12 Secrets About Pablo Escobar

Posted by

Pablo Escobar Gaviria was born in Rio Negro in Colombia on December 1, 1949. His father was a farmer and his mother was an elementary school teacher. But Pablo had other plans. On the streets of Medellin he started his criminal career in his teens. It is said he used to steal tombstones, sandblast the names of them and sell them to smugglers in Panama.

pablo-escobar-1#1 His ROI was 20,000 percent

In business, return on investment (ROI), refers to the return you see on each dollar you invest into your business. Drug kingpin Pablo Escobar saw an ROI of as much as  20,000%. Simply put, for each $1 invested into the drug trade he made about $200 in return.

pablo-escobar-2#2 Rats Ate $1 Billion Of Pablo Escobar’s Profits Each Year

Pablo Escobar had such staggering amount of pure cash money that  every year he’d write off 10% of the money because rats would get into the storage lockers and actually eat it (some was also lost due to water damage). According to Roberto Escobar, one among Pablo’s nearest brothers,  annual profits were nearly $20 billion–most going directly to Pablo.

pablo-escobar-3#3 Drug lord Pablo Escobar burned $2 million to save his daughter from the cold

The Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar, who died in 1993, made a fire with 2 million dollars in cash to stop his daughter from freezing to death. They were hiding at a farm in the mountains surrounding the town of Medellin, Colombia. He did everything humanly possible to save the lives of his family and body guard. However, his girl was freezing and they urgently needed fire for for both heat and cooking. So, what did Pablo do? He literally burned cash.

pablo-escobar-4#4 Pablo Escobar bought a Learjet to move his cash

After seeing soaring profits, Escobar and his cartel needed a better way to move cash from the U.S. to Colombia. initially a tiny plane was adequate, as it held about $10 million. However, an upgrade was soon needed and Escobar bought a Learjet, that could transport 10 millions per trip.

pablo-escobar-5#5 Pablo Escobar Was Suspected Of Bombing the World Trade Center

Despite the various grievous crimes Escobar was admittedly liable for; he was appalled to be a suspect in the World Trade Center bombing. So much so that he sent a personal note to the United States Ambassador to Colombia stating; “You can take me off the list because if I had done it I would be saying why I did it and what I want”.

pablo-escobar-6#6 Pablo Escobar built his own barrio

During his prime years, Escobar was a popular guy in Colombia having established food programs, building parks and soccer fields. However, his masterpiece is arguably the Barrio Pablo Escobar, a neighborhood of 450 red brick homes housing a thousand of Medellin’s most indigent who lived there free of charge. The only downside was that youngsters from different areas were coming to Barrio Pablo Escobar to sell drugs.

pablo-escobar-7#7 Cold blooded killer

It is estimated that Escobar was personally responsible for somewhere around 4,000 deaths. His targets were not just within the drug world, as they also included political figures. Escobar was infamously involved in the death of a Colombian presidential candidate because he supported extradition of Escobar to the United States. He also destroyed a considerable quantity of Colombia’s capital city, Bogota, when he bombed a building.

pablo-escobar-8#8 As much as $2,500 every month on Rubber Bands

Pablo spent $2,500 on rubber bands monthly! The profits at the time were reported to be somewhere around $20 billion. So much loose cash was coming in that he allegedly spent $2,500 on rubber bands alone, simply to hold the money together.

pablo-escobar-9#9 The richest man in the world

In 1989, Forbes magazine named the infamous Pablo Escobar the seventh richest man in the world having accumulated a fortune somewhere between $25 and $30 billion. If Escobar was included on the Forbes billionaire rankings these days, he’d be tied for seventh.

pablo-escobar-10#10 A $10 Billion Dollar Bribe

Pablo’s most alarming nightmare was a little issue referred to as extradition. Had the Colombian government successfully extradited Pablo to the United States, there is not any doubt the billionaire drug kingpin would have rotted for the rest of his life in a very little solitary prison cell. In order to stop his extradition, Pablo made an absolutely insane offer to the Colombian government. In exchange for making extradition illegal and a full pardon, Pablo offered to payoff Colombia’s entire national debt, which at the time stood at slightly over $10 billion.

pablo-escobar-11#11 Pablo Escobar’s paradise now houses refugees and hippos

Near the small northwestern Colombian city of Puerto Triunfo, Pablo Escobar once built himself a vacation getaway befitting a man of his stature. Today, though, that paradise is in ruins. Everything that could be gutted has been gutted by individuals searching for reported stashes of coke or money. Its only residents are families of refugees from the country’s war against guerrilla fighters and about 20 hippos which roam the area with the same kind of impunity that Pablo enjoyed decades past.

pablo-escobar-12#12 Robin Hood image

The poor people of Colombia saw Escobar as a Robin Hood figure. He spent millions on parks, schools, soccer stadiums, hospitals and churches in western Colombia. He even distributed cash to the poor through housing projects and other civic activities. In 1982, Escobar was elected as a deputy/alternative representative to the House of Representatives of Colombia’s Congress.

pablo-escobar-13Bonus Secret: How Pablo Escobar Died

Pablo Escobar, head of the notorious Medellin drug cartel and one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, was killed on 2 December 1993,Thursday during a shootout with Colombian security forces. Escobar, who turned 44 the day before his Death. Hundreds of troopers and police encircled Escobar’s Medellin hide-out, which they had identified through a traced telephone call, and killed the drug lord and a bodyguard during a 20-minute shootout when Escobar and his bodyguard attempt to escape through the rooftop.

Comments 9

  1. These are awesome secrets.  Until his death, I was always fascinated with the stories you would hear about him.  The amount of money is insane.

  2. Didn’t the movie “Blow” have a lot to do with this guy?  What an interesting story.  Just like always, then end up dead and then what happens to all of that cash?

  3. At least the county was able to get some use out of his compound.  What a snake to make all of that money just with drugs.  Completely insane amount of money at that.

  4. After reading some of the things that Pablo wanted to do with all his money, I can see where the Robin Hood comparison would come into play.  Great stuff!~

  5. Netflix true crime
    series Narcos spurs huge demand for Colombian women.
    Produced by Netflix,
    the show “Narcos” takes on the infamous Medellin drug cartel which
    follows the rise and fall of Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar and the Drug
    Enforcement Agency agents hunting him. The story is told largely from the
    points of view of Escobar (Brazilian actor Wagner Moura) and U.S. DEA Agent
    Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook), on opposite sides of what would become an all-out
    war.
    Many critics of true
    crime dramas have always complained they are promoting crime and violence by
    glorification, an unintended consequence of American entertainment industries.
    These shows can have other interesting consequences.  The Foreign Bride industry
    has seen a huge spike in demand for Colombian women. This can be viewed as
    positive or negative, depending on social perspective.
    Foreign Brides,
    sometimes referred to as “mail order brides”, a term the industry
    completely rejects, have become a billion dollar a year business. 
    According to industry leaders, Colombia represented only about 3% of the market
    three years ago.  Since the popularity of Narcos, many companies have seen
    near tenfold increases in men seeking Colombian wives.
    A Foreign Affair
    (AFA), a company that helps men find women through international tours, says
    tours to Colombia are now selling out. AFA arranges group tours where 10 to 20
    men travel together to Medellin, Cartagena or Barranquilla. During the tour,
    they attend arranged Social events where the men meet hundreds of beautiful
    Colombian women looking for marriage. Women can also place their profiles on
    the AFA web site, in the hopes of finding a husband.
    Kenneth Agee, the
    marketing director for AFA says, “Because of the show we are doubling our
    tours to Medellin for next year. Narcos has brought a lot of attention to the
    intense beauty of Colombian women.  Although the show is often very violent,
    the women of Colombia come across as very family oriented and loyal. These
    values seem harder and harder to find in this world. I would have to agree,
    because of the interest in Narcos, we even added an excursion to where Pablo’s
    self-built prison was located, in the hills overlooking Medellin.
    The crowning of 2015
    Miss Universe Paulina Vega put Barranquilla, Colombia on the map. Barranquilla
    now has recognition for being home to some of the most beautiful and talented
    women in the world. Not only is Miss Universe from here, Grammy Award winning
    pop singer Shakira, and actress Sofia Vergara also call Barranquilla
    home.  Vergara stars on the ABC series Modern Family as Gloria
    Delgado-Pritchett. She’s been nominated for 4 Golden Globe Awards, 4 Prime time
    Emmy Awards, and 7 Screen Actors Guild Awards, all stemming from this role. In
    2014, she was ranked as the 32nd Most Powerful Woman in the world by Forbes.
    David from Mesa AZ says he met more qualified women in one week than he has during the last 10 years. In 2010, Lisa Ling and
    the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) filmed a one hour show on the AFA tour called
    “Online Brides – Our America with Lisa Ling.”  Even Lisa Ling
    was surprised by the beauty and sincerity of the women from Barranquilla.
    Janet Davis, head of
    a women’s rights group says “AFA is just taking advantage of women from
    these third world countries. This is no different than Pablo trafficking in
    narcotics, but these companies traffic women.” Proponents refer to a
    Report (INTERNATIONAL MATCHMAKING ORGANIZATIONS: A REPORT TO CONGRESS) that
    these marriages have much lower divorce rates and abuse rates compared to
    traditional domestic marriages. This data makes international dating similar to
    a woman in the US joining eHarmony to look for a husband.
    23-year-old Viviana,
    from Cartagena, says “I come to these events because I know the men
    attending are serious about marriage, they are faithful and are good to family.
    For Colombian women, it is the most important thing, good husband and good
    family.
    Kenneth says,
    “It has not been all rosy. Narcos has brought us some problems. In
    Cartagena, we have several Penthouses we rent out.  One was originally
    owned by “Don Diego” head of the Norte Del Velle Drug Cartel, the
    other by Pablo’s people. Over the past year, the properties have been tracked
    down by individuals thinking they will find large qualities of cash hidden,
    thus we sometimes find holes all over the walls after a tenant leaves.
    For Narcos fans,
    those who love the gangster genre, or just those who just like seeing beautiful
    Latin women, there’s good news; Netflix’s has confirmed Season 3 and 4.

Leave a Reply