5 Horrific Things Pablo Escobar Did— the Wealthiest Criminal in History

His dark legacy refuses to die.

Even when it feels wrong to say it, Pablo Escobar was undoubtedly one of the most successful businessmen in the world.

With an absolute understanding of the system and through connections, Escobar operated his business way ahead of his time.

The United States had a full army of anti-drug officers working round the clock with the government of Colombia to chase down Escobar.

His power was such that in his prime, he had more influence and power than rivalled a president of any country. Let’s learn more about The Kingpin — Pablo Escobar.

1. Kidnapping Of Extremely Powerful People

Kidnapping was one of the ways that gave power to Pablo Escobar even when he wasn’t snatching people off the streets himself — it was always him who pulled the strings.

He was the leader of the Madellín Cartel that was well known for kidnapping important individuals such as journalists, politicians, and even children of these kinds of prominent people.

Some of the most famous kidnappings that Escobar ordered were: the kidnapping of the son of the Columbian President’s advisor — this was in order to show the president that his crackdown against drugs was being disliked by the people with real power.

Furthermore, when the one kidnapping was not taken seriously — the Kingpin ordered numerous kidnappings, which happened in just a few months that followed.

2. Killing His Own Allies To Stay In Power

People close to Escobar also feared him because of what he did to anyone who even thought of defying him.

One of many examples of this is — Escobar ordering the death of his ex-girlfriend Wendy Chavarriaga.

Another incident which really made his allies think twice was of a waiter who was once caught stealing silverware from Escobar’s home.

In order to do “justice”, — Pablo Escobar had his men drown the stealing waiter in a swimming pool along with two others whom he had a suspicion.

Escobar’s delusions and barbarity grew so much so that his own allies turned their backs on him and often shook hands with the most ferocious of gangs which were against Escobar.

Knowing the men being former members of Escobar’s gang, they were often welcomed , of course, the ex group owned a crazy insight into Pablo and his operations.

3. Influencing Guerilla Groups For His Own Advantage

While the cartels had true power over Colombia, and clashes between the cartels were common, there were others who ruined the peace which was left.

One of these groups was M-19, the infamous group which attacked the Colombian Palace of Justice on the 6th of November 1985.

The Colombian military was forced to take action because the attack was such that no police could take care of it — and how could they?

Most of the police officers were on the payroll of Pablo Escobar. By the end, more than 100 people lost their lives which included 43 civilians and 11 supreme court justices.

The siege was not linked to Pablo Escobar or the Medellín Cartel; however, it was Pablo’s own who later claimed that his father paid a million dollars to the guerilla organization in order to gain their support for his cause.

Another person who testified against Pablo Escobar was his ex-girlfriend Virginia Vallejo.

She testified against Pablo and stated that it was Escobar who personally looked into this matter and even financed it so they could steal and destroy important files against him.

4. Destroying Avianca Flight 203

Like kidnapping — assassination was one of Escobar’s main acts because not only this got his desired job done but also stuffed the hearts of his enemy with fear.

One of his famous plots was blowing up a commercial airline in which he believed the presidential candidate Cesar Gaviria was traveling.

One of Escobar’s associates boarded the plane with explosives and sat on the seats which were just above the fuel tank to intensify the explosion.

The plane exploded, killing everyone on board and three more on the ground with the falling debris.

However, Escobar later discovered that Gaviria never boarded the plane that he had blown up — layer Gaviria became the President of Colombia.

Furthermore, because two Americans lost their lives in the plane explosion, President George Bush, Sr and his establishment personally got involved in the mess to stop Escobar at all costs.

5. Killing Of Thousands And Thousands

Till now, it is not clear how many people died at the hand of Pablo Escobar; however, some estimates place the number of fatalities that occurred because of him between 4 to 5 thousand.

These staggering statistics come out of all the ways of the killing he had used during his reign, whether it be assignations, police eliminations or massive bombings — all these ranked up the base of Medellín Cartel’s base, one of the most violent cities in the world.

After the death of Escobar, the crime rate started to fall in the city. Not surprisingly, all over the country, and people who were once connected to him, because of fear, went about living a better life.

Some Interesting Facts About Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar was one of the richest men of his time and even by today’s standards.

Pablo’s weekly income is estimated at around 450 million USD per week; Yes! You read that right, and his total wealth in today’s world is estimated at over 50 Billion USD.

According to some people who were close to him, he had so much money stored in warehouses that even if the whole of it was eaten by rats or destroyed, it wouldn’t matter to him.

One more famous story is of his daughter, where Escobar burnt more than 2 million USD just to keep his daughter warm.

Escobar loved animals, and because of this, he built a zoo for himself in which he introduced more than 200 species of animals which included the rarest and the biggest.

However, as far as his favorite animal is concerned — it is believed to be the mighty hippopotamus. This is why after his death, more than 40 hippos were discovered in the area and its surroundings.

Even when he was the worst man of his time, he was still loved by the locals because of what he gave back to the community — whether it be housing for the poor, stadiums or hospitals, he had all these built, and because of these efforts he was given a nickname “Robin Hood”.

Escobar even supported the local soccer teams, which was the main source of entertainment for the locals at the time.

Final Words

Escobar is known for his money, power and barbarism, one real Kingpin who had the power to influence anyone towards his cause.

A journey that started from selling fake diplomas and smuggling stereo equipment soon turned into an unstoppable force of violence and barbarism.

Things were so bad that even his own family turned their backs on him and took asylum in Argentina.

Pablo’s son changed his name to Sebastián Marroquín just to further distance himself from the legacy of his father.

The story of Escobar tells us one for certain, which is that no matter how much money or power one gathers, all that goes away sooner or later.

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