Photo: Eric VANDEVILLE (Getty Images)
Pablo Escobar is probably one of the most famous criminal figures in recent histories. He was an exceptionally capable drug dealer, bringing in ridiculously huge amounts of money and earning a legendary status among the people. Pablo began his cocaine distribution business in 1975 and managed to stay on top for nearly 20 years, until his sudden and violent death in 1993. While some call him the modern-day Robin Hood who robbed the state and helped the poor, the fact remains that he was a notorious criminal who killed thousands and contributed to the global cocaine crisis. Whether you’re a fan of the praised Netflix show about his life or just interested in the criminal history, here are some facts you probably didn’t know about Pablo.
Possible Suicide
We’ll start things off a bit grimly, but considering his line of work, it does seem natural. Namely, at the end of his career, Pablo was forced to go into hiding to escape the fearless, president-appointed task force called Search Bloc, whose only purpose was to bring down Escobar by any means necessary. In 1993, they managed to locate him for the one last time and killed him and his bodyguard in a Medellin shootout. However, while the squad did shoot him in the leg and torso, the fatal wound was a controversial one to his ear. Some say that it’s possible a stray bullet did that, but most of the people close to him believe he killed himself to avoid capture. We will probably never know for sure.
Earned Heaps of Money
The best way to even try to understand how much money Pablo Escobar made during his lucrative criminal career is to acknowledge the fact that, at one point, he even offered to pay off the entire Colombian debt (the incredible $20 billion) in exchange for immunity. For some reason, the Colombian authorities declined this offer, but probably still remained in awe of his incredible wealth. One other interesting piece of information is that he reportedly spent $2,500 monthly just on rubber bands to keep his cash in place. According to some calculations, he earned 420 million dollars weekly. How do you feel about your paycheck now?
Destroyed Heaps of Money
Not only did Escobar love earning money, he also loved destroying it as well. According to an anecdote that keeps resurfacing on the web, Pablo actually burned 2 million dollars to keep his daughter warm when she was sick. Of course, there’s no way of validating this claim now, but considering how most of his money disappeared, it’s not all that impossible. In fact, it is said that Escobar lost 10% of all his money yearly due to poor conditions. Basically, 1 or 2 billion of his money was eaten by rats or ruined by moisture and flood in the basement. Just try to imagine that.
4,000 Deaths
It is estimated that during his bloody reign, Escobar killed about 4,000 people intentionally or as a collateral damage. Obviously, being a crime boss, he didn’t commit all these murders himself. Instead, he had an army of his own that would slaughter on command. Killing other crime lords that opposed him is somewhat expected, but he also managed to dispose of 200 judges and 1000 various police officers, journalists, and Government officials. No one was untouchable when it came to Escobar.
Robin Hood
Pablo Escobar was born in a poor family in Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city. This is probably why Pablo had such a strong disdain for the wealth gap in his hometown. One of the first things he did once he acquired a substantial amount of money from his drug business, was to invest in his hometown, by building hospitals, churches, parks, stadiums, etc. For many people living in Medellin, Pablo Escobar is still a local hero, something of a modern-day Robin Hood who robbed the rich and gave to the poor.
Pablo’s Son Hates the Show
Although both the critics and the audience praised the Netflix show Narcos that was based on Escobar’s life, one of its main attackers was his son, Sebastian Marroquin. He claims that the show is full of false information and presents his family in a bad light. He listed 28 inaccuracies that he saw on the show and shared them with the world in an effort to clear his name. Among other things, he states that his mother never bought or used guns (as was depicted in the show), his father never mistreated his parents, and never retaliated through someone’s family. Again, we have no way of knowing if he’s telling the truth or just, inadvertently, promoting the show.
Did you know these 6 things about Pablo Escobar? If you did, let us know and we’ll come up with some more.
