August 23, 2024 • 8 mins
Maybe you’ve seen Sicario, Scarface, Narcos, or Blow, but they have nothing on the bloody and intense real-life story of Pablo Escobar, the king of cocaine. Starting out as a kid in the slums of Medellin, Columbia, he went on to run the Medellin drug cartel in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. In his short life, Escobar’s cartel made him the 7th richest man in the world, with a net worth of $30 billion. And then…it all collapsed.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Alright, A lot of us are riveted by movies like Sacario, Scarface,
and Blow, but the real life story of the rise
of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar is even more shocking because
it's true. He was one of the most infamous criminals
of the twentieth century. Called the world's greatest outlaw and
the King of Cocaine. He was the most powerful drug
(00:22):
lord on earth during his reign and also the richest,
with a fortune of thirty billion dollars. But it all
ended in a barrage of bullets when he was forty four.
I'm Patty Steele. Pablo Escobar a life that burned fast
and furious. Next on the backstory. The backstory is back well.
(00:45):
In his heyday, Pablo Escobar was the most wonted man
in the world, the King of Cocaine, as he ran
the Medayine drug cartel in the late seventies, throughout the
nineteen eighties and into the early nineties. In fact, Forbes
magazine and said by the time he was just forty
years old, he was the seventh richest man in the world,
with a fortune estimated at well over thirty billion dollars.
(01:09):
And this is almost fifty years ago. How did he
get there? How did a working class kid who hung
around the slums of Mediine, Columbia grow up to control
a multi billion dollar drug empire that terrorized his nation
and left thousands murdered. Well, it was certainly greed, ambition, intelligence,
(01:30):
and hard work, but it was also a complete lack
of respect for human life. Let's take a look at
where it all started. Pablo Escobar was born in nineteen
forty nine. His dad a small time farmer and his
mom a school teacher. They weren't exactly dirt poor by
(01:50):
local standards, but from a young age, Pablo wanted more
than they had, no matter what it took. He was
ambitious and resourceful, and he got his criminal career underway.
As a teenager, he'd sell fake diplomas in pirated music,
and then later he upped his game and his income
by stealing cars and reselling them. Then the nineteen seventies hit,
(02:13):
the cocaine trade took off, and Pablo wanted in. In
the beginning, he got his start as a smuggler, but
he wanted the money and power that came with controlling
the whole operation. He understood that to do that he
needed to run every aspect of it, production, transportation, and distribution.
He was an industrialist of sorts. He actually built laboratories
(02:37):
in the remote jungles of Columbia where coca leaves were
processed into cocaine. The labs were well hidden, guarded by
Escobar's armed men. From there, the cocaine was shipped out,
hidden in everything from airplane tires to shipments of bananas
to occasionally human mules, and even had custom built submarines made.
(02:59):
He forged distribution deals with the Mexican drug lords who
controlled the border with the richest illicit drug market in
the entire world, the United States. The connections he built
made him a leader in what became one of the
most powerful and feared criminal organizations in history, the Metayine
drug Cartel. None of it was easy. It's estimated that
(03:21):
Pablo Escobar killed or ordered the killing of more than
four thousand people who got in his way, but the
money was rolling in. By the late nineteen seventies, he
was bringing in and estimated four hundred and twenty million
dollars a week, making him one of the richest men
in the world. But that wasn't enough for Pablo. Now
(03:43):
he wanted power and influence, and he got that through
what he called plata oplomo, which means silver as in
money or led as in bullets. That's what he offered
government officials, cops, and anyone else who did get in
his way. Take the money or you're dead. Very few
refused him, and those who did mostly didn't live to
(04:05):
tell about it. And he had a taste for politics,
getting himself elected as an alternate member of Columbia's Congress.
Of course, that brought him protection parliamentary immunity, as well
as the freedom to travel with a diplomatic passport. Great
a drug lord with a diplomatic passport. Now on the upside,
(04:25):
he used his political power and his money to build schools, hospitals,
and housing for the poor, making him sort of a
Robin Hood figure and a hero to the people who
lived in city slums or in poor rural areas. But
in order to hold on to power, the mediying cartel
became wildly violent, taking out thousands through murders, bombings, and assassinations.
(04:49):
Pablo declared war on the Colombian government after it threatened
to extradite him to the US to face trial and
prison on drug and money charges. His cartel terrorized all
of Colombia, targeting judges, politicians, cops, and anybody else who
chose the wrong side. One of his craziest, most violent
acts was the bombing of an Avianca flight in nineteen
(05:13):
eighty nine. His men planted a bomb on the plane,
hoping to kill a presidential candidate who wasn't even on
board the plane. It turned out the explosion killed all
one hundred and seven people on the plane and three
more on the ground. Now they were after him. By
the early nineties, the Colombian and US governments had launched
(05:34):
an all out offensive against the Mediine cartel and Pablo Escobar.
Pablo had to go on the run, hiding in safehouses
across the country, staying just ahead of the authorities. Then,
in nineteen ninety one, amazingly, he agreed to surrender so
long as he was allowed to build his own prison
and the government. Guess what gave him the thumbs up?
(05:57):
How crazy is that? The result was La Cathedral, a
luxurious fortress from which big surprise here. Pablo continued to
run his drug empire, but not for long. A year later,
the Colombian government decided to move him to a real prison. However,
he escaped, leading to one of the biggest man hunts
(06:17):
in history. He stayed on the run for over a year,
but the walls were closing in. Now it's December tecond
nineteen ninety three and the Colombian National Police, the Colombian military,
and US Special forces have been tipped off. They find
Pablo Escobar in a middle class neighborhood in Medigine. A
(06:38):
massive firefight breaks out, and as Pablo tries to escape
across the rooftops, he shot and killed. The King of Cocaine.
The multi billionaire drug lord died just one day after
turning forty four years old. His ambition and his inability
to ever feel like his desires were satisfied ended there
(07:01):
on a rooftop in medi Yine. You have to wonder
what a guy like that, with that ability and drive
could have done had he pursued a life and career
on the other side of the law. I hope you're
(07:25):
enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or subscribe for
free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free
to DM me if you have a story you'd like
me to cover On Facebook It's Patty Steele and on
Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a
production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and
(07:49):
Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer
Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
(08:10):
know you needed to know.
Alright, A lot of us are riveted by movies like Sacario, Scarface,
and Blow, but the real life story of the rise
of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar is even more shocking because
it's true. He was one of the most infamous criminals
of the twentieth century. Called the world's greatest outlaw and
the King of Cocaine. He was the most powerful drug
(00:22):
lord on earth during his reign and also the richest,
with a fortune of thirty billion dollars. But it all
ended in a barrage of bullets when he was forty four.
I'm Patty Steele. Pablo Escobar a life that burned fast
and furious. Next on the backstory. The backstory is back well.
(00:45):
In his heyday, Pablo Escobar was the most wonted man
in the world, the King of Cocaine, as he ran
the Medayine drug cartel in the late seventies, throughout the
nineteen eighties and into the early nineties. In fact, Forbes
magazine and said by the time he was just forty
years old, he was the seventh richest man in the world,
with a fortune estimated at well over thirty billion dollars.
(01:09):
And this is almost fifty years ago. How did he
get there? How did a working class kid who hung
around the slums of Mediine, Columbia grow up to control
a multi billion dollar drug empire that terrorized his nation
and left thousands murdered. Well, it was certainly greed, ambition, intelligence,
(01:30):
and hard work, but it was also a complete lack
of respect for human life. Let's take a look at
where it all started. Pablo Escobar was born in nineteen
forty nine. His dad a small time farmer and his
mom a school teacher. They weren't exactly dirt poor by
(01:50):
local standards, but from a young age, Pablo wanted more
than they had, no matter what it took. He was
ambitious and resourceful, and he got his criminal career underway.
As a teenager, he'd sell fake diplomas in pirated music,
and then later he upped his game and his income
by stealing cars and reselling them. Then the nineteen seventies hit,
(02:13):
the cocaine trade took off, and Pablo wanted in. In
the beginning, he got his start as a smuggler, but
he wanted the money and power that came with controlling
the whole operation. He understood that to do that he
needed to run every aspect of it, production, transportation, and distribution.
He was an industrialist of sorts. He actually built laboratories
(02:37):
in the remote jungles of Columbia where coca leaves were
processed into cocaine. The labs were well hidden, guarded by
Escobar's armed men. From there, the cocaine was shipped out,
hidden in everything from airplane tires to shipments of bananas
to occasionally human mules, and even had custom built submarines made.
(02:59):
He forged distribution deals with the Mexican drug lords who
controlled the border with the richest illicit drug market in
the entire world, the United States. The connections he built
made him a leader in what became one of the
most powerful and feared criminal organizations in history, the Metayine
drug Cartel. None of it was easy. It's estimated that
(03:21):
Pablo Escobar killed or ordered the killing of more than
four thousand people who got in his way, but the
money was rolling in. By the late nineteen seventies, he
was bringing in and estimated four hundred and twenty million
dollars a week, making him one of the richest men
in the world. But that wasn't enough for Pablo. Now
(03:43):
he wanted power and influence, and he got that through
what he called plata oplomo, which means silver as in
money or led as in bullets. That's what he offered
government officials, cops, and anyone else who did get in
his way. Take the money or you're dead. Very few
refused him, and those who did mostly didn't live to
(04:05):
tell about it. And he had a taste for politics,
getting himself elected as an alternate member of Columbia's Congress.
Of course, that brought him protection parliamentary immunity, as well
as the freedom to travel with a diplomatic passport. Great
a drug lord with a diplomatic passport. Now on the upside,
(04:25):
he used his political power and his money to build schools, hospitals,
and housing for the poor, making him sort of a
Robin Hood figure and a hero to the people who
lived in city slums or in poor rural areas. But
in order to hold on to power, the mediying cartel
became wildly violent, taking out thousands through murders, bombings, and assassinations.
(04:49):
Pablo declared war on the Colombian government after it threatened
to extradite him to the US to face trial and
prison on drug and money charges. His cartel terrorized all
of Colombia, targeting judges, politicians, cops, and anybody else who
chose the wrong side. One of his craziest, most violent
acts was the bombing of an Avianca flight in nineteen
(05:13):
eighty nine. His men planted a bomb on the plane,
hoping to kill a presidential candidate who wasn't even on
board the plane. It turned out the explosion killed all
one hundred and seven people on the plane and three
more on the ground. Now they were after him. By
the early nineties, the Colombian and US governments had launched
(05:34):
an all out offensive against the Mediine cartel and Pablo Escobar.
Pablo had to go on the run, hiding in safehouses
across the country, staying just ahead of the authorities. Then,
in nineteen ninety one, amazingly, he agreed to surrender so
long as he was allowed to build his own prison
and the government. Guess what gave him the thumbs up?
(05:57):
How crazy is that? The result was La Cathedral, a
luxurious fortress from which big surprise here. Pablo continued to
run his drug empire, but not for long. A year later,
the Colombian government decided to move him to a real prison. However,
he escaped, leading to one of the biggest man hunts
(06:17):
in history. He stayed on the run for over a year,
but the walls were closing in. Now it's December tecond
nineteen ninety three and the Colombian National Police, the Colombian military,
and US Special forces have been tipped off. They find
Pablo Escobar in a middle class neighborhood in Medigine. A
(06:38):
massive firefight breaks out, and as Pablo tries to escape
across the rooftops, he shot and killed. The King of Cocaine.
The multi billionaire drug lord died just one day after
turning forty four years old. His ambition and his inability
to ever feel like his desires were satisfied ended there
(07:01):
on a rooftop in medi Yine. You have to wonder
what a guy like that, with that ability and drive
could have done had he pursued a life and career
on the other side of the law. I hope you're
(07:25):
enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or subscribe for
free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free
to DM me if you have a story you'd like
me to cover On Facebook It's Patty Steele and on
Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a
production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and
(07:49):
Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer
Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
Feel free to reach out to me with comments and
even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and
on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the
Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't
(08:10):
know you needed to know.
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