.

El Limon was hit and fell to the ground. Immediately after this, with a pistol in his hands, Pablo Escobar himself leaned out of the same window. He opened random fire in all directions. He then climbed out the window and tried to escape his pursuers through the roof. A Colombian police sniper, hiding on the roof of a nearby house, shot Escobar in the leg, and he fell. The next bullet hit Escobar in the back, after which the sniper approached Escobar and fired a control shot in the head.

Escobar became a true legend; he turned out to be one of the most prominent drug lords in history. How rich was he?

Escobar's income

In the mid-eighties, Escobar's cartel was generating profits of $420 million a week, totaling about $22 billion a year.

One of the richest people in the world

80 percent

By the end of the eighties, it supplied 80 percent of the world's cocaine.

He smuggled about 15 tons of cocaine into the United States every day

According to journalist Ioan Grillo, the Medellin cartel transported most of the drugs directly through the Florida coast. “There are as many as one and a half thousand kilometers between the northern coast of Colombia and the coast of Florida, and all this time whoever was moving along this route was in full view of everyone. The Colombians and their American partners dumped bundles of goods directly into the sea, and speedboats awaiting delivery immediately departed from the coast. Sometimes the goods were dumped right on the Florida coast,” Grillo said.

King of America

In other words, four out of five Americans who used cocaine used a product supplied to them by El Patron.

The King of Cocaine was losing $2.1 billion every month, but it didn't matter.

Escobar's incredible wealth became a problem when he was unable to launder money fast enough. According to Roberto Escobar, the cartel's chief accountant and brother of a notorious drug lord, he began burying huge sums of money in Colombian fields, hiding them in dilapidated warehouses and the walls of the houses of cartel members. “Pablo earned so much that every year we wrote off ten percent of his earnings because the money was eaten by rats in warehouses, damaged by water or lost,” he said. Based on how much Escobar earned, ten percent represents a sum of $2.1 billion. Escobar simply had more money than he could use, so occasional losses due to rodents or mold were not a problem for him.

Every month he spent two and a half thousand dollars on elastic bands

While the constant need to hide, as well as losing money, was one problem, the brothers faced another, more basic problem - how to neatly organize banknotes? According to Roberto Escobar, the Medellin cartel spent about two and a half thousand dollars on rubber bands that were used to form bundles of banknotes.

He once lit a fire of two million dollars because his daughter was cold.

In 2009, Pablo Escobar's son Juan Pablo, now known as Sebastian Marroquín, described what life was like on the run with the King of Cocaine. The family was living in a mountainside shelter in Medellin when Pablo Manuela's daughter suffered a hypothermia attack, Marroquín said. Escobar decided to burn two million dollars worth of bills to keep his daughter warm.

Local Robin Hood

He was nicknamed "Robin Hood" as he gave money to the poor on the streets, built houses for the homeless, created seventy public football fields and started a zoo.

He made a deal with the Colombian government and agreed to go to prison, but on the condition that he build it himself. This is how Escobar’s luxurious prison “La Catedral” appeared

In 1991, Pablo Escobar was imprisoned in a prison he designed himself called La Catedral. Under the terms of the agreement reached with the Colombian government, Escobar could choose who would be imprisoned with him. He could also safely continue to carry out his cartel's business and receive visitors. La Catedral's grounds included a football field, barbecue area and patio, and the prison was located near another apartment complex he had built for his family. Also, representatives of the Colombian authorities could not drive closer than five kilometers to the prison territory.

For three years, British photographer James Mollison documented the legacy of cocaine king Pablo Escobar, who left thousands of victims and admirers in Colombia.

Most Colombians consider Pablo Escobar a criminal who plunged the country into chaos for a decade, but in the poor neighborhoods of his native Medellin they call him Robin Hood. The drug lord donated millions of dollars earned from supplying cocaine to the United States to public housing, churches and football grounds.

Many Colombians remember the free tours of the zoo at Escobar's estate, Hacienda Napoles, where elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses, hippos and exotic birds were kept. The area rebuilt in Medellin with the money of the cocaine king is still called the Pablo Escobar quarter: the walls of the houses here are decorated with portraits of the drug lord and the inscriptions “Saint Pablo”, and his grave is visited by thousands of people, despite the struggle of the authorities with the cult of the former “master” of the city.

1. In the image of the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (left). Wax figure from the collection of the Police Museum (right)

2. Pablo on his first communion, 1956

Drug business

Escobar, the son of a farmer and a schoolteacher, began his criminal career by stealing tombstones from a Medellin cemetery. At the age of twenty, he was already at the head of a gang that was engaged in car thefts. When cocaine began to replace marijuana on the global market in the 1970s, Escobar took up drugs: he started as a supplier, reselling Colombian cocaine to dealers in the United States, but soon controlled the entire chain. He opened his first laboratory in Medellin, and then a whole network of factories appeared in tropical forests throughout the country.

In 1977, Escobar founded the Medellin cocaine cartel, and a year later his partner Carlos Leder bought one of the Bahamas - where passenger flights from Colombia landed, loaded with cocaine, which was then transported on a private plane to Georgia and Florida. Two submarines were also used for smuggling.

3. Structure of the Medellin Cartel, 1989

Behind a short time The cartel managed to capture about 80% of the cocaine market in the United States and practically monopolized drug trafficking to Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Spain. During its heyday, Escobar's cartel earned about $60 million a day, and Forbes magazine estimated the drug lord's personal fortune at three billion dollars in 1989.

4. Seized drug cargo (left). Jungle runway (right)

5. Fake license plates and masks of the kidnappers (left). Florida homes bought by Escobar in 1981 (right)

6. Cartel money seized during a search, 1989

Policy

In 1982, Escobar was elected to the position of alternate member of the Colombian Congress, received parliamentary immunity and represented the country at the inauguration ceremony of Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez. But the following year, Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonia publicly accused Escobar of drug trafficking and organizing criminal group: Based on the data he collected, the cocaine king was expelled from Congress in January 1984. A few months later, a ministerial Mercedes was shot at point-blank range with a machine gun, Lara Bonia died on the spot.

That same year, Colombian authorities ratified a treaty with the United States on the extradition of drug cartel leaders. In response, the leaders of the Medellin cartel created the Los Extraditables group, which began to carry out intimidation actions: attacks on officials, police officers and politicians.

7. A wall in one of the houses in Escobar’s quarter (left). Meeting with voters, 1982 (right)

8. Debate in Congress after Escobar was accused of drug trafficking

9. Escobar at his inauguration as Prime Minister of Spain, Madrid, 1982

Family

In 1976, Escobar married his girlfriend Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo, soon they had a son, Juan Pablo, and three years later, a daughter, Manuela. Since 1979, they lived in the Hacienda Napoles estate, purchased for $63 million, covering an area of ​​three thousand hectares.

It is known that, even while on the wanted list, the drug lord tried to spend everything with the children. family holidays and birthdays. In 1993, when members of a rival gang launched a hunt for the relatives of the cocaine king, he hid with his family in the mountains and one evening burned two million dollars in a fire so that Manuela would not freeze.

After Escobar's murder, his family fled to Mozambique and then to Argentina, where Juan Pablo took the name Sebastian Marroquín. In 2009, he publicly apologized to the children of politicians killed by order of the leader of the Medellin cartel, and in 2014 he published a book of memoirs and launched a line of T-shirts with his father’s image. Two books about Escobar were also written by his brother Roberto and one by both sisters.

10. Photos in the house of Escobar's mother Hermilda Gaviria, 2005

11. With his wife Maria Victoria, early 1980s

12.V prison cell with his wife and daughter, 1992 (left). With his sister on her 31st birthday, 1980 (right)

13. Son’s birthday, Hacienda Napoles estate, 1989

Terror

After the passage of the law on the extradition of drug cartel leaders to the United States, Escobar began sponsoring the militant group MAS (Death to Kidnappers). In addition to an impressive arsenal of weapons, it had its own aircraft with 30 pilots, and the militants were trained by American, Israeli and British instructors. In 1989, the leader of the Medellin cartel offered the Colombian government a deal: he would surrender to the police if the extradition law was repealed.

Having received a refusal, Escobar launched a reign of terror: within a year, the headquarters of the Administrative Department of Security, the country's main intelligence service, as well as the editorial offices of the newspapers El Espectador and Vanguardia Liberal, were blown up in Bogotá; a Supreme Court judge, a police colonel and presidential candidate Luis Carlos were killed at the hands of killers Galan.

14. In addition, militants blew up a Boeing 727 plane - as a result of the terrorist attack, 110 people were killed.

15. Bombed building of the security department

16. Victim of attack

17. Mother of a murdered policeman with photographs of her son

18. Miguel Masa, director of the Administrative Department of Security from 1982-1991, survived seven attempts on his life by Escobar

Charity

In 1979, Escobar established the social assistance system "Civic Responsibility in Action", under the auspices of which health centers for low-income families were founded in Medellin, green spaces were created and sports facilities were built. The drug lord's most famous charitable program was the Medellin Without Slums project, which involved the construction of thousands of houses in the poorest region of Moravia.

The Pablo Escobar quarter was rebuilt in the city, which is now inhabited by almost 13 thousand residents. The program received a blessing catholic church, and in the slums of Medellin, the drug lord was often seen distributing money to the poor in the company of two priests.

In 1989, the local football club Atlético Nacional, sponsored by Escobar, won the Copa Libertadores, becoming the best team in South America.

19. Celebration in honor of the first anniversary of the construction of Escobar's quarter, 1985

20. At the opening of the football field, 1982

21. Fundraising for the Medellin Without Slums program, 1983

22. Eight hippos from Escobar's zoo, 2004

23. At the Hacienda Napoles Zoo, 1980s

Death

In 1991, by agreement with the government, Escobar surrendered to justice; shortly before this, Colombia adopted a new constitution prohibiting the extradition of its citizens.

The drug lord was placed in the La Catedral prison, built with his own money, which had a bar, a football field and a jacuzzi. It was completely controlled by the Medellin cartel.

26. Left: Escobar's call intercept map, 1993, right: Escobar's personal phone

27. La Catedral prison, 1992

28. Security room

In response, the head of state established a special search group under the leadership of Colonel Hugo Martinez, who coordinated efforts with American intelligence agencies. Los Pepes, a group of his competitors in the drug business, far-right guerrillas and victims of terror launched by the Medellin cartel, also joined the search for Escobar. Within a year, Los Pepes killed more than 300 cartel members and destroyed much of its property.

After fifteen months of searching, on December 2, 1993, a special team intercepted Escobar's call to his son and established his whereabouts. On the same day, he was shot dead on the roof of a house in Medellin.

29. Soldiers of a special search group with Escobar’s body

Drug lord Pablo Escobar built while still alive estate "Hacienda Napolis" (Hacienda Napoles) as a monument to its greatness. Even 22 years after his death, this gigantic property is as alive as ever. Several people care about this. And he also talks about this and the life of a drug lord crime drama“Narcos” (from Spanish - Drug dealers), which has become so popular lately.

Colombian police pose in front of the entrance former place drug lord's residence Pablo Escobar

Speaks Robin Hartmann

We are writing about 1978, when the then 30-year-old man began his incredible career death, and during which thousands of innocent people lost their lives. And thanks to this, he became one of the richest and most powerful people in the world: Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria at that time he was only at the beginning of his career as the future terrible drug lord of all times. He was also responsible for numerous illegal shops and murders. It was already clear earlier that El Patron del Mal(in German: Mister Evil) or El Capo, as he has already been called, is a man in whose hands is all the power he needs. Namely, when and where he needs it.

Still from the TV series “Narcos”

Was filmed film about life Pablo Escobar , in particular, the series “Narcos” with Wagner Moura V leading role.

Naturally, such a man needed home. His bright and unambiguous manners and image represent his dominance and everyone else should understand it: he is the Boss! U Escobaro there was a small private estate in Puerto Triunfo. The land plot is surrounded by a fence and its area is almost 3000 hectares. Immediately after purchase "Hacienda Napolis" Construction work began there. Then already Escobar owned the immense financial condition and could afford to build there: a runway for an airplane, an unimaginable number of luxury apartments for famous guests, more than 20 artificial lakes, a helipad, an airplane hangar, quarters for horses, a dino park and its own bullring. Today it is all part of a theme park.

This complex can also include "Afrikanisches Museum"

1,700 employees and a private zoo

Soon, ten luxury residential buildings were built throughout the complex, housing about 1,700 employees Escobar and his business partners. The Hacienda was at one time valued at more than $60 million. Legend has it that he has a 1934 Chevrolet Modell in his possession, in which a gangster couple was allegedly shot dead. Bonnie and Clyde. It was also known that Escobar I respected them both. In addition, the property Escobar there was an exotic arboretum with rare palm trees and other plants.

Car park Escobar

Former truck park Pablo Escobaro started to get rusty. There is not small amount people who, to this day, are firmly convinced that the rock group The Rolling Stones ( Rolling Stones) once performed at Hocienda Napolis. However, this rumor has never been officially confirmed, but this myth made a certain contribution.

Car park Escobar

All this megalomania was fully reflected in the private hobbies in which Escobar invested millions of dollars: private zoo, filled with giraffes, rhinoceroses, elephants, kangaroos, camels and hippos - just to name a few of the many species that live there.

These flamingos walk proudly through Escobar's private zoo and were soon relocated to the Santafe Zoo in the city Medellin

Friendly addict needed ideas El Capo, the son divulged Escobar after the death of his father, who today calls himself Sebastian Marroquin. At that time, under the drug lord of Colombia (Kolumbien) there were such visible extravagant standards. But here's the absurdity: a private zoo Escobar was founded after one purchase in the United States of America (Vereinigten Staaten). “My father negotiated with the owners of the zoo in Dallas, Texas,” he says. younger son Escobar"He paid these people two million dollars in cash and a short time later the animals were sent away."

Colombian journalist Juan Felipe Lopez Lara explains why such bandits as the city authorities have under their noses Escobar could lead such a lavish and attention-grabbing life without fear of police searches:

Drug dealers then ruled the entire country; they ruled both politics and the economy of all of Colombia. It was an era of pure anarchy, they controlled almost everything, from the fate of states to sports.

This is how Escobar even bought the South American football competition “Copa Libertadores” in 1989 to see his favorite team win Club Atletico Nacional de Medellin.

Pablo Escobar opened his zoo to the public

And again a little about Hacienda Napolis, which was still alive Escobar was included in the will for the future generation. As soon as all construction work on the estate was completed and his private zoo was fully equipped and all the animals were delivered there, Pablo Escobar I did something very unexpected! Instead of fencing off his own property and secluding himself there, he opened the entire territory to the public and gave everyone who entered the opportunity to use their portion of courage there and appease their curiosity.

My son, this zoo is here for the public

This is how the drug lord explained his decision to the children.

As long as I'm alive, no one here will have to pay to enter. I like that poor people can just come and be amazed at the wonders of nature

There were crowds of people. Original time to visit the zoo Escobaro It was calculated as 10 minutes per person, but soon due to huge crowds the waiting time was increased to two hours.

In his book "Pablo Escobaro is my father" Sebastian Marroquin recalls how he saved the injured deer from its fate both times: “He let me take his Sig Sauer P-226 series pistol and helped me take aim. However, it took me three tries because I was so scared and my hands were shaking.”

The era of the king of drugs did not last so long: Escobar Of course, he felt himself the favorite of little people and the crowd; he always acted boldly, boldly and mercilessly. Thousands of people have died in this drug war. It seemed that Colombia lost in this fight against the mighty Escobaro. AND USA insisted that the man who flooded their entire country with cocaine receive the American death penalty. The truth meanwhile Escobar a deal was made with the authorities and he was sent behind bars, to a prison that looked like a luxury hotel inside. He built this prison himself. After an attempt to escape, it became clear that only the death of state enemy number one would provide a small respite in this drug war and the United States would calm down after that.

The shot was fired by an elite group of Colombian and American police officers federal service on drug trafficking control. His Hacienda Napolis estate was confiscated. “The Colombian state and the drug enforcement agency at that time received the entire estate,” says the journalist Lopez Lara.

After Escobaro's death , The hacienda is gradually collapsing

Over the next few decades, such an elegant and pompous place was quite destroyed: the robbers took with them everything they could take away, nature again took all its strength and the entire Hacienda began to slowly collapse before our eyes and become covered with destructive greenery. Amazing changes were also taking place at the once brilliant private zoo. Even during his lifetime Escobaro many of the hippopotamuses that he himself had brought ran away. He brought them in because the smell of their fertilizer covered the smell of drugs.

Pablo Escobar's Hippos
Pablo Escobar's Hippos

Hippos were imported from Pablo Escobaro and now enjoy freedom: hippos are nearby Hacienda Napolis.

“Today we are trying to find all the animals in this area,” explains Lopez Lara. They are the only living hippopotamuses living outside of Africa. No one can say for sure how large their population is. Some say that there are about 70 individuals, while others, on the contrary, claim that we are talking about more animals. It is a fact that hippos are doing well in Colombia and their numbers are steadily increasing. Here they are sex life much more active compared to their relatives in Africa.

As the BBC reports, the animals in this area suffer greatly: they scare the fish, eat the entire crop and occasionally kill livestock. Probably, Pablo Escobaro this place gave great pleasure and so now it suggests that Colombia simply did not care about Pablo's soul 20 years after his death.

Today Hacienda Napolis it is again a zoo and a tourist theme park with hotels and attractions. The travel portal Tripadvisor awarded it a certificate of quality in 2014 thanks not only to the animals, but also to the fact that you can plunge into the world of a man who, thanks to his career as a criminal, ended up in Forbes list(Forbes) as one of the richest people in the world.

Today estate Escobaro it is an art museum showing the stages of a drug lord's life.

At the entrance to the gate you can see the small plane that brought the first cocaine smuggled into the United States. Inside the complex, visitors can walk through the water park and enjoy the dino park, which Escobaro built it for my son. And of course you can learn a lot of new things about Escobaro, about the man whose death was so needed by all of Colombia.

Life Pablo Escobaro has been filmed many times, last time in the TV series “Narcos” with a Brazilian actor Wagner Moura starring. On this moment This series can be watched on Netflix.