Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar began his criminal career with stealing cars. Thanks to smuggling drugs to different countries in Latin America and the United States, he soon became one of the richest people in the world. “The cocaine king”, as he was called, led a cartel which was in possession of planes and ships. Escobar became the member of Colombia’s parliament in the 70s and 80s, when his gang-members bribed government officials and executed the ones unwilling to cooperate. It is believed that he is responsible, among other things, for killing three Colombia’s presidential candidates and blowing up a plane with 110 people on board. At the same time Escobar tried to act like a modern-day Robin Hood, sponsoring a lot of social initiatives, founding hospitals or almshouses. In 1991 Escobar gave himself up to the Colombian government, fearing his life was threatened by a competitive gang. He was, however, allowed to remain under house arrest in his own residence, which he escaped a year later to avoid extradition to the United States. The inhabitants of Medellin, grateful for Escobar’s financial support, helped him find secretive shelter which police located on December 2nd 1993. One of the reports say that he was shot by a marksman or in an exchange of fire. Escobar’s family, however, finds it most likely that he committed suicide for fear of imprisonment.