Escobar

The Worlds Richest Drug Lord

One of the well known South American drug lords, Pablo Escobar, successfully smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine around the world. Escobar became one of the profound drug lords that the world has ever witnessed. The Medellin cartel he created excelled into becoming the richest and most feared gang all around the world. He involved himself in Colombian politics where the Colombian government turned down his tremendous financial aid to help it reduce debt. Escobar became highly feared around the world, however, in his own childhood neighborhood he gave back to its people, money and aid to make his communities lives as prosperous as possible.

Escobar was born on December 1st, 1949 and grew up poor in Envigado, which lies on the outskirts of Medellin. Growing up as a child Escobar's parents didn't provide a lot of income with their low class jobs. Escobar started stealing cars and tombstones from the graveyards selling them to smugglers in Panama. After he moved onto larger criminal activity, he wanted to and got into the drug smuggling industry. When Escobar gained enough power and wealth from his previous crimes he endorsed his popularity by forming the Medellin Cartel. In the 1980's, the Medellin cartel's popularity grew around the world especially in the United States; it controlled 80 percent of all drug trafficking in the world. (Bowden 142) As his wealth soared, so did his power. In Colombia he bribed judges and politicians to get what he wanted. The judges and politicians knew if they did not accept his bribes they would be killed. "His rise to infamy cost the lives of three Colombian presidential candidates, an attorney general, a justice minister, more than 200 judges, dozens of journalists, and over 1,000 police officers" (A&E Networks).

In his prime as a cocaine smuggler he was shipping on average at least 10,000 kilos of cocaine a day in and out of Colombia. He owned numerous luxurious houses all over the world and had many collector edition cars. In 1986, he attempted to become a Colombian official and told the people that he would pay the 10 billion