1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,200 Speaker 1: Alright, A lot of us are riveted by movies like Sacario, Scarface, 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: and Blow, but the real life story of the rise 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar is even more shocking because 4 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: it's true. He was one of the most infamous criminals 5 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century. Called the world's greatest outlaw and 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: the King of Cocaine. He was the most powerful drug 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: lord on earth during his reign and also the richest, 8 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: with a fortune of thirty billion dollars. But it all 9 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,200 Speaker 1: ended in a barrage of bullets when he was forty four. 10 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. Pablo Escobar a life that burned fast 11 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: and furious. Next on the backstory. The backstory is back well. 12 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: In his heyday, Pablo Escobar was the most wonted man 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: in the world, the King of Cocaine, as he ran 14 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: the Medayine drug cartel in the late seventies, throughout the 15 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties and into the early nineties. In fact, Forbes 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: magazine and said by the time he was just forty 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: years old, he was the seventh richest man in the world, 18 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: with a fortune estimated at well over thirty billion dollars. 19 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: And this is almost fifty years ago. How did he 20 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: get there? How did a working class kid who hung 21 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: around the slums of Mediine, Columbia grow up to control 22 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: a multi billion dollar drug empire that terrorized his nation 23 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: and left thousands murdered. Well, it was certainly greed, ambition, intelligence, 24 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: and hard work, but it was also a complete lack 25 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: of respect for human life. Let's take a look at 26 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: where it all started. Pablo Escobar was born in nineteen 27 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: forty nine. His dad a small time farmer and his 28 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: mom a school teacher. They weren't exactly dirt poor by 29 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: local standards, but from a young age, Pablo wanted more 30 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: than they had, no matter what it took. He was 31 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: ambitious and resourceful, and he got his criminal career underway. 32 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: As a teenager, he'd sell fake diplomas in pirated music, 33 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: and then later he upped his game and his income 34 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: by stealing cars and reselling them. Then the nineteen seventies hit, 35 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: the cocaine trade took off, and Pablo wanted in. In 36 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: the beginning, he got his start as a smuggler, but 37 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: he wanted the money and power that came with controlling 38 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: the whole operation. He understood that to do that he 39 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: needed to run every aspect of it, production, transportation, and distribution. 40 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: He was an industrialist of sorts. He actually built laboratories 41 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: in the remote jungles of Columbia where coca leaves were 42 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: processed into cocaine. The labs were well hidden, guarded by 43 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: Escobar's armed men. From there, the cocaine was shipped out, 44 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: hidden in everything from airplane tires to shipments of bananas 45 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: to occasionally human mules, and even had custom built submarines made. 46 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: He forged distribution deals with the Mexican drug lords who 47 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:06,239 Speaker 1: controlled the border with the richest illicit drug market in 48 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 1: the entire world, the United States. The connections he built 49 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: made him a leader in what became one of the 50 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: most powerful and feared criminal organizations in history, the Metayine 51 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: drug Cartel. None of it was easy. It's estimated that 52 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: Pablo Escobar killed or ordered the killing of more than 53 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: four thousand people who got in his way, but the 54 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: money was rolling in. By the late nineteen seventies, he 55 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: was bringing in and estimated four hundred and twenty million 56 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: dollars a week, making him one of the richest men 57 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: in the world. But that wasn't enough for Pablo. Now 58 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: he wanted power and influence, and he got that through 59 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: what he called plata oplomo, which means silver as in 60 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: money or led as in bullets. That's what he offered 61 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: government officials, cops, and anyone else who did get in 62 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: his way. Take the money or you're dead. Very few 63 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: refused him, and those who did mostly didn't live to 64 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: tell about it. And he had a taste for politics, 65 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: getting himself elected as an alternate member of Columbia's Congress. 66 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: Of course, that brought him protection parliamentary immunity, as well 67 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: as the freedom to travel with a diplomatic passport. Great 68 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: a drug lord with a diplomatic passport. Now on the upside, 69 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: he used his political power and his money to build schools, hospitals, 70 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: and housing for the poor, making him sort of a 71 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,039 Speaker 1: Robin Hood figure and a hero to the people who 72 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: lived in city slums or in poor rural areas. But 73 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: in order to hold on to power, the mediying cartel 74 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: became wildly violent, taking out thousands through murders, bombings, and assassinations. 75 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: Pablo declared war on the Colombian government after it threatened 76 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: to extradite him to the US to face trial and 77 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: prison on drug and money charges. His cartel terrorized all 78 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: of Colombia, targeting judges, politicians, cops, and anybody else who 79 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: chose the wrong side. One of his craziest, most violent 80 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: acts was the bombing of an Avianca flight in nineteen 81 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: eighty nine. His men planted a bomb on the plane, 82 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: hoping to kill a presidential candidate who wasn't even on 83 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: board the plane. It turned out the explosion killed all 84 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: one hundred and seven people on the plane and three 85 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: more on the ground. Now they were after him. By 86 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: the early nineties, the Colombian and US governments had launched 87 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: an all out offensive against the Mediine cartel and Pablo Escobar. 88 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: Pablo had to go on the run, hiding in safehouses 89 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: across the country, staying just ahead of the authorities. Then, 90 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety one, amazingly, he agreed to surrender so 91 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: long as he was allowed to build his own prison 92 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: and the government. Guess what gave him the thumbs up? 93 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: How crazy is that? The result was La Cathedral, a 94 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: luxurious fortress from which big surprise here. Pablo continued to 95 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: run his drug empire, but not for long. A year later, 96 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: the Colombian government decided to move him to a real prison. However, 97 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: he escaped, leading to one of the biggest man hunts 98 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: in history. He stayed on the run for over a year, 99 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: but the walls were closing in. Now it's December tecond 100 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three and the Colombian National Police, the Colombian military, 101 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: and US Special forces have been tipped off. They find 102 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: Pablo Escobar in a middle class neighborhood in Medigine. A 103 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: massive firefight breaks out, and as Pablo tries to escape 104 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: across the rooftops, he shot and killed. The King of Cocaine. 105 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: The multi billionaire drug lord died just one day after 106 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: turning forty four years old. His ambition and his inability 107 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: to ever feel like his desires were satisfied ended there 108 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: on a rooftop in medi Yine. You have to wonder 109 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: what a guy like that, with that ability and drive 110 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: could have done had he pursued a life and career 111 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: on the other side of the law. I hope you're 112 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or subscribe for 113 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free 114 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: to DM me if you have a story you'd like 115 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: me to cover On Facebook It's Patty Steele and on 116 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a 117 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and 118 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer 119 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 120 00:07:57,760 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 121 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 122 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 123 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't 124 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.