16 Interesting Facts About Pablo Escobar That You Probably Didn’t Know

With the recent boom of the Netflix series, Narcos, the name Pablo Escobar probably resonates with you.

Basically everyone knows that he was a crazy-powerful drug lord, but what about the man himself. What do you know about him?

Here's 16 facts about Pablo Escobar that you may not have known

1. Pablo started his criminal career early in his teens. On the streets of Medellin, he would steal tombstones, sandblast the lettering off and sell them to Panama smugglers. He frequently told his friends that he’d be a millionaire by 22.

2. He started cocaine trafficking early in 1975. When dealing with law enforcement, he had his way. The government referred to it as “Plata o Plomo” meaning “accept money or face bullets”.

3. At the height of his reign, Escobar was making roughly $420 million each week.

4. His earnings peaked at $30 billion a year. This includes his $1-2 billion losses a month.

5. In 1989, he ranked 17th in the Forbes list of richest people in the world.

6. Pablo Escobar spent roughly $2,500 per month on rubber bands for his cash.

7. Around 10% of his losses were down to spoilage. Largely rats consumed a bulk of the cash.

8. He was said to have used plane tires as a way of smuggling cocaine into the USA. Pilots could earn up to $500,000 a day from him.

9. Escobar was celebrated by the poor in Colombia as he was generally very charitable. He frequently gave money to churches, hospitals and set up food programs, built parks and football stadiums.

10. He was responsible for the deaths of around 4,000. Including 200 judges and over 1,000 police officers, journalists and government workers.

11. Close to the small Colombian town of Puerto Triunfo, Pablo bought 20 square kilometres of land where he built a zoo, a lake and other luxurious things for his family. The place was known to be host to a number of drug fuelled parties attended by the rich and famous of Colombia. It is now a rundown estate inhabited with refugees and hippos.

12. When in hiding with his family, Pablo’s daughter became sick with pneumonia. Over a couple of days, he lit $2 million dollars to keep her warm.

13. His greatest fear was extradition. He said he would rather “be in a grave in Colombia than in a cell in the United States”.

14. He feared extradition so much that he tried to change the Colombian laws by offering to pay off their $10 billion national debt. The plan failed.

15. He then built himself a luxury prison and incarcerated himself in it. From there he carried on with his criminal activities. Authorities tried to stop this by planning to move him to a different cell but he promptly escaped.

16. Escobar was gunned down at the age of 44 during a rooftop fight. Some believe that the wound was self-inflicted.