His attempts to join the political elite were also crushed in the early 1980s when he was expelled from Colombia's Liberal Party and thrown out of his position as a deputy congressman. He could not break into Medellín's upper social classes, which blocked his application to join the city's top social club. He attempted to stir up anti-establishment sentiment and win over disadvantaged communities by opening a public zoo, constructing 70 community soccer fields and building housing for the poor. His luxurious multimillion-dollar "Hacienda Nápoles" estate had its own zoo, and he reportedly ate from solid gold dinner sets.ĭespite his opulent lifestyle, Escobar presented himself as a populist figure, persecuted by the upper classes for his own social background and efforts to help the poor. His cartel is estimated to have earned around $420 million in revenue per week during the mid-1980s, and Escobar himself made Forbes' Billionaires list for seven years straight, between 1987 to 1993. Unlike many drug traffickers today, Escobar was not afraid to flaunt his riches. Escobar used the municipal office to collect debts owed to him by drug traffickers and set the “sicarios” or hired killers on those who refused. In the mid-1980s, Escobar’s hold on Medellín increased when he founded a criminal debt collection service known as the “ Oficina de Envigado.” This was an office in the town hall of Envigado, a small municipality next to Medellín where Escobar grew up. The 1981 kidnapping of the sister of the Ochoas led to the creation of a Medellín Cartel-funded paramilitary group known as Death to Kidnappers (Muerte a Secuestradores - MAS). In this period, kidnappings made by guerrilla groups led the State to collaborate with criminal groups. In the 1980s, the organization is estimated to have supplied over 80 percent of all cocaine shipped to the country, sending across some 15 tons per day. The criminal enterprise then stored the drug in Colombia before flying it to the United States. He oversaw the import of large, multi-ton shipments of coca base from Andean nations Peru and Bolivia into Colombia, where it was processed into cocaine in jungle labs. Meanwhile, Escobar first oversaw the group's "protection" before emerging as its undisputed leader.ĭuring the Medellín Cartel’s zenith in the 1980s and early 1990s, Escobar controlled nearly the entire cocaine supply chain. The Ochoa brothers were initially the business brains of the outfit. His early criminal activities included smuggling stereo equipment and stealing tombstones to resell them.Įscobar then entered the cocaine trade, founding the Medellín Cartel in the 1970s and the Ochoa Vásquez brothers (Jorge Luis, Juan David and Fabio). He dropped out of school because his family could not pay for his education and soon got involved in petty crime. Like most of his partners in the Medellín Cartel, Escobar came from a humble social background. He also successfully challenged the State on extradition, showing that extreme violence could force governments to negotiate. He oversaw each step of cocaine production, from sourcing coca base paste in Andean nations to feeding a booming US market for the drug. Known as “El Patrón,” Escobar led the Medellín Cartel from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was the pioneer in industrial-scale cocaine trafficking.
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