He would not be arrested again for 15 years. In May of that year Escobar and some of his men were arrested coming back from Ecuador with a shipment of cocaine paste.Īfter unsuccessfully attempting to bribe the judges he succeeded in bribing the arresting officers and the case was dropped. In 1976, Escobar married the then-15-year-old Maria Victoria Henao with whom he had two children. Pablo Escobar (R) and Maria Victoria Henao He was known not only for killing rivals and opponents – and even their families – but for personally executing uncooperative subordinates. Over time he came to control over 80% of the drug trade to the United States, building his reputation for violence as he did so. All Restrepo’s men were told they were now working for Pablo Escobar.įrom this base, Escobar took over the entire drug trade in Medellin, establishing what became the Medellin Cartel. The drug lordĮscobar initially worked for other drug traffickers until 1975 when a big Medellin cocaine trafficker named Fabio Restrepo was murdered, reportedly on Escobar’s orders. His timing was perfect Demand for cocaine in the United States was about to go through the roof. He collected $100,000 in ransom money and with this in his pocket he moved on to more lucrative work in the drug-trafficking world of the early 1970s. His first big money came not from drugs but from kidnapping a wealthy businessman. Early exploits included stealing gravestones to re-sell, stealing cars and street scams.īy the 1960s he was a small-time marijuana dealer and a gunman in the drug-trafficking business.īut Escobar was a man of ambition and not content to be small-time. His criminal career is said to have begun in earnest after lack of money forced him to leave university.
When he was two years old the family moved to Envigado, a town bordering Medellin to the south that was to remain home for most of his life. governments, who routinely stifled his political ambitions and pushed for his arrest, with Escobar widely believed to have orchestrated the DAS Building and Avianca Flight 203 bombings in retaliation.Īt the height of his power, Escobar brought in an estimated $420 million a week in revenue, supplied 80% of the world’s cocaine, and smuggled 15 tons of cocaine into the US per day.Įscobar’s legacy remains controversial while many denounce the heinous nature of his crimes, he was seen as a “Robin Hood-like” figure for many in Colombia, as he provided many amenities to the poor, while his killing was mourned and his funeral attended by over 25,000 people.Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born in 1949 to a poor family in Rionegro, a village outside Medellin, his father a poor farmer and his mother a schoolteacher. However, Escobar was vilified by the Colombian and U.S. Through this, he was responsible for community projects, such as the construction of houses and football fields, which gained him popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented. In the 1982 parliamentary election, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives as part of the Liberal Alternative movement. Or he simply used fake passports which he could have easily obtained through his political connections. He had a diplomatic passport and that is probably what he traveled to the US on, though that’s not verified. He was first on the City Council in Medéllin and then became a substitute Congressman. The photograph, taken by Escobar’s wife, Maria Victoria, appeared in a 2010 HBO documentary “Sins of My Father,” which tells the story of the drug kingpin’s life through the eyes of his only son, Juan Pablo Escobar, who has since changed his name to Sebastian Marroquin.ĭuring the time this picture was taken, Pablo Escobar was in the process of trying to make himself appear a “legitimate” politician in Colombia. Any pedestrian could walk along the street and pose for a similar photograph – and in fact, you can still do so today, though the fence has gotten higher. That’s the White House’s North Portico, and that means that Escobar and his son are standing on the sidewalk adjacent to Pennsylvania Ave which at the time was open to vehicular traffic.
He also took his family on a first-class trip to Disneyland at about the same time. The boy standing beside Escobar is his only son. In this infamous photograph, we see the notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar standing in front of the White House in Washington, DC. A rare photo of one of history’s wealthiest drug lords posing in front of the White House.
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